ABSTRACT
Prophetic criticism of youth voice between the academy, schools, and community represents a way forward for educational leaders interested in novel ways to deconstruct and reframe negative imaging practices on black male youth in popular culture. This chapter represents a continuation and deepening of a forthcoming article entitled, "Situating Educational Leaders as Prophetic Critics in Black Popular Culture", to be published in Equity and Excellence in Education. In the intellectual challenge, prophetic critics are upfront in challenging Matthew Arnoldian conceptions of culture. Centering youth voice means enabling them to produce their own media to critique, challenge, and disrupts dominant narratives that label and marginalize urban youth as perpetrators who create an unsafe environment. In hip-hop studios, youth are the teachers, locating themselves in history through the art of their rhymes and lyrics. The cultural production of prophetic hip-hop texts are designed to challenge the students consciousness and thinking on matters of discipline and punishment of urban youth.
