The youth of today in Toronto, unfortunately, face many challenges and it is up to educators to work and plan on strategies to provide resources to guide students in the right direction. Students nowadays do not know how to cope with their negative feelings and may find themselves in unwanted situations and possibly involved in legal issues (Marketwired, 2014). There are organizations in Toronto, such as the Agincourt Community Services Association, that focus on teaching youths how to deal with their negative emotions and work with them to create long term positive changes by providing them with learning opportunities through every day activities (Marketwired, 2014). However, it is often difficult for youths to find a sense of belonging and find an outlet where they are able to express themselves. Fortunately, a Toronto program called Unity Charity provides workshops for students and at-risk youths to integrate the students’ interest in pop culture’s Hip Hop to allow artistic expression to empower, engage and help youths develop skills for success. The power of Hip Hop has allowed many youths to discover their identity which is one step closer in creating safer schools and promoting education with youths (Marketwired, 2014). Throughout this paper, you will be exploring the world of Hip Hop and its benefit towards youth’s education and even their studies.
Hip Hop:
Hip Hop is categorized under pop culture that includes graffiti, break dancing, and beat boxing. This type of pop culture is becoming ever more and more popular and influential with youths (Harkness, 2010). Hip Hop is a powerful culture as it is diverse and “inherently appealing to multiple ways of knowing the world-among them visual, musical, aural, physical and philosophical” (Banks, p 245). Though it may come to many people as a surprise, but Hip Hop is not very different to popular learning and teaching strategies educators are always raving about. In Hip Hop and students’ learning, they both require “interactivity, a project based/problem solving learning approach, and to move frequently from one modality (seated/aural/literary) to another (physical/embodied/participatory). It is necessary to change rhythms as often and as seamlessly as a Hip Hop soundtrack changes beats.” (Banks, 2015, p 245)
Educators views on Hip Hop Culture:
There has been research done on the positive impact Hip Hop has provided educators to engage youth, create leaders and promote student-community engagement. In a recent study, Principal Sean Carter was interviewed and shared his methodology of incorporating hip hop culture within his leadership style saying “I would say it starts with me understanding that the whole movement of hip hop is a reflection of society and where things are, so I try to use it when it comes to leadership. Trying to attempt to align leadership into expectations and to show the kids that through hip-hop there have been some success stories musically, as well as the other different career choices. It opens up many doors whether it’s fashion design, music, producing or just understanding the way to express yourself without causing problems.” (Goodlow, 2015, p 73). Analyzing this quote, it appears that not only does the principal find that hip hop provides a safe outlet and way of communication between each other, but it also reflects and teaches him leadership and how he can be a positive role model and leader. Subsequently not only does Hip Hop affect youth, but it can positively affect educators as well.
Educators need to also be aware of the Hip Hop culture that youths are immersed within that another principal, who partook in the research study, Lana Moorer, has intelligently said “If you want to reach the students, then you have to think out of the box and try to step into their box”. (Goodlow, 2015, p 74). Overall, educators should embrace Hip Hop as it is valuable in their students’ lives which will ultimately build positive relationships with their students. As an educator that does not know much about the hip hop culture, it can be quite intimidating to take on the world of Hip Hop to try to connect with students. Fortunately, there are resources out there such as Unity Charity that can help us integrate Hip Hop culture into the classroom.
At-Risk Youth:
There is a wide umbrella for what is classified as at-risk youths. The term “at risk youth” can refer to a child or teenager that is involved in either one or more of the following: “violence, bullying, sexual harassment, racism, poverty, homelessness, learning difficulties, low expectations, illiteracy, boredom, apathy, misbehavior, dropout, drugs, gangs, teen pregnancy and dysfunctional families” (Daniel, 2015, p 1). Furthermore, it does not have to refer to a youth that is already in serious trouble, but as scary as it is, it can also apply to the future possibility of that youth becoming at risk. Under improper guidance, conditions, environment and vulnerabilities, the youth may travel down the path of unsuccessfulness (Everett, Chadwell & McChesney, 2002). One of the reasons why youths tumble down this road is because of their inability of self-expression through positive strategies. No matter what a youth is classified under the broad umbrella of the term “at-risk”, one step of helping them overcome this obstacle in their life could be by helping themselves discover their identity, channel their negative feelings through positive artistic expression and learning to become leaders and using Hip Hop culture as an outlet for artistic expression can teach them exactly that.
In a recent research study done by Jennifer Laffier’s “A Qualitative Evaluation of the Role of Artistic Expression in Psychological Empowerment for Bullying Victims”, it has been discovered that artistic expression was been able to heal youths psychologically and allowed them to feel empowered. Through artistic expression, the youths were able to overcome negative feelings and find hope and motivation. It also helped rebuild their self-image and gain a sense of control and safety. (Laffier, 2015)
Hip Hop Culture and Multiple Intelligence:
To solely say that Hip Hop benefits artistic expression is limiting so much more than it can offer. Daniel Banks has related Hip Hop as pedagogy by linking Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences and the elements of Hip Hop culture. In both beat boxing and break dancing; it can relate to logical-mathematical intelligence. For example, beatboxers must be able to create and match rhythms and mix time signature while break dancers need to understand how to defy gravity to accomplish complicated floor moves and know inventive preparation for complex moves, such as spinning on their head and windmills. Break dancing and graffiti promotes spatial intelligence to understand the relationship between spaces. In addition, it is evident that in almost all of Hip Hop practices, it relates to musical multiple intelligences. (Banks, 2015)
Unity Charity:
Unity Charity provides workshops for schools where Hip Hop artists such as graffiti artists, break dancers and beat boxers come in to teach youths one of these type of art forms. During their time in schools, they connect with students by sharing personal stories and how they overcame their struggles, while teaching them leadership skills. As educators, we should not feel ashamed to reach out for resources that benefit our students, and Unity Charity is a great example of using Hip Hop to reach out to at-risk youths and furthermore, youths of all type. Below includes information on a few of Unity’s Hip Hop artists who discuss their purpose amongst their art.
The effect of Hip Hop Culture, specifically, Graffiti, Break Dancing and Beat Boxing:
Graffiti:
Graffiti has the ability to satisfy the emotional needs of youth, especially during a time where they are trying to look for autonomy. Through past research, it has been found that youths involved with graffiti has been an outlet for them to express themselves during a time of stress in school. Educators can use the graffiti art that their students create as an insight on their students’ emotional needs and what their thoughts and opinions are. By examining a piece of graffiti, it is easy to tell the attitude of the artist thus educators should take that to advantage and reach out to the student to provide guidance. Graffiti also allows students another form of communication and offers educators to see it in concrete without hearing it through the grapevine (Kan, 2001).
Break Dancing:
Break Dance is a dance technique involved in Hip Hop culture and dance has the ability the physically, mentally, emotionally and socially benefit youth, especially at-risk youth. It is also known that at-risk youth, specifically, gain tremendous empowerment through dance and this type of transformation will benefit them socially in the long run. Youths are able to understand and become collaborative and improve personal trust by having a sense of community that dance can create (Daniel, 2015). Collaboration builds leaders and providing youths with this opportunity can help those overcome challenges they may meet in their life and can also help them reach their major life goals.
Beat Boxing:
You may consider beat boxing as the base of Hip Hop since it makes Hip Hop accessible. All you need is a voice and vocal chords to create a beat. There is no need for expensive music lessons to learn how to play musical instruments that you would need to in order to perform rock, jazz, or country music and such. The person is the human drum machine. With beat boxing, hip hop music can be made anytime and anywhere and the youth beat boxing becomes the Hip Hop track (Marketwired, 2014). Through research done already on other beat boxing workshops in the United States, such as the Hip Hop Theatre Initiative, it was concluded that the students left the workshops feeling energized, connected, and inspired which led to the formation of a sense of community and team work. The outcome of the workshops showed the researchers a better understanding of the importance of self-expression amongst youth (Banks, 2015)
Self-Identity
Using Hip Hop is a perfect way of realizing one self’s identity since that is what Hip Hop is. Its characteristic is to represent their authenticity and community (Marketwired, 2014). With Unity Charity using Hip Hop culture to help youths find their self-identity is a clever method that benefits youths. Beat boxing and break dancing are free artistic tools, where all they need is a voice and/or body. Through this, it creates a forum for youths to express their everyday lives and concerns. It also creates a pathway for educators to see what is going on with their students’ lives in a different way.
Paulo Friere:
The importance of Hip Hop culture that youths are immersed in relates to Paulo Friere’s view on education in the late twentieth century. The objective of Freirean pedagogy is “to transform consciousness through an increased awareness of how language enables and circumscribes individual thoughts and social interaction” (Dale & Emery, 2010, p 133). As educators, we need to not just limit our self and think within our world of teaching, but we need to step into our students’ world as well. Youths are speaking the Hip Hop culture and educators should reflect and learn how to speak in the youth’s language of today to help create a better relationship with each other. When this type of relationship between students and teacher happens, it allows a free, safe and positive exchange of beliefs, knowledge and experience into the classroom. (Dale & Emery, 2010)
Conclusion:
Society should not see Hip Hop through a negative light. Though the hip hop culture may have spawned from poverty and racism, it has now been able to change the views of youths today positively and become leaders and more aware of their surroundings. (Marketwired, 2014) One may also think that at risk youth who are interested in Hip Hop may gravitate towards substance abuse, but research has shown that Hip Hop is actually making them more aware of the dangers (Turner-Musa, Rhodes, Harper & Quinton, 2008). Using the right resources and teaching methods, it is possible for integrate Hip Hop into students’ lives positively.
With programs such as Unity Charity, that revolves around the theme of Hip Hop by leading workshops that involve beat boxing, break dancing and graffiti, to teach leadership, self-identity and help students discover a positive way of self-expression artistically is one step closer in preventing youths from being at-risk. It also provides schools and educators a helping hand. Educators should not feel humiliated of looking for programs that will help youths, and especially in the world that youths live in today. As youths are engrossed in the culture of Hip Hop, and with a program such as Unity Charity and its Hip Hop knowledge, it is an easy and helpful resource to help create a positive and safe environment between educators and students. It is also ours’, as educators, responsibility to provide constructive resources and guidance to our students since it has been found that youths do not seek for help on their own when they are at risk (Butters, Harrison, Korf, Broch & Erickson, 2011). Thus, having a program like Unity Charity provides educators with the right means to provide students the ability to gain self-identity, develop a sense of community, grow as leaders and find positive and safe ways to express themselves through artistic expression.
References:
Banks, D.(2015). Hip Hop as Pedagogy: Something from Something. Theatre Topics 25(3),
243-259. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Retrieved November 24, 2015, from Project MUSE database.
Butter, J., Harrison, L., Korf, D., Brochu, S., & Erickson, P. (2011). The Impact of Violence on
At-Risk Youth in Canada, the United States, and the Netherlands. Victims and Offenders, 6(4),341-355
Dale, J., & Hyslop-Margison, E. (2010). Paulo Freire: Teaching for Freedom and
Transformation. The Philosophical Influence on the Work of Paulo Freire. Springer.
Daniel, C. (2015). Linked together: Creative movement as a way to promote creativity,
collaboration, and ownership among at-risk youth (Order No. 1587672). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1681615788). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/docview/1681615788?accountid=14694
Everett, C., Chadwell, J., & McChesney, J. C. (2002). Successful programs for at-risk
youths. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 73(9), 38-43. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/docview/215762721?accountid=14694
Federal government supports program to assist at-risk youth in toronto. (2014). Marketwired,
Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/docview/1564753203?accountid=14694
Goodlow, J. D., Jr. (2015). An investigation of urban high school principals' perceptions and
administrative responses concerning hip-hop culture (Order No. 3708046). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1696751722). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/docview/1696751722?accountid=14694
Harkness, G. V. (2010). Situational authenticity in chicago's hip hop underground (Order No.
3402183). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (305212474). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/docview/305212474?accountid=14694
Kan, K.-H.. (2001). Adolescents and Graffiti. Art Education, 54(1), 18–23.
http://doi.org.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/10.2307/3193889
Laffier, J. (2015). A qualitative evaluation of the role of artistic expression in psychological
empowerment of bullying victims(Order No. 3723000). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1728166401). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/docview/1728166401?accountid=14694
Turner-Musa, J. O., Rhodes, W. A., Harper, P. H., & Quinton, S. L. (2008). Hip-Hop Prevent
Substance use and HIV Among African-American Youth: A preliminary Investigation. Journal Of Drug Education, 38(4), 351-365. Doi: 10.2190/DE. 38.4.c
Hip Hop:
Hip Hop is categorized under pop culture that includes graffiti, break dancing, and beat boxing. This type of pop culture is becoming ever more and more popular and influential with youths (Harkness, 2010). Hip Hop is a powerful culture as it is diverse and “inherently appealing to multiple ways of knowing the world-among them visual, musical, aural, physical and philosophical” (Banks, p 245). Though it may come to many people as a surprise, but Hip Hop is not very different to popular learning and teaching strategies educators are always raving about. In Hip Hop and students’ learning, they both require “interactivity, a project based/problem solving learning approach, and to move frequently from one modality (seated/aural/literary) to another (physical/embodied/participatory). It is necessary to change rhythms as often and as seamlessly as a Hip Hop soundtrack changes beats.” (Banks, 2015, p 245)
Educators views on Hip Hop Culture:
There has been research done on the positive impact Hip Hop has provided educators to engage youth, create leaders and promote student-community engagement. In a recent study, Principal Sean Carter was interviewed and shared his methodology of incorporating hip hop culture within his leadership style saying “I would say it starts with me understanding that the whole movement of hip hop is a reflection of society and where things are, so I try to use it when it comes to leadership. Trying to attempt to align leadership into expectations and to show the kids that through hip-hop there have been some success stories musically, as well as the other different career choices. It opens up many doors whether it’s fashion design, music, producing or just understanding the way to express yourself without causing problems.” (Goodlow, 2015, p 73). Analyzing this quote, it appears that not only does the principal find that hip hop provides a safe outlet and way of communication between each other, but it also reflects and teaches him leadership and how he can be a positive role model and leader. Subsequently not only does Hip Hop affect youth, but it can positively affect educators as well.
Educators need to also be aware of the Hip Hop culture that youths are immersed within that another principal, who partook in the research study, Lana Moorer, has intelligently said “If you want to reach the students, then you have to think out of the box and try to step into their box”. (Goodlow, 2015, p 74). Overall, educators should embrace Hip Hop as it is valuable in their students’ lives which will ultimately build positive relationships with their students. As an educator that does not know much about the hip hop culture, it can be quite intimidating to take on the world of Hip Hop to try to connect with students. Fortunately, there are resources out there such as Unity Charity that can help us integrate Hip Hop culture into the classroom.
At-Risk Youth:
There is a wide umbrella for what is classified as at-risk youths. The term “at risk youth” can refer to a child or teenager that is involved in either one or more of the following: “violence, bullying, sexual harassment, racism, poverty, homelessness, learning difficulties, low expectations, illiteracy, boredom, apathy, misbehavior, dropout, drugs, gangs, teen pregnancy and dysfunctional families” (Daniel, 2015, p 1). Furthermore, it does not have to refer to a youth that is already in serious trouble, but as scary as it is, it can also apply to the future possibility of that youth becoming at risk. Under improper guidance, conditions, environment and vulnerabilities, the youth may travel down the path of unsuccessfulness (Everett, Chadwell & McChesney, 2002). One of the reasons why youths tumble down this road is because of their inability of self-expression through positive strategies. No matter what a youth is classified under the broad umbrella of the term “at-risk”, one step of helping them overcome this obstacle in their life could be by helping themselves discover their identity, channel their negative feelings through positive artistic expression and learning to become leaders and using Hip Hop culture as an outlet for artistic expression can teach them exactly that.
In a recent research study done by Jennifer Laffier’s “A Qualitative Evaluation of the Role of Artistic Expression in Psychological Empowerment for Bullying Victims”, it has been discovered that artistic expression was been able to heal youths psychologically and allowed them to feel empowered. Through artistic expression, the youths were able to overcome negative feelings and find hope and motivation. It also helped rebuild their self-image and gain a sense of control and safety. (Laffier, 2015)
Hip Hop Culture and Multiple Intelligence:
To solely say that Hip Hop benefits artistic expression is limiting so much more than it can offer. Daniel Banks has related Hip Hop as pedagogy by linking Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences and the elements of Hip Hop culture. In both beat boxing and break dancing; it can relate to logical-mathematical intelligence. For example, beatboxers must be able to create and match rhythms and mix time signature while break dancers need to understand how to defy gravity to accomplish complicated floor moves and know inventive preparation for complex moves, such as spinning on their head and windmills. Break dancing and graffiti promotes spatial intelligence to understand the relationship between spaces. In addition, it is evident that in almost all of Hip Hop practices, it relates to musical multiple intelligences. (Banks, 2015)
Unity Charity:
Unity Charity provides workshops for schools where Hip Hop artists such as graffiti artists, break dancers and beat boxers come in to teach youths one of these type of art forms. During their time in schools, they connect with students by sharing personal stories and how they overcame their struggles, while teaching them leadership skills. As educators, we should not feel ashamed to reach out for resources that benefit our students, and Unity Charity is a great example of using Hip Hop to reach out to at-risk youths and furthermore, youths of all type. Below includes information on a few of Unity’s Hip Hop artists who discuss their purpose amongst their art.
- Michael Prosserman, who is also the founder and executive director of Unity Charity and break dancer- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ncd_zM_xHng . In the video, you will find the story of how he used break dancing to express his stress.
- Jane Souralaysack-Beat boxer and break dancer -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym2-Vd6o3rY . She shares her personal story of her struggles growing up and turning to beat boxing to move forward.
- Jessey “Phade” Pacho-graffiti artists -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uKKqdimIlw . He tells the story of how graffiti brings him a sense of peace.
The effect of Hip Hop Culture, specifically, Graffiti, Break Dancing and Beat Boxing:
Graffiti:
Graffiti has the ability to satisfy the emotional needs of youth, especially during a time where they are trying to look for autonomy. Through past research, it has been found that youths involved with graffiti has been an outlet for them to express themselves during a time of stress in school. Educators can use the graffiti art that their students create as an insight on their students’ emotional needs and what their thoughts and opinions are. By examining a piece of graffiti, it is easy to tell the attitude of the artist thus educators should take that to advantage and reach out to the student to provide guidance. Graffiti also allows students another form of communication and offers educators to see it in concrete without hearing it through the grapevine (Kan, 2001).
Break Dancing:
Break Dance is a dance technique involved in Hip Hop culture and dance has the ability the physically, mentally, emotionally and socially benefit youth, especially at-risk youth. It is also known that at-risk youth, specifically, gain tremendous empowerment through dance and this type of transformation will benefit them socially in the long run. Youths are able to understand and become collaborative and improve personal trust by having a sense of community that dance can create (Daniel, 2015). Collaboration builds leaders and providing youths with this opportunity can help those overcome challenges they may meet in their life and can also help them reach their major life goals.
Beat Boxing:
You may consider beat boxing as the base of Hip Hop since it makes Hip Hop accessible. All you need is a voice and vocal chords to create a beat. There is no need for expensive music lessons to learn how to play musical instruments that you would need to in order to perform rock, jazz, or country music and such. The person is the human drum machine. With beat boxing, hip hop music can be made anytime and anywhere and the youth beat boxing becomes the Hip Hop track (Marketwired, 2014). Through research done already on other beat boxing workshops in the United States, such as the Hip Hop Theatre Initiative, it was concluded that the students left the workshops feeling energized, connected, and inspired which led to the formation of a sense of community and team work. The outcome of the workshops showed the researchers a better understanding of the importance of self-expression amongst youth (Banks, 2015)
Self-Identity
Using Hip Hop is a perfect way of realizing one self’s identity since that is what Hip Hop is. Its characteristic is to represent their authenticity and community (Marketwired, 2014). With Unity Charity using Hip Hop culture to help youths find their self-identity is a clever method that benefits youths. Beat boxing and break dancing are free artistic tools, where all they need is a voice and/or body. Through this, it creates a forum for youths to express their everyday lives and concerns. It also creates a pathway for educators to see what is going on with their students’ lives in a different way.
Paulo Friere:
The importance of Hip Hop culture that youths are immersed in relates to Paulo Friere’s view on education in the late twentieth century. The objective of Freirean pedagogy is “to transform consciousness through an increased awareness of how language enables and circumscribes individual thoughts and social interaction” (Dale & Emery, 2010, p 133). As educators, we need to not just limit our self and think within our world of teaching, but we need to step into our students’ world as well. Youths are speaking the Hip Hop culture and educators should reflect and learn how to speak in the youth’s language of today to help create a better relationship with each other. When this type of relationship between students and teacher happens, it allows a free, safe and positive exchange of beliefs, knowledge and experience into the classroom. (Dale & Emery, 2010)
Conclusion:
Society should not see Hip Hop through a negative light. Though the hip hop culture may have spawned from poverty and racism, it has now been able to change the views of youths today positively and become leaders and more aware of their surroundings. (Marketwired, 2014) One may also think that at risk youth who are interested in Hip Hop may gravitate towards substance abuse, but research has shown that Hip Hop is actually making them more aware of the dangers (Turner-Musa, Rhodes, Harper & Quinton, 2008). Using the right resources and teaching methods, it is possible for integrate Hip Hop into students’ lives positively.
With programs such as Unity Charity, that revolves around the theme of Hip Hop by leading workshops that involve beat boxing, break dancing and graffiti, to teach leadership, self-identity and help students discover a positive way of self-expression artistically is one step closer in preventing youths from being at-risk. It also provides schools and educators a helping hand. Educators should not feel humiliated of looking for programs that will help youths, and especially in the world that youths live in today. As youths are engrossed in the culture of Hip Hop, and with a program such as Unity Charity and its Hip Hop knowledge, it is an easy and helpful resource to help create a positive and safe environment between educators and students. It is also ours’, as educators, responsibility to provide constructive resources and guidance to our students since it has been found that youths do not seek for help on their own when they are at risk (Butters, Harrison, Korf, Broch & Erickson, 2011). Thus, having a program like Unity Charity provides educators with the right means to provide students the ability to gain self-identity, develop a sense of community, grow as leaders and find positive and safe ways to express themselves through artistic expression.
References:
Banks, D.(2015). Hip Hop as Pedagogy: Something from Something. Theatre Topics 25(3),
243-259. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Retrieved November 24, 2015, from Project MUSE database.
Butter, J., Harrison, L., Korf, D., Brochu, S., & Erickson, P. (2011). The Impact of Violence on
At-Risk Youth in Canada, the United States, and the Netherlands. Victims and Offenders, 6(4),341-355
Dale, J., & Hyslop-Margison, E. (2010). Paulo Freire: Teaching for Freedom and
Transformation. The Philosophical Influence on the Work of Paulo Freire. Springer.
Daniel, C. (2015). Linked together: Creative movement as a way to promote creativity,
collaboration, and ownership among at-risk youth (Order No. 1587672). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1681615788). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/docview/1681615788?accountid=14694
Everett, C., Chadwell, J., & McChesney, J. C. (2002). Successful programs for at-risk
youths. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 73(9), 38-43. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/docview/215762721?accountid=14694
Federal government supports program to assist at-risk youth in toronto. (2014). Marketwired,
Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/docview/1564753203?accountid=14694
Goodlow, J. D., Jr. (2015). An investigation of urban high school principals' perceptions and
administrative responses concerning hip-hop culture (Order No. 3708046). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1696751722). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/docview/1696751722?accountid=14694
Harkness, G. V. (2010). Situational authenticity in chicago's hip hop underground (Order No.
3402183). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (305212474). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/docview/305212474?accountid=14694
Kan, K.-H.. (2001). Adolescents and Graffiti. Art Education, 54(1), 18–23.
http://doi.org.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/10.2307/3193889
Laffier, J. (2015). A qualitative evaluation of the role of artistic expression in psychological
empowerment of bullying victims(Order No. 3723000). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1728166401). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/docview/1728166401?accountid=14694
Turner-Musa, J. O., Rhodes, W. A., Harper, P. H., & Quinton, S. L. (2008). Hip-Hop Prevent
Substance use and HIV Among African-American Youth: A preliminary Investigation. Journal Of Drug Education, 38(4), 351-365. Doi: 10.2190/DE. 38.4.c