{"id":338157,"date":"2026-09-04T16:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T16:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/338157\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T16:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T16:30:14","slug":"grammy-nominated-atlanta-rapper-latto-brings-big-mama-energy-to-bronx-classroom-for-celebrity-substitute-bronx-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/338157\/","title":{"rendered":"Grammy-nominated Atlanta rapper Latto brings \u2018Big Mama\u2019 energy to Bronx classroom for \u2018Celebrity Substitute\u2019 \u2013 Bronx Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the help of one multi-platinum rapper, Bronx students overcame their anxieties, learned to freestyle and even starred in a music video<\/a> filmed at their own school.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Atlanta rapper Latto visited P.S. 369 Young Leaders Elementary school in Mott Haven to teach a class of elementary students the art of freestyle rap, as part of the \u201cCelebrity Substitute<\/a>\u201d web-series, which sees various public figures share their talents with classrooms across New York City.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a conversation with \u201cCelebrity Substitute\u201d host Julian Shapiro-Barnum, Latto explained why it\u2019s important for kids to learn about music.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cSpecifically rap, I think we get a misunderstood type of outlook when it comes to our genre. So I think maybe we can teach these kids to put some respect on it; it\u2019s actually an art,\u201d Latto said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cCelebrity Substitute\u201d sees various public figures share their talents with classrooms across New York City.\u00a0Photo courtesy of Celebrity Substitute. <\/p>\n

As part of each \u201cCelebrity Substitute\u201d episode, a lucky teacher\u2019s Amazon Classroom List is cleared, while their lucky students receive a brief but memorable lesson.<\/p>\n

The \u201cCelebrity Substitute\u201d crew aided the Young Leaders Elementary School with new renovations to their auditorium, including new lights and a wireless sound system.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Equally excited and engaged, the students asked Latto about her favorite movie \u201cWhite Chicks\u201d how much money she has \u201cabout $3 in my wallet right now\u201d and if \u201cMs. Big Mama\u201d has children.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI bet \u2018Big Mama\u2019 is the best mom,\u201d said one student, Alexis.\u00a0
\n\"\"Latto\u2019s two-hour lesson began with a lesson plan about the art of freestyling. Photo courtesy of Celebrity Substitute.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cBig Mama\u201d is also the name of Latto\u2019s most recent album, the cover of which highlights the pregnancy of her first child.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Latto\u2019s two-hour lesson began with a lesson plan about the art of freestyling, where students creatively rapped about their best friends, which was followed with time to sit down and write a proper verse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Big Mama\u2019 for me was an audible journey of my pregnancy,\u201d Latto told the classroom. \u201cI was rapping about that experience, being in love, feeling confident and what \u2018Big Mama\u2019 meant to me. Now you\u2019re gonna be writing a rap about who your big mama is.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"As part of each \u201cCelebrity Substitute\u201d episode, a lucky teacher\u2019s Amazon Classroom List is cleared, while their lucky students receive a brief but memorable lesson. Photo courtesy of Celebrity Substitute. <\/p>\n

At the end of their lesson, Young Leaders Elementary School students performed a remix of Latto\u2019s track \u201cMama\u201d with added verses about their own mothers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While students got to enjoy the novelty of being featured in a music video, staff were humbled by the generous renovations to the schools\u2019 auditorium.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cOur kids at P.S. 369 are super special to us and every year we have a talent show but we don\u2019t have the best equipment and we really haven\u2019t been able to give them the type of auditorium we deserve,\u201d said Principal Jaleelah Cooke-Coleman.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you can see, The Bronx got talent,\u201d third-grade teacher Ms. Morales added.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the help of one multi-platinum rapper, Bronx students overcame their anxieties, learned to freestyle and even starred…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338158,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[127020,127021,127022,128,60386,119279,127023,127024,127025,107540,127026,3796,9,24,63,19561,127027,129,131,130,127028],"class_list":["post-338157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-amazon-classroom-list","tag-atlanta-rapper","tag-big-mama","tag-bronx","tag-bronx-education","tag-bronx-education-news","tag-bronx-students","tag-celebrity-substitute","tag-julian-shapiro-barnum","tag-latto","tag-mama","tag-mott-haven","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-doe","tag-p-s-369","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news","tag-young-leaders-elementary-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}