PHILADELPHIA-BASED ORGANIZATION LAUNCHES SCHOLARSHIP INSPIRED BY KENDRICK LAMAR’S “ALRIGHT”

Rapper Kendrick Lamar’s words are reaching more than just the kids of his hometown of Compton, California.

Just a few months ago, High Tech High School, a North Bergen, New Jersey high school, lesson plan went viral when English teacher Brian Mooney decided to use Lamar’s recent studio album as curriculum and shared it on his personal blog. Students used lyrics from Lamar’s sophomore album, To Pimp A Butterfly, to draw parallels between that and their assigned reading material of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.

News of the students work reached Kendrick and he ended up visiting Mr. Mooney’s class: listening to the students poetry, giving a special performance and participating in a classroom rap cypher.

That same school prompted Philadelphia-based organization Oogee Woogee to launch the “Alright” scholarship, which will award one student at High Tech High with $1500 to go towards tuition and book fees. “We always wanted to create a hip-hop-inspired scholarship,” said Wilikine Brutus, content director of Oogee Woogee told Philly.com. “”Alright” came at the right time and the visit to the high school gave us a concrete idea of what we wanted.”

Students must create a 2-3 minute video using their talents to explain the positive aspects of hip-hop. Applicants submissions will then be posted on Oogee Woogee’s Facebook page, and the submission with the most “likes” or “shares” wins. The contest started Friday (Aug. 21) and ends on Tuesday, Aug. 25 at 9 a.m.

Oogee Woogee plans to bring the scholarship to Philadelphia and nationwide. Watch the promo video for High Tech’s hip-hop inspired scholarship below.