In my first official interview with each of my three dissertation research participants, I asked them to answer the question, “What is hip-hop education?” To analyze their responses, I edited their answers down to their most salient moments and remix them by laying them over related music. The next step was to compare the remixed responses to see what resonances and conflicts emerged.
I exported the “acapellas” from each first-round remix and edited them down to what I consider to be their most crucial segments. Then I organized the sequences into a kind of “cypher,” where the three participants virtually pass the mic. I put all this over the instrumental from “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)” by Pete Rock and CL Smooth, not for any special thematic reason, but because I consider it to be an exceptionally powerful and meaningful song.