A Michigan woman is saying she was recently fired from her teaching position because of her rap career and music videos.
Domonique Brown, whose rap name is Drippin' Honey, has been an educator for seven years. She started teaching history at Taylor Preparatory High School in August, but all that came to an abrupt end months after she says a parent came across one of her rap videos online.
“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 said.
She says she was fired in February because she’s a rapper. Before the firing, around Thanksgiving, she says there were meetings and an ultimatum.
“My mind and my heart were telling me two things," Brown added. "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.'"
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Brown acknowledges the profanity in her lyrics, but she says that has nothing to do with Taylor Prep and the positive impact she’s had on her students and the community.
Scripps News Detroit asked if she thinks the issue is her rap career or the (lyrical) content.
"The meetings was like so one-sided where they only told me what somebody didn’t like," Brown said. "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.'”
The writing was on the wall. Despite that, in December, she won teacher of the month.
In February, on her last day, she created a music video, "Drippin' 101," with her students that has since gone viral on TikTok.
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Christina Lynn Lackley-Bah told Scripps News, "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."
Lackley-Bah says her son, an 11th grader, started a petition in support of Brown, gathering over 200 student signatures.
She says she's seen Brown's videos, and that they're no different than any other hip-hop video a child can access on social media.
"For me, it doesn't matter what you do outside of the education structure," Lackley-Bah added. "Like, once you leave that particular building and you go on with life, you do whatever you do."
Brown says she misses her students and making an impact and is speaking with an attorney about her termination.
“These kids have their own goals, their own aspirations. I’m just trying to see how I can help them," she said.
Scripps News Detroit reached out to Taylor Prep High School for comment and received the following statement from spokeswoman Leah Nixon with National Heritage Academies:
"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. 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."
This story was originally published by Darren Cunningham at Scripps News Detroit.
