Peace. My name is marcus (iomos marad) singleton. I am an educator, an advocate for Black students/ youth, and a critical thinking Hip-Hop artist. I am originally from the South Side of Chicago Englewood community which I think gives me a unique perspective and approach to working with Black students/ youth. I am a second-year Ph.D. student at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto working on research around Critical Hip-Hop Pedagogy within Black Studies in the Social Justice Department under the supervision of dr. rosalind hampton.

 

My plan is to work with Black youth in formal and informal settings nationally and transnationally (Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, and Montreal) to build community-based learning practices. The goal is to collaborate with Black students/ youth and learn through their interactions with each other as they engage in critical conversations across cities and borders. I would love to create a global classroom to serve as counter space(s) for Black students/ youth to come together to talk about their learning and lived experiences for the possibility of developing new learning practices that are more beneficial for their needs.

 

My goal as a critical thinking Hip-Hop artist is to be the artist that I don’t see portrayed on mainstream platforms. The plan is to use Hip-Hop culture as a liberatory tool to transform my community of listeners into activists and change agents who will live out the true mission and tenants of Hip-Hop culture which is having a knowledge of self and expressing love, peace, unity, and having fun safely.

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As a critical thinking Hip-Hop artist, Marcus has released five independent projects and has opened for various artists such as KRS-One, Mos Def, Slum Village, Raekwon, Little Brother, Lupe Fiasco, The Hieroglyphics, Pete Rock, Immortal Technique, and the Boot Camp Clik, to name a few. He has also collaborated with J-Live, Oddisee, Finale, Thaione Davis, and other Hip-Hop artists.