A group of high school students in the South Bronx are using hip-hop as a form of therapy to tackle problems they face in their community.

Students in the hip-hop therapy class at New Visions Charter School learn to drop beats and spit rhymes as a way of expressing themselves.

The class was created by Ian Levy, a school counselor with a vision to change mental health counseling in schools.

"My class is a place they can come and they can sit and they can vent on any interpersonal struggles they may have, any emotional difficulties that they are going through, and they can do that through rhyme," Levy said.

Hip-hop personality Sway Calloway recently visited the class. After receiving free pairs of sneakers, students laced up their shoes, broke into groups, and began to write and perform rhymes about their fears.

"If I was on the street I could've ended up in jail or dead," student Elijah Harris said. "So I can be in here rapping about different things that are going on in the street to prevent other people from doing it."