“You're All I Need to Get By”

Abstract

This autoethnographic reflection examines the intersectional identity and mentorship experiences of the chapter's authors: the mentor and the mentees. Each author will discuss their experiences with unconventional mentorship and how it shaped their research agendas, professional careers, and personal identity through the lenses of hip-hop feminism and gendered racial identity development. Although a widespread image of hip-hop culture is often associated with gangsters, thugs, pimps, misogyny, drugs, and violence, hip-hop culture has been a means of individual expression and messages of community, peace, and social consciousness. Love explained that students who identify with hip-hop culture embody grit and social and emotional intelligence, which are predictors of academic success. The authors provide rich descriptive data by formally exploring mentoring relationships and suggest action steps to enrich the mentorship experience.