Keith Cross (AKA Doctabarz) is a veteran emcee, singer-songwriter, and scholar. He has a Ph.D. in Race, Inequality and Language in Education and a Ph.D. Minor in Linguistics from Stanford University. In his art and scholarship, Cross explores the ways lyricism (i.e., the composition and performance of song lyrics) is connected to cognitive function, language (and language-mediated) learning, and cultural and environmental sustainability. Cross is the former Assistant Professor of Multilingual and Multicultural Education at University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, and for several years, has taught Hip Hop lyricism (i.e., rap) to both youth and the elderly, as a tool for enhancing mental, social and spiritual well-being.