{"id":12279,"date":"2026-06-30T10:41:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T14:41:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/?p=12279"},"modified":"2026-06-30T10:41:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T14:41:28","slug":"a-def-education-georgia-southern-alumnus-uses-hip-hop-music-to-inspire-curiosity-and-learning-in-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2026\/06\/30\/a-def-education-georgia-southern-alumnus-uses-hip-hop-music-to-inspire-curiosity-and-learning-in-students\/","title":{"rendered":"A Def Education: Georgia Southern Alumnus Uses Hip Hop Music to Inspire Curiosity and Learning in Students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u201cDef,\u201d for those unfamiliar, is an informal adjective, born out of \u201880s hip hop culture, meaning \u201ccool\u201d or \u201cexcellent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Andr\u00e9 Benito Mountain (\u201998,\u201924), however, \u201cdef\u201d is not simply cultural slang. It is the foundation of his pedagogy. From his days as a Georgia Southern University student, spinning records on the student-run radio station WVGS, to his new role as director of education at The Hip Hop Museum in New York City, Mountain has let the music guide him to new perspectives and new opportunities, both for himself and the students he leads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mountain\u2019s education began in Augusta, Georgia, \u2014 home of James Brown, the most sampled artist in hip hop. He grew up on Michael Jackson and Prince, but it was when he acquired a tape of \u201cKing of Rock\u201d by legendary rap group Run-D.M.C. that he transformed from fan to student.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think hip hop was another layer of my education,\u201d said Mountain. \u201cHip hop was a curriculum for me beyond the school day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Far from a casual listener, Mountain began to deconstruct the tracks, tracing samples back to their roots. A snippet of a Malcolm X speech or the loop of an Isaac Hayes song became his syllabus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHip hop was telling me what to read,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was posing questions for me to think about. It was making me go back and listen to old music that I had not heard. And so not only was it expanding what I was reading, it was expanding my listening and what I was listening to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mountain brought this curiosity to Georgia Southern as a history major. He sought out mentors like history Professor Cathy Skidmore-Hess, Ph.D., and former Director of the Center for Africana Studies Saba Jallow, Ph.D., who helped him fill the \u201cblanks and voids\u201d in his history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By day, he studied West African traditions, and by night, he was \u201cThe Doctor\u201d on WVGS, playing the music that sampled those very same traditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inspired by his mother, who is also an educator, Mountain decided to bring his passions to the classroom. While working as a substitute teacher in Augusta, he says he realized students were starving for a connection to the curriculum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey wanted to see themselves in what they were learning,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was the spark. I realized I could use my history background to actually change how these kids saw the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so \u201cdef education\u201d was born. Mountain comes to class in a white lab coat, adorned with brightly colored graffiti \u2014 a flower with De La Soul emblazoned over it, a school bus that says \u201cDef Ed,\u201d and a message over the breast pocket: \u201cThe Doctor is In.\u201d He\u2019ll have students read lyrics from a song by Slick Rick or Jay-Z, explore the language and devices used to extract meaning. Then, they get to hear the song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

.\u201cIf you can show a student how the music they love is connected to the history of the world, you\u2019ve won them over,\u201d said Mountain. \u201cYou\u2019ve given them a reason to be curious.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mountain recalled a fifth-grade student from Ethiopia who significantly struggled with reading. By integrating Afrobeat and the music the student loved into the lessons, Mountain saw the boy grow three grade levels in a single year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe secret was just pulling in his interests and making them central to what we were doing,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen a student feels seen, they feel capable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the path of \u201cdef educator\u201d wasn\u2019t always a smooth ascent. As Mountain\u2019s reputation grew, so did his responsibilities. He moved into school leadership, serving as a principal and administrator. He found himself in boardrooms and district offices, managing budgets and policies. While he was successful, he felt a growing distance from the very thing that made him happy: making a difference in the lives of students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI drifted away from it and became a boss, but I never wanted to be a boss of grown people,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted to work with the youth. That\u2019s what keeps you young and keeps you connected. I\u2019m 50, but they keep me young.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 10 years in leadership, Mountain returned to the classroom. It was a decision that prepared him for his dream job. By staying true to his identity as an educator, he caught the attention of The Hip Hop Museum in the Bronx through which he\u2019s met many of his hip hop heroes. They weren\u2019t just looking for an administrator: they were looking for a teacher who understood how music can spark creativity in students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Mountain\u2019s work is expanding to a global scale. He recently released his third book, \u201cPawn Takes Rook: Urban Mosaic Pedagogy,\u201d which examines educational leadership and power structures. In April, he will travel to the United Kingdom to lecture at the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance. His talks will focus on the \u201csonic fingerprint\u201d of the diaspora and how hip hop serves as a global educational tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after, in May, he will transition into his new role as director of education at The Hip Hop Museum, leading youth entrepreneurship initiatives with Microsoft and developing partnerships with the Berklee College of Music and The New York Public Library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking back, Mountain credits Georgia Southern for giving him the space to be his authentic self \u2014 to be \u201can intellectual and a hip hop head at the same time.\u201d He sees now that all of it looped together, just like a perfect hip hop song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel like this is legacy work,\u201d said Mountain. \u201cI feel like what I did today ties right back to that picture of me at WVGS on the turntables, because I was sending messages out. I was playing Gil Scott-Heron. I was talking about, you know, Chubb Rock\u2019s new record, where he\u2019s giving a message about peace in the Middle East. I was teaching then. I was teaching then on the turntables.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And he\u2019s teaching now the same way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Doy Cave<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cDef,\u201d for those unfamiliar, is an informal adjective, born out of \u201880s hip hop culture, meaning \u201ccool\u201d or \u201cexcellent.\u201d For Andr\u00e9 Benito Mountain (\u201998,\u201924), however, \u201cdef\u201d is not simply cultural slang. It is the foundation of his pedagogy. From his days as a Georgia Southern University student, spinning records on the student-run radio station WVGS, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":12282,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[91,92],"class_list":["post-12279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-fall-2025","tag-spring-2026"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t