Before the Akom reading, I had never given much thought to how valuable hip hop could be within the classroom. Akom insists that hip hop can be used as a tool to illuminate current issues of poverty, police brutality, patriarchy, misogyny, incarceration, racial discrimination, as well as love, hope, and joy. Not only does this approach to teaching social justice challenge the typical classroom practices, but it engages students by producing more justice-oriented citizens. The goal of integrating critical hip hop pedagogy is for students to develop meaningful strategies to fight for social justice and take on roles of advocating within their community. Not only does this encourage students to use critical thinking, reflection, analysis, and action with a social justice lens, it engages students with music, something kids care about . It is argued that Hip Hop is a valuable tool we can use to introduce youth to social justice issues as "Hip Hop is the dominant language of youth cult