Miriam: Do you think that being placed in James Lyng but being separate outside of James Lyng helped or hindered? How has that affected you – would it be better for this to be part of the scholastic program, or is it good that it stays outside?

Lynn:

I like that it’s outside of the regular curriculum program because then it can be not only exclusive to schools, but also go into community centers. It’s just more flexible. At the same time, school is very important. It has a large population and it has a strong presence in our society in terms of structure, and it also provides a structure, and a facility, and some money. I like being affiliated with the school board and curriculum, but I think it’s important that it’s not completely immersed in it.

Miriam: How do you think the difference is felt by students?

Lynn:

I think it’s important to the students to feel like it’s not part of school, so then they don’t bring that stigma of the teacher teaching this hip-hop program – can you imagine a teacher who doesn’t even listen to hip-hop teaching a kid hip-hop? It’s important for them to take a breather from the structure of school.

Miriam:Do you think it changes what they are learning – the fact that they are not doing it in school? Or do you think it changes how they are learning?

Lynn:

Yes. I think it changes what they are learning, and how they are learning. They have a space to be critical of their education system. They have a space to be vocal, and not feel like they are going to be penalized for that. How they learn is that they could also be in a space where they could self-reflect and see how they are contributing to these perceptions, but also put their finger onto why the way things are at school – like why do teachers think this about me; or where is this coming from? Is this true, is this not true? It does definitely affect them.

Miriam: Do you think that if your work outside the education system was to get hired within the education system, would that change the kind of work you were doing?

Lynn:

Probably. There would be a board and a curriculum and certain standards and protocols that I would have to follow, which again makes that box,and I’m really big on alternative learning, and focusing on people who don’t necessarily work well with the structure of the education system. I wouldn’t mind giving workshops to teachers on how they could use aspects of hip-hop in their school, but I wouldn’t want to immerse my program in the school curriculum.

It’s also against the nature of where hip-hop comes form. It’s from the streets, and just the idea of graffiti, when that became very popular, people wanted to put graffiti in an art gallery. Graffiti is really about outside, and illegal activity, and this kind of rebellion form. Even hip-hop is about giving a voice to the voiceless. Sometimes systems are designed to shut out people, so I don’t want to lose that