Michigan rapper creates ‘Hip-Hop for Self-Expression’ class at Kalamazoo middle school

KALAMAZOO, MI — Trevon Hobson, a Michigan-born hip-hop artist who goes by the stage name “Skitzo,” never wanted to be a teacher.

Nevertheless, the morning of Wednesday, June 4, Hobson was giving feedback to 12 middle school students in his “Hip-Hop for Self-Expression” class. Hobson piloted the class at Milwood Magnet School this year.

Next year, he’ll teach the class to a full group of 25 to 29 students.

Hobson uses hip-hop as a medium to teach students about social, emotional development and community activism, he said.

“We talk about hip-hop and how it affects our everyday life, with music, culture, sexism, racial boundaries, everything that it touches on,” Hobson said. “Especially now with our youth, music kind of dictates the culture.”

Students start the class at 7:27 a.m., writing daily affirmations in notebooks with music videos playing on the SmartBoard.

On Wednesday, the video was Special Ed’s “Got it Made.”

The lyrics served as their own form of affirmation: “I never lost ‘cause I’m the boss, I never will ‘cause I’m still / The champion, chief one, won’t lose until / I choose.”

Then students shared spoken word pieces they wrote for their final assignment.

Some went down a personal route, others political.

“People don’t like to talk about it or say, ‘It was so long ago, why bring it up? / Well if your people got raped and sold, would you be tense about this event?” said Ahmoni Williams, a seventh grader, echoing the sentiments of popular rap groups the students learn about in class.

Ahmoni, who is African American, wanted to talk about slavery because she wished they learned more about slavery during U.S. history class.

Earlier in the school year, students picked a collective list of 10 words to shape their poems around. They had to include five of the 10. A few of the words: “politics,” “vote,” “fear,” “change” and “Trump.”

As part of the class, students dissect hip-hop songs from the 1990s to learn about the metaphors used and the layered meanings within the songs.

Hobson said some students came in with only a familiarity of songs glorifying violence or the sexual exploitation of women.

“I had to show them you come from a culture of Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, J.J. Fad,” Hobson said. “These girls will rip you apart with lyrics … You can be a strong female without making a sexual object of yourself.”

Matti Richard, an eighth grader, said the class has helped build her confidence and public speaking skills.

“When I first started, I was so afraid, like ‘Oh my god, I have to read something in front of the whole class?’ I was freaking out,” Matti said.

Hobson started teaching at Milwood with a computer applications course in 2023-24.

Not long after he started teaching, students learned Mr. Hobson was also “Skitzo.” The stage name is tattooed on Hobson’s right arm.

Hobson makes music about addressing problems he sees in his community, like the school-to-prison pipeline and interpersonal violence.

When the principal found out about the student interest in Hobson’s music, he asked if Hobson would like to teach a class on hip-hop.

“I did come up with a curriculum, but at the same time, the nerves felt like building a plane in the sky,” Hobson said. “I was so scared. Even though I had a small class, it was still like, ‘This is new, no one’s doing this. There wasn’t a road map to follow.”

Now, students stop Hobson in the hallway and ask if it’s too late to register.

Hobson showed a video of his students’ performances to other eighth graders. They were all impressed. But also “really upset” that they couldn’t take the class.

“It’s really been eye opening for me as well and I’m really grateful that everyone has shown growth and potential in certain different ways.”

After students finished their spoken word pieces, they took a basketball outside to play for the last 15 minutes. And Hobson reflected on the past year.

“The writing is deeper, it’s personalized,” Hobson said. “I’m blown away and amazed at the growth.”

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