A Michigan woman, who was previously named Teacher of the Month, said she lost her teaching job at a high school in February after officials became aware she’s also a rapper. According to WXYZ, Domonique Brown, who goes by the stage name Drippin’ Honey, was a history teacher at Taylor Preparatory High School.
Brown, an educator for seven years, had been teaching at the high school since August. But the teacher/rapper said she was ultimately terminated after one of her music videos was seen by a parent.
“The first meeting that I had with, like the principal and the dean, they had told me that the parent wished to stay anonymous and she felt as if she didn’t like my rap career and that I was a bad influence on the kids because I rap,” Brown recalled.
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Brown said school officials gave her an ultimatum to take down all her content or risk losing her job. “My mind and my heart were telling me two things. I couldn’t see myself, like, giving up my other passion just because somebody didn’t like it and they say, ‘Erase all your content.’ That was the ultimatum. Erase all your content. I was like, ‘Respectfully, I can’t do that,'” she said.
And though Brown also admitted that her songs have profane lyrics, she said that has not had any negative impact on Taylor Prep and how she has inspired her students and community.
“The meetings was like so one-sided where they only told me what somebody didn’t like. They didn’t tell me, as if, ‘You did this wrong. You did that wrong’ … that’s why I also [said] on my behalf, ‘Well send me what am I doing wrong in writing,’” she told WXYZ in response to being asked if the problem stemmed from her rap career or lyrics.
A parent who spoke with the news outlet also registered her disappointment with Brown losing her job. She said the educator had a positive impact on their children. Brown’s February termination came after she won Teacher of the Month in December.
“As a parent, we long for teachers who support our children and who inspire them, and she was one of those teachers. So really disappointed,” Christina Lynn Lackley-Bah, who has watched Brown’s videos, said.
Lackley-Bah also said that Brown’s videos are the same as other rap videos that minors can watch on social media. “For me, it doesn’t matter what you do outside of the education structure. Like, once you leave that particular building and you go on with life, you do whatever you do,” she added.
Brown touched on how she has missed her students and her job. “These kids have their own goals, their own aspirations. I’m just trying to see how I can help them,” she said.
Responding to her firing in a statement, a spokesperson with National Heritage Academies said, “While student and employee privacy rights limit the details I can share, what I can say is that we are aware of the alleged claims by a former teacher.”
The spokesperson added: “Student well-being remains at the forefront of everything we do, and we will continue fostering a distraction-free teaching and learning environment focused on student success.”
Brown said she has since gotten in touch with an attorney for advice relating to her termination. On her last day at work, Brown shot a music video in which her students made cameo appearances. The song, titled Drippin’ 101, has been viewed over 30,000 times on YouTube.
