This course examines the power of the hip hop elements (MCing, DJing, graffiti, breakdancing, beatboxing) as tools for teaching and empowering activism agency. Grounded in hip hop culture and critical pedagogy, students will develop an analytic lens that will be used to "close read" the world and respond to social justice issues on both artistic and educational platforms. Project-based work covers investigating personal educational experiences; the evolution and current iterations of the hip hop elements; examining activist artwork; drafting arts education lesson plans; and creating original artistic response pieces to social justice issues. This course will highlight artist educators/activists who span the stage, the studio, and the classroom as case studies from around the world. As we consider hip hop cultural tenets re-imagined as a framework for teaching, learning, and civic engagement, students will partner with a local hip hop artist educator to craft a culminating project that profiles a theory of learning, designs an arts education lesson plan for one of their works, and presents them at an event produced by the class.