The New York City borough that gave birth to Hip-Hop, the Bronx, will now be home to the first high school dedicated to the craft. The Bronx School of Hip-Hop will officially welcome its first class of ninth-graders this fall, one of five throughout the city that will open its doors.
The school was first approved by the city’s Panel of Educational Policy last December and will open in the Claremont neighborhood. “Hip-Hop reflects the brilliance of our students, their potential, and while the world has profited off Hip-Hop … it’s time for our students and our community to make sure that it belongs and continues to belong to us,” said District 9 superintendent Harry Sherman to Chalkbeat.
For veteran educator Jason Reyes, who will be the high school’s incoming principal, it’s a natural move. “Hip-Hop is like our number one export out of the Bronx, right?” he said to NY1, who covered the announcement by Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels on Tuesday (May 5).
“Not only did they see themselves, they had an understanding, like, that this belongs to us as our lineage,” Reyes continued. “Which led them to just really be way more engaged. And you just see the difference in attendance. You see the difference in achievement, right? So why not build a school that is rooted in so much genius and excellence?”
The Bronx School of Hip-Hop will give students the chance to learn elements of the culture such as deejaying, graffiti, and breaking, but within highly structured academic instruction. According to its MySchools page, there will be a “Regents and AP-core aligned curriculum” in conjunction with project-based learning through public exhbitions and performance-based assessments.
Students will be grouped in classes that operate like a studio while having the opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship and earn certifications and credentials used by professionals in the media industry. “They’ll be able to go out into the world after they actually graduate with credentials and say, ‘listen, I know how to do audio engineering. I know beat production. I know video and graphic design,’” Reyes said.
The school’s official opening is another early highlight of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s first term. A graduate of Bronx High School of Sciences, Mamdani became popular partially through his own stint as the rapper Mr. Cardamom, which resurfaced during his campaign for mayor last year.
