QUESTION: Rap in the classroom

[emily wallen]

Hi everyone,
I am taking an English course regarding film and media in the secondary classroom. As I ponder ways to capture the attention of my students and connect with what they know, or their culture, rap music a concept I keep coming back to.

I am beginning to create a unit plan that incorporates rap music. However,  besides putting it alongside poetry, I am having a hard time finding a place for it. How else could rap music engage students in a Language arts classroom? Also, would it be appropriate to somehow tie in how gender roles are depicted through rap music/videos?

[Anne Gaspers]

I use music to support my other curriculum goals in my upper level Spanish classes.  Do you have an enduring understanding or overarching theme that you want the students to take away?  For example, I use the theme of social justice for a 9 week unit that incorporates 3 short stories from our curriculum, film, music and art.  Then through using the music as a way to express the theme, we can talk about the cultural importance of music.  

 

I've also used music as a way to explore a grammar concept and engage students in looking for language similarities.

[Flocabulary]

We create rap music and resources that English teachers can use in the classroom! Check out some of our free videos here: http://www.flocabulary.com/teacher_free_songs_videos.html

[Terisa King]

Great web site!  I used your Edgar Allen Poe videos at introduction pieces, and I love the week in review videos.

[Anna J. Small Roseboro]

Hi Emily, Cross curricular study is a great way to deepen student understanding in mulitiple content areas. You may find it interesting to have students consider that they're studying in history and link rap song(s) to that area of study.

Consider this quotation from Nadine Gordimer, 1991 Nobel Laureate for Literature who included it in her acceptance speech,  'What is poetry which does not serve nations or people?'  Perhaps you could have the students choose a historical period or person and then select a rap that could have been written or sung about that historical period or event, or a rap that articulates the philosophy of one of the historical personages.  For example, if a film (fiction or non-fiction) were made of the historical period or featuring that historical person, what rap song could be used as a theme song lyrics could  that person sing to express him/herself.

Of course, the students could be asked to write a page or so describing the period or the person (with appropriate citations), the rap, and the reasons the rap is appropriate.  This writing could be posted on a website that includes photos or graphics and hyperlinks so others could view, listen and respond. 

 This assignment could serve both as a produce and performance assessment for both history and ELA with the history teacher grading or giving feedback on the history component and the ELA teacher grading or giving feedback on the writing component.  This assignment requires higher order thinking in the top three categories of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy

The primary value would accrue to the two teachers planning and designing the assignment.  We learn so much from one another.

[Terisa King]

Emily,

Your question is an excellent one. I would encourage you to look at rap music lyrics as a form of writing. In English course work, there are common formulations that are consistant in all forms of literature regardless of the genre. One being setting. Where are the lyrics set?   Incorporate predictions and inferences found through word choice into your lessons. Characterization requires the writer to use both direct and indirect descriptions of primary characters. Direct Characterization uses statements from the character about himself. "Ain't nothin' but a hound dog."  Indirect is what other characters say about the main character. " She's so beautiful to me. Can't you see...."

Focus students on how lyrics follow the elements of fiction and non-fiction writing, main ideas, comparison/contrast then use figurative language examples (conceits, metaphors, similies, rhetoric).  I have students select songs for characters in Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and Macbeth. They have to prove how the lyric fits the characterizations found in the plays. What's on Claudias' playlist?  What song would Juliet play at her wedding?

[David McCullough]

Emily,

You've posed an interesting question, and you have some great recommendations below. As far as gender roles as depicted in rap music/videos, why not? But I'd encourage you to think broadly about the music industry and American society in general. This country remains far more sexist than we'd like to admit, and the question of gender in rap is more symptomatic of that than we often discuss. You should also use female artists such as Jean Grae, Rah Digga, Nikki Minaj, etc. to round out the discussion. Frankly, as an African-American male, I worry about demonizing male rappers so I'd argue for a broad treatment of gender when analyzing it in the music. That said, one of the new "buzz" bands, Odd Future, is violently misogynistic and should be discussed as such. Same with Eminem.

I'd also encourage you to think about what rap you'd like to use. If the goal is to go with what's popular then you can be somewhat limited in terms of meaningful content. Several artists, like Drake, Nikki Minaj, Lil Wayne, etc. do have thoughtful songs so there may be good material there. You can also go with artists like Mos Def and Talib Kweli who are more thoughtful, but they are generally less popular.There are some truly amazing artists out there that would make for outstanding discussions, but your students may not like the music. Likewise, much of what's popular just isn't worth discussing.

If you're English course incorporates film and media, I'd recommend you to check out Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme. It's a nice overview of the artform, and it looks at less conventional artists. The film is older, but there's lots of food for thought and it can help to flesh out your thinking about hip-hop and rap.

You might also consider reading up on how people talk about rap lyrics. I highly recommend Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop and The Anthology of Rap. Each highlight lyrics, but Book of Rhymes really analyzes various forms and styles (even if it is a little theoretical). I haven't done hip-hop education in a while, but when I do Book of Rhymes will be a featured text.

Just remember, hip-hop/rap is a deeply complex, rich style of expression that has a 35 year history at this point. All the music isn't the same, so your choice of how to engage it will be, by necessity, narrow. The more you know about rap yourself, the better able you'll be to select a space for engagement that will really work for you and your students. And don't be afraid to let your students lead the way on some of this too, with your discerning ear of course. :)

Good luck!