Despite the recent popularity of hip-hop based education, and the increasing diversity of academics who consume, critique, and create artifacts produced by hip-hop, there is a general superficiality in the relationship between hip-hop and education. I argue that this is the case because of the societal fascination with the most visible and commercially promoted aspects of the culture, and the misperception that these small strands of hip-hop are representative of the complexities of the culture. In response, this paper focuses on the often-forgotten four pillars of hip-hop, and explores the pedagogical potential of each of these pillars in the development of a hip-hop based approach to pedagogy.

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