TEDxGallatin - @Farbeon - Hip Hop Re:Education

Fabian "FARBEON" Saucedo epitomizes the Hip Hop Renaissance. As an artist, educator and agent of change he has graced stages, panels and classrooms globally, from the streets of Spanish Harlem to the halls of Georgetown University to the former USSR air-force hangers of Hip Hop KEMP in the Czech Republic. In addition to rocking shows with The Last Poets, Rob Swift, Fishbone, The Coup, J-Live, Wordsworth, Method Man and Camp Lo, he has co-taught classes with Talib Kweli, Pharoahe Monch, and Fab Five Freddy. FARBEON is the co-founder of Say Word Entertainment, a collective of socially-conscious and like-minded artists, musicians, and promoters, who work to maintain and support the development of genuine hip-hop culture, community, and activism in NYC and abroad. In 2002, FARBEON worked with veteran producer Foundation (Universatile Music) to drop his debut album, "Collective Memory" which remains a classic 9 years after its release. As well, FARBEON has expanded his performance range to include the use of loop stations and effects pedals. His music has been featured in television and film. FARBEON is the Co-Founder and Director of The Hip Hop Re:Education Project, a community-based organization that develops Hip Hop educational and cultural programming in New York City, throughout the United States and abroad. He also serves as the NYC Program Director for the BronxBerlinConnection, a year-round cross cultural exchange program that uses Hip Hop to explore and express the unique experiences of urban youth around the world, the critical challenges they face and the solutions necessary to enact change in their communities. He has toured Europe 7 times in the last 3 years, including this past fall with support from the U.S. State Department. He is currently developing his own Masters Degree in Hip Hop Re:Education through the Gallatin School of Individualized Studies at New York University and plans to graduate in the Fall of 2012. You can find out more at www.farbeon.com and www.reeducate.org.

Hip Hop Re:Education is an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning that relies on an array of best practices to meet the needs of today's global learner. Remixing education to include arts-integration, digital media and youth-centered curricula, Hip Hop Re:Educators encourage youth to commit to a craft and invest in the creative process. Programs like the BronxBerlinConnnection, a year-round cross cultural exchange program that connects young people from New York City and Berlin, use this progressive educational approach to transform communities, engage marginalized and disengaged youth and improve youth motivation and achievement. Using the same beats, common lyrical themes and different languages on two separate continents the BronxBerlinConnection works to not only produce multi-lingual, cross-cultural poems, songs and albums, but more importantly it seeks to engage today's youth in a continual process of cultural exchange, raising forth critical dialogue. Thus far the BronxBerlinConnection has developed 2 full-length records, facilitated 4 international cultural exchange trips and filmed and released dozens of music videos and documentary films.

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