A Critical Interpretive Synthesis of Research Linking Hip Hop and Wellbeing in Schools

Hip Hop is recognized as an agent for youth development in both educational and well-being spaces, yet literature exploring the intersection of the two areas is comparatively underdeveloped. This article presents a critical interpretive synthesis of twenty-two articles investigating school-based well-being interventions which used Hip Hop. The critical stance taken aimed to identify or expose assumptions underpinning this area of scholarship and practice. Our analysis suggested several assumptions operate in this space, including the idea rap represents a default for Hip Hop culture, and the default beneficiaries of Hip Hop-informed interventions are students of color living in underprivileged, inner-city US neighborhoods. Further, while cultural relevance is a key justification for Hip Hop interventions, few researchers engage critically with the concept in relation to students, practitioners, or themselves. We also identified distinctions between interventions that add Hip Hop, and those that center the culture. Subsequent recommendations are offered to inform future research