PwC and Rap Artist Dee-1 Join Forces to Teach Houston YES Prep Students About Financial Literacy

Teacher, rapper and social activist Dee-1 teamed up with PricewaterhouseCoopers at YES Prep Southeast this week to perform in front of 1,000 students and talk about the importance of leading financially responsible lifestyles. His popular song Sallie Mae Back about paying off his own student loans-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqbXQa05Z6c -- has attracted more than 320,000 YouTube hits nationally, hitting a nerve among the more than 40 million Americans making up the country's staggering 1.3 trillion in student loan debt.

“I’m a young black man, with dreadlocks, from New Orleans, who is a rapper. When I walk into these classrooms with black and brown students and they look at me, they’re like, ‘Wait, that dude is one of us,’ before I even open my mouth,” he told the Washington Post. “My voice is authentic to them, my life experience is authentic to them, so when I hit them with the knowledge, the financial literacy piece, they’re all ears.”

The performance is part of a new, unique collaboration between the rapper and PwC as part of the firm’s Earn Your Future (EYF) program, a $190 million commitment focused on helping students develop critical financial skills and providing educators with the resources and training to teach those skills (http://responsible.pwc.com/cha...). Said Ray Garcia, PwC Greater Houston Market Managing Partner, of the partnership, “Every young person deserves the opportunity of a great education and we can’t underestimate the need to address unequal access. This means taking a more active role in responsible business and working with nonprofits, schools and other organizations to create education and training opportunities beyond the traditional classroom.”