Ten years certainly goes by fast when you are actively pursuing your purpose and utilizing your passions to connect with your audience on a broader scale. It was all a dream for Brandon “Griot B” Brown… But I’m not sure if he used to read Word Up Magazines with Salt-n-Pepa and Heavy D in the limousine, but one thing is certain: Griot B loves hip-hop. He took his love for the genre and transformed his “it was all a dream” sentiment into a vision that intertwined hip-hop and education. The former history teacher & assistant principal, now educator, entrepreneur, and cultural innovator, has spent the past decade transforming his love for hip-hop into an educational movement designed to teach students about Black history, literacy, leadership, civic engagement, and culture.
Where It All Started
After building a successful career in education, Brown walked away from corporate America and invested his retirement savings into an unconventional idea. He believed hip-hop, one of the world’s most influential cultural movements, could become a powerful tool for engaging students in the classroom. The idea became a “bubble cloud with question marks” for Brown to use the music genre as education while keeping his students entertained.
That bubble cloud with the question mark turned on a bright light bulb that shone into School Yard Rap. School Yard Rap is an edutainment platform that uses the foundational elements of hip-hop, including rhythm, rhyme, storytelling, and lyrical expression, to make learning more engaging and accessible for young people. Brown embraced the creativity and storytelling traditions that have defined the culture for over five decades and applied those elements to education curriculums that challenge the narrative on topics such as World History, Latin history, and American history.
Through School Yard Rap, Griot B has also developed in other areas such as live performances, assemblies, original music (available on digital streaming platforms & through his YouTube page), field trips that bring history and learning to life through hip-hop. The concept has helped School Yard Rap establish relationships with schools and school districts across the country.
Brown performs and operates under the alias name Griot B. The word “griot” according to the Merriam Webster dictionary is defined as a West African storyteller, historian, poet, and keeper of cultural knowledge. Brown’s work shows that music and culture serves as a catalyst for deeper knowledge about history, artistic expression through storytelling with its mission to preserve history while educating future generations.
A Decade of National Impact
His company recently celebrated its 10th anniversary on August 29th. What began as a bold vision for the Compton, California, native has evolved into a national movement connecting music, education, entrepreneurship, and community impact.
The 10-year anniversary represented the growth of a movement with a programming center focused on addressing topics including Black history, literacy, leadership, civic engagement, and youth empowerment. Recently, Griot B and the School Yard Rap movement have been featured across several major media platforms, including Access Hollywood, NPR’s Weekend Edition, The D.L. Hughley Show, Rolling Out, EURweb.com, iHeartRadio, and LA Wave, according to Front Page Firm.
His national exposure over the past 10 years, has reached over one million students across 228 school districts in 24 states, according to The School Yard Rap bio. The recognition has also placed a larger spotlight on education and the role that music and creativity can influence students’ learning development. For Brown, however, the work remains rooted in the same idea that inspired him to meet students where they are and use culture as a bridge for learning.
Looking Toward the Future
As School Yard Rap reached its 10-year mark, Brown’s journey is an example of what can happen when education and culture intersect to make an impact to stdents. Through School Yard Rap, Brandon “Griot B” Brown is helping demonstrate that the culture can also be written inside classrooms, school auditoriums, and communities across America. As the organization celebrates 10 years of impact, its mission remains focused on empowering the next generation—one rhyme, one lesson, and one student at a time.
