Veteran rapper KRS-One took hip-hop to a higher level, but educational maverick Dr. Chris Emdin is taking the culture to another plateau and dropping some real science.

Dr. Emdin is the creator of the Science Genius B.A.T.T.L.E.S. (Bring Attention to Transforming Teaching, Learning and Engagement in Science). The program is geared to make science education fun and easy for students at Bronx Compass High School in New York by using hip-hop as the foundation.

In the video above, the teens are given the task to research and write verses about the scientific process of photosynthesis. Initially, they scoffed at the assignment because, as one student puts it, "science is too much smartness."

But through teaching and some persistence, students were able to craft a couple of bars about the process by which green plants grab the sun to create foods from carbon dioxide and water.

Now let's see Rick Ross do that.

In one instance, DJ Spazekraft (pronounced "Space Craft") helps a shy young man break out of his shell and spit a rhyme about photosynthesis. We give props to Spazekraft for making a beat using his mouth and a Kalimba. Now that's the science of freestyle beat-boxing.

In the end, the students used hip-hop as a tool to learn about science.

Hey, it's better than kids listening to Juicy J and learning how to twerk or pop bands.

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