“They Come for the Hip Hop but Stay for the Healing”

• Main Author: Leafloor, Stephen “Buddha”
• Format: Book Part
• Language: unknown
• Published: Oxford University Press 2022
• Subjects: Arctic; Buddha
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190247867.013.20; https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/45132/chapter/386582443

Abstract This chapter is about mental health outreach and community healing through Hip Hop in remote Indigenous communities, Canada’s high Arctic, and in maximum-security youth prisons. It considers empowering youth to heal and find their own voices using a variety of best-practice techniques, including traditional culture and the elements of Hip Hop, also utilizing the power of the drum, stomping, meditation, and the spoken word. Blueprintforlife and Blueprint Pathways were founded by Canadian B-boy Stephen Leafloor, aka “Buddha” who has been streetdancing since 1975. Their work has been the recipient of many national and international awards, and the focus of ten documentaries. The chapter includes a number of stories to illustrate the work.