ABSTRACT
In 2003–2004 while I was enrolled in the Master’s of Music Therapy program at Wilfrid Laurier University, I conducted research on the use of Hip-Hop with youth in an urban shelter. I was very interested in Hip-Hop as it seemed to be the most direct way in which I, as a music therapist, could meet the aesthetic needs and interests of the music therapy participants. With limited Hip-Hop specific experience, skills, and equipment, I developed makeshift methods of approximating the Hip-Hop musical 212aesthetic* in the music therapy sessions and engaging the youth in music making. This study was done before my own personal journey into the world of software-based recording and music making. If I were working with youth and Hip-Hop today, I would use a laptop computer with MIDI controllers as my primary instrument with the much more flexible and powerful tools available in modern DAW (digital audio workstation) software. The fact that the data was so rich in content, despite my relative inexperience with the equipment and the genre, is a testament to the power and potential of this unique musical form that has so captivated and become so firmly embedded in youth culture around the world.
