Click here to watch the video.

Ben Wiggins spent most of his young life trying to break into the hip-hop industry but realized along the way that the same hardcore music he tried making a career out of regularly flowed through his three sons’ ears on car rides.

So Ben Wiggins, 32, and his sister, Sabrina Wiggins, 31, both of Capitol Heights, decided children deserved their own hip-hop, an alternative to negative lyrics often associated with songs on the radio. The siblings formed Hip Hop Education in 2005 as Ben Wiggins gained notoriety making kid-oriented hip-hop songs back home in Summerville, Ga.

Jackie Hines, an instructor at Gingerbread Little Versity heard about Wiggins’ music through word of mouth and contacted him to work with the students at the charter school in Fuquay Varina, N.C., for the 2005-2006 school year.

Hines relocated to Washington, D.C., in 2006 to teach at the Community Academy Public Charter School and Ben Wiggins followed. He began an after-school program at the school where he encouraged children to come up with song topics based on what was going on in their lives, such as what they wanted to be when they grew up. Ben Wiggins moved into Sabrina Wiggins’ Capitol Heights home to be closer to the job where she handles the group’s paper work, makes press kits and continues to network with those interested in the organization.

Sabrina Wiggins said her brother was always musically inclined since their childhood in Summerville. She said she is 100 percent behind her brother’s mission to give children options in hip-hop, adding that song lyrics in today’s hip-hop became more noticeable after she had children.

‘‘You heard it before, but to listen to my kids singing along, that’s an eye opener for you,” Sabrina Wiggins said. ‘‘Eventually they’re going to understand what they’re saying.”

The Wiggins siblings released their first album of six songs in 2005, called ‘‘Child’s Play Volume One,” which includes the song ‘‘Buckle Up,” stressing the habit of fastening one’s seatbelt before riding in the car. The most recent single is the ‘‘Toothbrush Song,” released in August.

Ben Wiggins said he is also working on lyrics for an unreleased song called ‘‘Message to the Child Predator.” One verse reads, ‘‘I will contact the P-O-L-I-C-E, if you think about talking to me, lock you up and throw away the key.”

Ben Wiggins said he is not sure when a second volume will be released, but said some dentists have bought the ‘‘Toothbrush Song” single to encourage better dental hygiene in younger patients. The first album costs $10 and a single costs $5, but Ben Wiggins said he mostly gives the songs away.

‘‘I do work on the Internet, use various sites, ask them if they like to hear a song,” Ben Wiggins said. ‘‘They’re starting to get global, national attention. People would plug into it, and they would leave their [guestbook] comments.”

Ben Wiggins said his songs receive airplay on Utopia Radio in Australia and added he also receives samples of beats to use for future songs, such as ones from a Japanese producer Hidekazu Seki, known as ‘‘Hidden Beats.”

Songs such as the ‘‘Toothbrush Song” receive local airplay on WPGC 95.5 FM in Morningside through DJ Rico.

‘‘He spins Hip Hop Education pretty good,” Ben Wiggins said. ‘‘He’ll dedicate sessions to the children. They’re interested. It’s been overlooked that children don’t have their own hip-hop to listen to, especially in the black community.”

Michelle Carter of D.C. discovered Hip Hop Education while her daughter Rechelle Rice, then 10, attended the Community Academy Public Charter School in Washington, D.C. Rice, now 12 and attending the William E. Doar Jr. Public Charter School for the Performing Arts in D.C., was asked to lend solo vocals to the recording of ‘‘Look at Me.”

‘‘It really helped her as far as her self-esteem and being able to speak in front of people,” Carter said. ‘‘It’s basically saying, ‘Look at me and enjoy me for who I am, not who you want me to be or what you think I should be. Let me grow up and come into my own with your help, but not so much as to hinder.’”

Carter said her other favorite songs are ‘‘Soldier, Soldier,” about family serving in the war in Iraq, and ‘‘911.”

‘‘I thought that [the 911 song] was very informative,” Carter said. ‘‘Nowadays people are getting their kids to help in emergency situations, but if a teacher had this to use as an instructional tool, it will help with emergency situations at school.”

Ben Wiggins said there are well-known artists using hip-hop as an educational tool. He referenced rapper Professor Griff, former member of 1980s rap group Public Enemy, who released a CD called ‘‘Kid Hoppaz.” However, he said most artists interested in hip-hop education usually do not use real children for the vocals and instead show stuffed animals singing the songs.

But in the Wiggins’ case, the whole clan gets involved with the music making. All three of Ben Wiggins’ children—Simplicity Kappler, 9; Shaheem Kappler, 6; and Solomon Smith, 5—rap and sing on the tracks. Sabrina Wiggins’ daughters, 6-year-old Ajaezia Scott and 11-year-old Talia Wheeler, lend their rhymes.

Jan’es Canty, vocal music teacher at District Heights Elementary School for 13 years, said she has never heard of Hip Hop Education but said the Washington Performing Arts Society has visited the school in the past to introduce students to different dance and song styles, including hip-hop. Canty said the songs offered positive messages for children about being true to themselves and being proud of what makes them unique.

‘‘Personally, I think you can learn a lot by adding dance and those hip-hop rhythms, whether it’s through the song they’re using or by teaching them a song,” Canty said. ‘‘Reading. Social studies. Math. I think you can incorporate it all within hip-hop musical style, beat and dance.”

The siblings intend to take Hip Hop Education beyond kid-friendly music. The program intends to add additional programs such as a book club to encourage literacy, a sports and fitness program, an after-school program and community outreach such as coat and back-to-school supply drives.

‘‘I believe each one can teach one,” Ben Wiggins said. ‘‘I want the children to have something I never had.”

E-mail Natalie McGill at nmcgill@gazette.net.