The study of informal musical learning outside institutional settings, such as schools, has proved to contribute important knowledge to aspects of music education. Hip-hop, as an example of informal musical learning, has so far been quite an unexplored field for research. The present study investigates music creation within two hip-hop groups (communes) in Sweden. The focus is on the creative learning process and the meeting between music and lyrics (the texts). The groups were given a beat/background, composed by a 'beatmaker', on the basis of which they were asked to create a hip-hop tune. The process, which took place in a recording studio with a sound engineer, was observed and videotaped. After the recording sessions, both groups watched the videotape and made comments on their working processes (stimulated recall). Pre-interviews were carried out with both groups, and in addition, the 'beatmaker' was interviewed. The results show that in the creative process, which is collective in character, the lyrics are superior to the music. Although the groups use the same ready-made music backgrounds, the lyrics are different and very personal. The text, which includes music and lyrics, is cyclical and is made using a 'collage' method. It is full of intertextuality, i.e. references to other lyrics, movies and commercials.

Research about non-institutional musical environments, like hiphop, is important when education and learning are being discussed. The literature on aesthetic informal learning is limited. We need to know more about how learning is organised in autonomous and musical contexts. In this article two female rappers from New York City are in focus. The rapper Jean Grae is a Grammy nominated rapper who is well-known around the world. Toni Blackman is a hiphop ambassador, appointed by the U.S. Department of State. Her different social and educational projects on hiphop have been given a lot of attention in the press. The purpose of this article is to study what kinds of learning aspects appear in the rappers’ talk about their work in interviews, group conversations, magazines and selfproduced texts. The results show how the rappers stand out like fosterers, popular adult educators, jazz musicians, tradition-bearers, specialists and artists. Linguistic reformulations are used to analyze the complexity of the rappers' activities. Finally, the article discusses how school can be a fosterer and a tradition-bearer and at the same time positive and open to new forms of popular culture.