Hip Hop Kids

An after-school program may seem like a drag to 8-year-olds who’d rather be outside shooting hoops or inside watching TV. But to the mini-Missy Elliotts and Jay-Zs who take part in a learn-to-rap project called the Rappers Delight Club, it’s a place to let loose and dream big.

Last year, the group, part of the Kids After Hours program at Glenallan Elementary School in Silver Spring, debuted four original hip-hop tracks on MySpace.com: “First Ladies Anthem,” “Hum,” “Tick Tock” and “We’re Not Done.”

Their rhymes are catchy, fun ruminations on such subjects as selling Girl Scout cookies and drinking milk.

The State Of . . . Hip Hop was always for the kids as O.D.B. used to say. You can check their Myspace page here. If you listen to one of their songs, you can’t tell me (rich) that hip hop is all bad. Wouldn’t you rather have your son doing this than dancing like Beyonce?