Devine Carama & University of Kentucky Collaborate On Hip Hop & Community Engagement Class!
What happens when an independent hip hop artist & a tenured college professor combine forces to teach a hip hop and community engagement class at the University of Kentucky? Well, magic of course! The dynamic due are back at it in Spring of 2020 at the University of Kentucky as class enrollment is now open!
Lexington MC & community activist, DevineCarama, (has opened up for acts like LL Cool J, Rakim, Talib Kweli, Big KRIT,and more!) along side associate professor Bryan Hains, were given the opportunity to teach a hip hop & community engagement class at the University of Kentucky in the summer of 2017 called "Lyricism & Leadership: Hip Hop & Community Change". The 4-week summer elective course ended with a final exam of the class completing an 8 song EP entitled, Agents of Change Volume 1, featuring themes that minority families of social & economically challenged communities face. The students then marketed and sold the music project and gave the proceeds to local youth nonprofit, "On The Move Art Studio". They learn the impact hip hop has on community and then tangibly used the music to positively impact people. Community engagement in it's rarest form.
The class resonated so much with students and the Community Leadership & Development department at UK, that Carama & Hains got an opportunity to make it a full semester, 3 credit, course the following Spring. Raising the anti a bit, the full semester schedule allowed more comprehensive discussion topics ranging from cultural appropriation, the history of hip hop music and social justice, as well as create safe spaces for political debates surrounding under deserved demographics in the United States. The 2018 class completed an album entitled Agents of Change Volume 2: Broken & Recovery and raised more than $500 for local youth nonprofit, Operation Making A Change
With the 2020 Spring semester around the corner, enrollment is now open for the University of Kentucky's only comprehensive hip hop music course. Co-instructor Devine Carama says they will challenge students to engage in community scavanger hunts as well as facilitate a community "open mic", in an continued effort to push scholars outside of the classroom and engage the community they one day look to serve. To register for our 2020 Spring course, use the ID CLD-495. For more questions use the contact info on the flier below!
Agents of Change - "Agents of Change Volume 1" - https://believinginforever.bandcamp.com/album/agents-of-change-volume-1
Agents of Change - "Agents of Change Volume 2: Broken & Recovery" - https://believinginforever.bandcamp.com/album/agents-of-change-volume-2-broken-recovery
University of Kentucky CLD Lab - http://www.communityinnovationlab.org/