Royals Rise: Hip-Hop and the Next Generation of Black–Jewish Leadership
- drschindler4
- 3 hours ago
- 4 min read
By Antar “Juda” Davidson
One of the most powerful things about hip-hop is that it naturally teaches the skills young people need to succeed in the real world. Collaboration. Communication. Creative problem-solving. Leadership. When students create music together, they are also learning how to organize ideas, work as a team, and turn imagination into something tangible.
At the same time, hip-hop has always been deeply connected to civic life. It tells stories about communities, challenges systems, and invites participation in shaping the future. When those two dynamics come together—creative collaboration and civic conversation—hip-hop becomes a powerful tool for both workforce development and civic engagement.
That dynamic was on full display recently at Queens University of Charlotte, where we partnered with Hillel, the Black Student Union, and the Music Therapy Department for a program designed to demonstrate how hip-hop can help students build practical skills while exploring shared history and leadership across communities.
The program was made possible in part through the coordination and support of Spill the Honey’s leadership team, including Dr. Judy Schindler.
As part of Spill the Honey’s broader mission to strengthen Black–Jewish partnerships through education and culture, the program brought students together to explore how creative collaboration can open pathways to leadership, opportunity, and community impact.
We began with a music creation session alongside Charlotte artist and community leader Dae-Lee Arrington. Together with the students, we discussed the historic Black–Jewish civil rights alliance and explored what partnership across communities can look like today. From there, the conversation turned toward hip-hop as a modern vehicle for civic participation and leadership development.
In many ways, this is the goal of the Bars & Bridges approach, a program I developed through my work with Spill the Honey that brings students from different communities together to collaborate creatively while building the skills that translate into real-world opportunity.
Programs like this also reinforce the educational mission of Spill the Honey by translating the lessons of the Shared Legacies curriculum into interactive experiences that students can actively participate in. Increasingly, universities and community organizations are exploring how programs like Bars & Bridges can bring creative civic engagement and leadership development into their own campuses and communities.
After the conversation, the room shifted into a creative studio.
Students began building a song together in real time. Two students moved to the piano, another picked up the guitar, and vocalists began shaping melodies. The group decided collectively that the theme of the track would be upward mobility—the idea that communities move forward when individuals see themselves not only as participants in society, but as contributors to a shared future.
Working from the melody the students created on piano and guitar, we used emerging music technology to develop a full track. The result was a collaborative anthem titled “Royals Rise.”
In many ways, the song became the crystallization of the entire experience—a piece of content that captured the conversation, collaboration, and shared aspirations that had developed in the room.
As the track came together, I added a verse reflecting the spirit of the session:
In my third eye I see royals rise on eagle’s wings dreams, let ’em fly in a higher space is where I reside and the I is we and we all seek higher tides.
The verse builds toward a theme that sits at the center of the Bars & Bridges methodology—the connection between culture, civic participation, and shared power:
From the block to the ballot we structure the culture turn participation to power, now the future is sculpted. And it’s we that sculpt it.
The following evening, students gathered again for Queens University’s Soul Food Shabbat, where we continued the conversation during a panel discussion with Dae-Lee Arrington. Together we unpacked the lyrics, the creative process behind the song, and how collaborative music-making can help students see themselves as leaders within their communities. The completed track was also shared with the Soul Food Shabbat audience, allowing the community to hear the collaboration the students had created the day before.
What stood out most was how quickly the students embraced the idea that creativity and opportunity are connected. When young people realize that the same skills used to write a song—teamwork, storytelling, initiative, and discipline—are also the skills that build careers, strengthen communities, and shape civic life, something shifts.
That realization is exactly what Bars & Bridges is designed to spark.
By bringing students from different backgrounds into a shared creative process, the program demonstrates how culture can become a bridge to leadership, workforce development, and civic participation. The event itself becomes a catalyst for deeper engagement, while the music produced becomes a lasting artifact of the dialogue and collaboration that took place.
The impact was immediate. Following the program, a student leader from the Black Student Union expressed interest in joining Spill the Honey’s upcoming Student Ambassador Program, which will help expand this model to campuses across the country.
Moments like that are a reminder that when students are invited into meaningful collaboration, they often step forward with enthusiasm and initiative.
In the end, the students at Queens didn’t just write a song.
They practiced the skills that help build movements, careers, and communities.
And in doing so, they demonstrated why hip-hop remains one of the most powerful tools we have for education, leadership development, and civic engagement.
Click here to hear their song “Royals Rise”: Our Work | Spill the Honey | Black-Jewish Alliance
Read more about this Hip Hop Program at Queens:
