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Financial Literacy Gets a Hip-Hop Makeover
Molly McCluskey
April 23, 2013
Long filled with messages of outlandish lifestyles and expensive habits, hip-hop has lately been promoting more frugal choices. From “Mo Money, Mo Problems” to the virtues of shopping secondhand in “Thrift Shop,” the genre’s done a 180.
It’s spinning a little faster this week with the help of an unlikely ally.
Few things are less antiestablishment than the establishment itself — in this case, the quintessential banker stereotype. But Charles Schwab and the Charles Schwab Foundation are reaching out to a younger audience through a partnership with the Boys & Girls Club of America to teach financial literacy through music.
The brokerage sponsored the Money Matters Music Mogul contest with the nonprofit organization to help promote financial literacy and responsibility among teens. The grand prize winner, 15-year-old Blake McGuire of Indianapolis, won with his rap, “Money All That Matters,” which received more than 100,000 online votes. (Watch the video above.)
The song includes the lyrics, “I’m gonna balance all my checks so my money never falls / budget out my money so I don’t get collectors’ calls / cause you can’t rob Peter to go and pay Paul.”
The contest was an extension of the Boys & Girls Club “Money Matters: Make It Count” initiative, a personal finance program for teens that teaches money management skills.
For the Money Matters Music Mogul contest, teens at 2,900 clubs across the country were encouraged to create original lyrics promoting responsible spending and money management skills.
McGuire, and six other teens ranging in age from 13 to 17, will be featured on the financial-literacy hip-hop album produced by Kevin “Khao” Cates. All proceeds from the album, which is available for download and streaming, will benefit a scholarship program for the teens on the album.
J. Cole Creates “Power Trip” Track
Roc Nation artist J. Cole takes you through the production process behind Power Trip.
Droppin’ Science
Daily, educators work to find more effective ways to increase minority student interest and achievement in the sciences. These efforts have led to Dr. Chris Emdin, of Columbia University, incorporating hip hop into the science instruction of students at 10 New York high schools.
According to Dr. Emdin, “the people who most embrace hip hop culture are the same populations that are most disinterested in schools, and most disinterested in science.” Emdin has even enlisted hip hop veteran GZA, of the Wu Tang Clan to support this initiative. Many studies have highlighted the positive impact of the arts on cognitive development. Perhaps projects such as this will encourage other innovative approaches in our schools.
Video- CBS News, Hiphopwired.com