Rap Music in School Counseling Based on Don Elligan’s Rap Therapy This article takes a look at the idea of Rap Therapy as a psychotherapeutic intervention introduced by Don Elligan. The therapy is used for working with at-risk youths, primarily African American males whose identities are highly influenced by rap music. Rap music influences the way youth speak, act and perceive their environment. This article discusses the challenges counselors face on an everyday basis working with inner-city youth and the cultural barriers that exist while trying to build and establish rapport for both the client and counselor environment. Rap Therapy, as stated in the article, is rooted in social learning theory and can be integrated into a cognitive behavioral model (Gonzalez & Hayes, 2009). The importance of integrating Rap Therapy with a cognitive behavioral model is that the clients become aware of the association between personal lyric interpretation, their emotions, and at-risk behaviors. This awareness aids in their ability to be reflective and allows them to effectively problem solve. In this article, Rap Therapy is conducted in five stages: assessment, alliance, reframing, role play/reinforcement, and action/maintenance. Before starting the Therapy, Elligan suggests administering self-report pre and post questionnaires to track the progress of the client’s at-risk behaviors. During the assessment stage, the counselor is doing just that; assessing the client’s interest in rap music and finding out their favorite songs, artists, and groups and determining if the clients have infused this medium into their personal identities. In the alliance stage, the counselors’ goal is to build rapport with the client by actively listening to music together and discussing the possible interpretations of the lyrics. The reframing stage is where the counselor attempts to broaden the