UCLA

This MA thesis is situated at the crossroads of Hip-Hop Studies, Black Studies, and Disability Studies and deepens the conversation between these fields at this important juncture in 2023 when we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop and UCLA’s historic establishment of the first Disability Studies major in the state of California. Against this backdrop, I explore various pedagogical theories, including Cultural Relevant Pedagogy, Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, and DisCrit-Disability Studies, as well as community-based approaches like, Poor Magazine’s Poverty Scholarship and Poor People-Led Theory. I synthesize these theoretical approaches in order to present what I am referring to as “Krip-Hop Community-Based Learning/Pedagogy” for and with the disabled community locally and globally. Krip-Hop Nation is a worldwide network of Hip-Hop artists and other musicians with disabilities who produce music and poetry from the perspective of racialized minorities with disabilities in Hip Hop. Krip-Hop Nation takes disability culture seriously and argues that these cultural approaches should be used to reach disabled students, particularly those in special education.