Get Your Green On
Off the top of your head, name five songs about the environment. Any hip hop songs make the list?
A group of high school students may just change that, with their song, "Get Your Green On." Written, performed, and produced by students at St. Paul's High School for Recording Arts, the song came out of a class that teaches students about sustainability and the green (money) related to environmental jobs.
Listen to "Get Your Green On" here:
The High School for Recording Arts is based on a hip-hop curriculum, meaning that the school's 225 students engage with learning through music. The project-based, public charter school is built around a professional recording studio. Founded 12 years ago, HRSA encourages students who may have dropped out or expelled from a traditional public school setting.
Renee Swanson, a TPL listener and science teacher at the school, co-designed the class and was in touch with The Promised Land throughout the writing and recording process. Students were inspired by Majora and The Promised Land, listening to Majora's TED talk and discussing the show in class.
LaDawn Morris, a senior in her first year at the school, came to hear Majora speak at the University of Minnesota's Momentum Series. LaDawn said it was a challenge to write a song that was both educational and entertaining, but that the song came together in under a week. "How can we educate people around the environment and still make [the song] interesting for people to listen to?" she said. "The hardest part was getting all that information in…singing it was easy."
LaDawn said although the word "green" is tossed around a lot, she learned that "when it comes to 'going green,' it's about doing, not just saying."
Listen to the song here, and you'll probably get LaDawn's favorite riff stuck in your head too: "You gotta get your green cause if you don't, the world will go warm, the world will go warm, go wa-r-m."
