"Why hip-hop? Hip-hop is it right now! I don’t know if you realize, everything out there, whether it be video, audio, print media, ads in magazines – the dancing; hip-hop is the craze right now. Why not use that as a way to engage these kids positively, because we know they love it."

"I realized that this was the niche; this was where the program Word comes in. I can take lyrics of a rapper who might say pretty offensive stuff about women, but then on the other side really talks about poverty in their community and how important it is to address it. I could also deconstruct the hero of the rapper, or this idea of idolizing, and not taking every word for granted, and unpackage what is being given to them in the music or culture."