Not Family Friendly? Or “Parents Just Don’t Understand” Monday, February 19, 2007

Thus far in my discussion of the integration of hip-hop into high school classrooms, I have tried to focus on the positives of this tool (the educational tool being music) and not the negatives, which the media seems to focus on.  However, I’ve had a negative response to my posts (which I’m not surprised by).  So, now it is time to give the negative aspects of hip-hop some air time. No pun intended.

The article that I read for this week argues that hip-hop began as a positive outlet for young African-Americans to describe their daily lives and trials, but became increasingly negative in its chosen topics because it was “hijacked by major record labels.” This is an interesting point. The author of this article takes a radical stance against hip-hop (similar to the outrageous article we read about the censorship issue of the book Of Mice and Men), suggesting that a letter ‘C’ be placed in front of the word “rap” to more accurately describe what the music is. He suggests that listening to rap music is “rewarding crudeness, vulgarity, and brain-rotting filth, thus guaranteeing more of it.” However, if listening to this music is rotting our students’ brains, as he suggested, and apparently he does not listen to this type of music, couldn’t this man have come up with a more articulate statement than suggesting this music is crap?

Do I agree that this music is indeed “crap”? No. Are a great deal of topics that rap chooses to endorse negative in nature and should not be promoted? Yes. But the genre itself should not be ignored. The author blows by this point, seeming to suggest that this genre of the music industry should be boycotted as a whole. The author discusses Ludacris’ album, Word of Mouf, which is the chief recipient of his rage against rap music. This album does indeed promote the degradation of women, violence, and other misogynistic ideas in its lyrics. I strongly disagree with the ideas promoted here by Ludacris, agreeing with the author. However, I have to wonder- when was the last time this man caught up on the current topics that kids are into? This man is arguing against Ludacris performing at a family festival in his area with information that is over five years old! Word of Mouf  was Ludacris’ second album was released in 2001. He has since put out Release Therapy this past year. I would suggest that this author work on researching what he is attacking before writing an article for the internet that the world can see.

While this third album by Ludacris is not perfect, it is a step up. His current song out on the charts, “Runaway Love,” on which he sings/raps with Mary J. Blige, is a song speaking out against child abuse. However, he reverts back to old language with other songs, lacing what would be clever lyrics with profanities and derogatory statements against women and others. So, while Ludacris may not be family friendly (as many hip-hop artists are), he and the rest of the bunch do have positive qualitites. BUT, their songs that promote sex, violence, homophobia, and degradation of women should NOT be promoted.

Click here to go to the Montgomery Advisor Article.

“What You Know About That…” -T.I. Thursday, February 1, 2007

One of the biggest debates that has arisen in the suggestion of a hip-hop influenced classroom is the idea that students of other races besides African-American will not or do not understand the culture. Granted, there could be many students that do not understand the culture and are merely imitating it because it is the popular culture of the day. However, a large number of students (again, especially in urban settings) live the same lifestyle and experience the same hardships that many rappers and hip-hop artists speak of in their songs. Today’s students are growing up almost immersed in this culture. For those of us that are college students, we have grown up with rap music and the hip-hop industry. So, in this way we identify with our future students because (at least some of us) share the same likes and dislikes of this music. In one article that I read, a teacher discusses the drawbacks to students adopting this culture without fully understanding the meaning behind it. One of her students, an Afghan girl named Fareeba, quickly assimilated into the culture but did not comprehend what her actions and speech meant when she did so. She changed her clothing style and attitude to match that of the popular culture she was now thrown into when she moved to New York. Fareeba even got herself into trouble for plajarizing an assignment because she wanted to belong to her new culture so badly; that is, she had learned that getting into trouble and “being bad” was a good thing and that her new “hard” attitude was how she was supposed to act. Her prideful attitude would not allow her to seek help from her teacher. This “I don’t need you” stance and refusal of help by students is prevalent in classrooms across America; one could argue that this stems from hip-hop culture, which prides itself on rising above “the school of hard-knocks” and achieving success on one’s own.

However, there is a fine line between imitating hip-hop culture (and all that entails) without knowing what it all means exactly to berating it and making fun of hip-hop’s attributes without understanding. In yet another article, the author comments on the rising amount of U.S. college students mocking hip-hop culture by having “gangsta” theme parties on their campuses. At these parties, students dress in what they believe is hip-hop fashion and portray both men and women of hip-hop in a negative light. These students act and dress in the stereotype of hip-hop or rap music, mocking it. Girls are skantily clad and pad their jeans to have a “ghetto booty.” Males wear wifebeaters (men’s undershirts) and huge baggy pants. Both sexes strike intimidating poses, complete with flashing gang signs and lots of fake bling-bling or ice (large necklaces with pendants, huge fake diamond earrings, etc.).  Much of this hip-hop culture’s celebration of over-the-top jewelry and expensive cars, amongst other things is just that: a celebration. These people are celebrating their success and flaunting it for the world to see. These kids do not realize that they are being racially offensive by mocking what they think they understand but do not really know fully. They think nothing of it. The sad thing is, this misunderstanding of culture is largely due to students’ belief that racism no longer exists. But in a way, they are changing racism to a subtle form of mocking, yet this imitation also recognizes that hip-hop is a force to be reckoned with. One professor, James Johnson, had an interesting point: “In the civil rights movement, you didn’t have blacks who called themselves ‘niggers’ and who called their women ‘bitches’ and ‘whores’ and who glorified being violent and being thugs. Now these white kids are kind of confused.”

So what are we to make of all of this? Hip-hop’s influence is a powerful one, but before its use in the classroom a short lesson on its history would prove helpful.

New York Times Article

Herald Sun Article

February 1, 2007.

“Hip-Hop and You Don’t Stop…” -Sugarhill Gang Thursday, February 1, 2007

Today, I read the article below and it really spoke to me; the ideas spoken of here are KEY to relating to students and getting them involved in “active learning” in the classroom, especially in urban settings but in rural places as well. This article describes the effort of one professor to teach his students African-American history by utilizing the large popularity and influence of hip-hop. This professor, Reiland Rabaka, points out to major areas that teachers have largely overlooked: the Civil Rights Movement and the hip-hop influence. He says, “Hip hop has the potential to be a vehicle for powerful social and political change.” I firmly believe this to be true. That is, hip-hop music has become the voice of this up-and-coming generation, even more so than our generation. His lecture is to be one part of a series of lectures during this month for Black History Month.

However, what if this concept was taken one step further? Instead of only one lecture, what if a teacher used hip-hop daily to help the students learn? Surely hip-hop music can be used to as a teaching tool for something other than Black History Month, although the ties there are strong. Opposers can argue that not every student identifies with this culture and music; but this type of music is so mainstream that it is almost impossible to get away from! Not that I personally want to get away from it- I happen to be a HUGE fan. But that’s besides the point. Even students in rural communitites can name hip-hop artists and can probably sing the lyrics to more than a few songs. 

Many different possible teaching tools could be effective in combination with this hip-hop culture. What if they memorized a poem to the beat of one of Jay-Z’s or Beyonce’s songs? Many children are auditory learners; putting words to a beat and melody can often help them. So, if they learn a sonnet of Shakespeare’s or Poe to the tune of “Irreplacable” by Beyonce (a current top-40 hit), they are more likely to remember it and may even recite the poem when the song is played in other places besides the classroom, establishing an auditory form of recall.

Yet another aspect of this article that I enjoyed was that Rabaka encourages the evaluation of the hip-hop culture: viewing the good along with the bad. He also stresses the major impact this subculture has had on our culture as a whole. In combining “old history” (typical African-American studies) along with “new history” (current hip-hop culture), he revolutionizes the way in which history is taught. And it seems to be working! The article states that Rabaka’s class at the University of Colorado-Boulder was increased to one hundred students due to the overwhelming interest. Students are actually bargaining and begging for seats in this man’s classroom! Imagine if students were that enthused about middle school or high school…

University of Colorado

See the University of Colorado article here.
Feb. 1, 2007