Kendrick Lamar is slowly but surely witnessing the ripple effect of his influence as it moves from his home streets of Compton all across the country. A few months back, he caught wind of one particular North Bergen, New Jersey high school that used his work as a basis for an entire class. In a viral blog post, High Tech High School teacher Brian Mooney used lyrics from To Pimp A Butterfly to draw parallels between his class’ assigned reading material, Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.
READ: Kendrick Lamar Visits New Jersey High School To Hear Students’ Poetry And Freestyles
His students to wrote their own essays comparing the two artistic works and Mooney posted the responses in a second blog post. K.Dot wound up visiting the school to hear them perform their works and participate in a cypher. Now that same school is the site of a new scholarship inspired by Lamar’s “Alright.”
READ: There Is Now A Class On Kendrick Lamar’s ‘good Kid, m.A.A.d city’
The Philadelphia-based organization Oogee Woogee has launched the “Be Alright” scholarship, which will give $1500 to one student at High Tech High to go towards tuition and book fees. During the contest, which started today (Aug. 21), applicants must create a 2-3 minute video using their talents to explain the positive aspects of hip-hop. Viewers will watch videos and like and share to vote for their favorite contestant. The contest ends on Tuesday, Aug. 25 at 9 a.m.
Eventually, Oogee Woogee plans to bring the scholarship to Philly, then expand it nationally. Check out the promo video for the High Tech High scholarship here, and happy voting.