Urban youth of color are oppressed in too many educational systems worldwide. Traditional pedagogies that lack cultural relevance are the norm which places this population at a disadvantage. This chapter offers hip-hop in theory and practice for successful pedagogy, learning, and youth engagement. The sociocultural cognitive Hip-Hop Development Theory (HHD) and its success as a framework for transformative teaching is presented. The theory’s principles, curvilinear pathways/formal features, core components, and root elements in successful hip-hop praxis pedagogy are discussed. AKUVA (Acknowledgement, Knowledge, Understanding, Value, and Application) of the theory’s four main themes is proposed. 

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A cipher activity from the evidence-based Hip-Hop 2 Prevent Substance Abuse and HIV/AIDS (H2P) program provides a hip-hop praxis pedagogy example. The chapter concludes with a discussion about the need for a hip-hop praxis pedagogy that is liberatory, ratchetdemic, relevant, and contextualized within HHD. The strengths and gifts of students become evident and acknowledged, and they willingly engage as their true and authentic selves.