Inside the Beaverdale Hip Hop Academy, where breakdancers, beatmakers, and emcees are reshaping a quiet Iowa community
Beaverdale, a leafy neighborhood of Tudor-style cottages and a popular custard stand in Des Moines, Iowa, isn't the place most people associate with hip hop. But inside a converted carpet store on Beaver Avenue, 200 students a week now gather to break, rhyme, and produce beats.
The Beaverdale Hip Hop Academy opened three years ago with a leaking roof, borrowed speakers, and a handful of artists who met in a church basement to talk about gaps in music education. Today, it spans 4,500 square feet and has become one of the Midwest's more unexpected incubators for hip hop talent. Its rise says less about overnight success than about what happens when a community identifies something missing—and builds it themselves.
From Empty Storefront to Cultural Anchor
When Marcus Chen first walked through the doors of what would become the academy in 2021, the space had sat vacant for 18 months. Chen, a 34-year-old producer and former middle school music teacher, had been running free beatmaking workshops at Des Moines public libraries. The turnout kept growing. Parents asked about classes for their kids. Teenagers wanted studio time.
"I kept running into this ceiling," Chen said. "There was interest, there was talent, but there was no place where it could all live together."
He recruited two collaborators: breakdancer Aaliyah Okonkwo, who had trained in Chicago and Minneapolis, and emcee Ramón "Cipher" Delgado, a veteran of the local open-mic circuit. Together, they scraped together grants from the Iowa Arts Council and a small-business loan to sign the lease.
The renovation took eight months. They installed a sprung-floor breaking room themselves, salvaged studio foam from a closing radio station, and built a 150-seat performance space where the carpet showroom floor had been.
What Students Actually Learn
The academy's curriculum deliberately bridges technique and context. Students as young as seven and as old as 65 enroll in courses that range from beginner to pre-professional:
- Beatmaking 101 and 201: Students learn production on Ableton Live and FL Studio, starting with drum programming and progressing to sampling, mixing, and distribution basics.
- Breaking Foundations: Classes cover toprock, footwork, freezes, and power moves, with required readings on the dance's origins in the Bronx.
- Emcee Essentials: Lyrical writing, breath control, and stage presence, taught by Delgado with guest sessions from touring artists.
- Hip Hop History: A seminar-style course tracing the genre from 1973 to present, with emphasis on regional scenes and the Midwest's often-overlooked contributions.
But the formal classes are only part of the draw. Every Thursday night, the academy hosts a cypher in the breaking room. Monthly beat battles pit producers against each other in front of live audiences. Twice a year, students mount showcases that have begun drawing talent scouts from Chicago and Kansas City.
"The cypher is where you really grow," said Deshaun Williams, 16, a breaking student from the North Side who has attended for two years. "In class, you're learning moves. In the cypher, you're learning how to battle, how to read a room, how to hold your own."
Measurable Ripples in a Quiet Neighborhood
The academy's influence extends beyond its walls in ways that can be tracked.
Riverside Records, a vinyl and DJ equipment shop three blocks north, saw turntable sales jump 40% in 2023, according to owner Dana Okonkwo (no relation to Aaliyah). The nearby Beaverdale Bean coffee shop added weekend evening hours after noticing post-class traffic. Chen and his co-founders have also partnered with five Des Moines public schools to run free after-school programs, reaching another 120 students who don't pay tuition.
Perhaps the most visible change is on the neighborhood's buildings. In 2022, the academy secured city permission to commission murals on four exterior walls within a half-mile radius. Local artists painted portraits of Iowa-connected hip hop figures, including producer DJ Frank E and the late rapper Coolzey. A fifth mural is planned for this fall.
"People used to drive through Beaverdale to get somewhere else," said Beaverdale Neighborhood Association president Tom Henderson. "Now they're stopping. They're walking around. There's actual foot traffic on weeknights."
Tensions and Trade-Offs
The growth hasn't been seamless. Some longtime residents have complained about noise from late-night cyphers and parking congestion during showcases. The academy has responded by hiring a lot attendant for events and installing soundproofing in the breaking room—a $12,000 expense that delayed plans for a third production studio.
There are also questions about sustainability. Chen declined to share revenue figures but acknowledged that the academy runs
