HipHop with Ms Ryan

HipHop has been in the spotlight this week, for good and for bad. On one hand, the 'culture' has been blamed for the London riots. On the other, Channel 4 aired the highly celebrated 'Life of Rhyme'. I was really impressed with the show, and grateful to everyone involved in creating it. Too often, I feel as though I have to explain myself; justifying the need for HipHop in the classroom and reassuring people that I don't use any of 'that gangsta stuff' (rolls eyes) From now on, I'll tell them to go and watch 'Life of Rhyme' here before making assumptions.

Personally, I've been inspired to incorporate it more and more in my lessons next year. Partly because of my own passion; partly because my students always lap it up; partly to prove that it is relevant and necessary. When I speak of HipHop, I don't mean throwing in a few raps here and there for the novelty factor, it's bigger than that. So, aside from looking at the linguistic aspects, it also allows the opportunity to explore wider social and historical contexts. Namley, the cultures, history and influence of Africa and the diaspora, an area that MUST be taught intrinsically in our curriculum. 

Here are a few ways HipHop (and the extended 'culture') will creep into my classroom next academc term...

English (Key stage 3 and GCSE)

Benjamin Zephaniah's 'Dis Poetry'.

Students learn and explore figurative language (similes, metaphors, personification, assonance, alliteration)

'My Addidas' by Run DMC.

Students study the rap then create a their own rap that personifies a treasured, inanimate object.

Malorie Blackman's 'Noughts and Crosses' and 'Nothing's Changed' by Tatamkhulu Afrika.

We read Blackman's novel about an Apartheid state with a twist; Blacks are the ruling class. Pupils learn the history of Apartheid in South Africa, using Tatamkulu's poem as a stimulus. Students write an essay, that will also be delivered orally, on the representation of racial divides in literature and how this relates to the world they live in. Students also look at Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, and their roles in the US Civil Rights Movement.


'Refugee Boy' by Benjamin Zephaniah

This novel explores the story of Alem, a half-Ethiopian, half-Eritrean boy, who seeks refuge from his war-torn home to come to England. It allows the opportunity to explore the geography and history of this part of East-Africa, as well as issues of asylum, refuge and race. Students create a marketing campaign for Refugee Rights; poster, leaflet and a speech or a rap (depending on skills and interest!)


Attitudes to Spoken language (GCSE English)
Last year we looked at 'electronic' language (tweets, texts and MSN). My students completed great coursework analysing JME and Stephen Fry, using their tweets to explore their idiolect and sociolects. My lesson ended up on The Sun online! 

This year, we'll focus on transcribing actual speech. With a focus on the language of social class, sub-cultures and age. I will definitely use these two videos to get us started:


Dizzee Rascal Meets Paxman:





David Starkey on Newsnight:





GCSE Poetry 'Checking Out Me History' by John Agard, linked with 'I Can' (3rd verse)by Nas.

Students will look at the forgotten and misrepresented history of Africans by exploring both texts. They will undertake research projects on Toussaint L'Ouverture, Mary Seacole, The Maroons, The Zulus, Kush and Timbuktu. 

Riots Debate
Almost as soon as we get back, my year elevens will plan and execute a debate about the London Riots; Newsnight style. This will be assessed for the Oral GCSE.


I use this when teaching Macbeth (thanks Flocabulary!)

Other Poems:

'Half-Caste' (Agard); 'Still I Rise' (Angelou); 'Hurricane Hits England' and 'Island Man' (Nichols); 'Limbo' (Kamau Braithwaite);'I Sing of Change' (Osundare).

Other Raps:
'For Women' (Talib Kweli); 'Fight the Power' (P.E.); 'Lose Yourself' (Eminem); 'I used to love H.E.R.' (Common); 'Me Against the World' (Tupac).





Media Studies (GCSE)

Representations of specific groups during the riots
Media Representations can be challenging topic for 14 year olds. Very often, they hold the stereotypes found in the media, as their own viewpoint on people. The riots present an excellent opportunity to explore misrepresentation of groups of people and the power of media propaganda to infiltrate public opinion.

Music Promotion
This will be my third year teaching music video, and I'm really looking forward to it. The students enjoy it too, of course! Generally, the most popular music genres for my students are HipHop, RnB and Grime. I always seize the opportunity to show them more innovative, 'undergound' artists, who they normally haven't heard of. We look at various issues surrounding music video including:

• Independent labels, Major labels and Unsigned artists.
• The power of YouTube and social media.
• Controversy in Music Video.
• Representations of people, places and ideas.

Students then undertake planning and pre-production for their own music video, where they create an artist who provides a countertype for the misrepresentations.


Floetry - Rap Club


I run a rap club at school, where we meet once a week to write and perform rhymes. Here is what I hope to achieve with the group this year:

• Create a hip-hop/lyricist wall of fame in my classroom, giving students to study the history of the culture.
• More audio and video recordings of the students' rhymes.
• Discover ways to use rhymes for revision.
• Visits from rappers/performance poets.
• Collaborations with rap clubs in other schools.

So there you have it, by no means exhaustive, but a taste of how I like to stretch the curriculum. There is a completely relevant place for HipHop in the classroom; it's contemporary poetry of the people, as socially relevant now as the 'master poets' of their day. I'll leave you with a little quote from Greg Tate concerning the future of HipHop:

"When asked whether he saw an end to rapping, Afrika Bambaata said he expected that MC-ing would be around as long as people were still talking. By this logic, the future of HipHop lies in the first cry of the next unborn soul, man or woman. If you want to know the future of HipHop, get thee to a maternity ward."

Benjamin Zephaniah

"Me? I thought, OBE me? Up yours, I thought. I get angry when I hear that word "empire"; it reminds me of slavery, it reminds of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised. It is because of this concept of empire that my British education led me to believe that the history of black people started with slavery and that we were born slaves, and should therefore be grateful that we were given freedom by our caring white masters. It is because of this idea of empire that black people like myself don't even know our true names or our true historical culture. I am not one of those who are obsessed with their roots, and I'm certainly not suffering from a crisis of identity; my obsession is about the future and the political rights of all people. Benjamin Zephaniah OBE - no way Mr Blair, no way Mrs Queen. I am profoundly anti-empire." 

Zephaniah rejects OBE - Gwaan!!

Benjamin Zephaniah came up on my Twitter timeline tonight. I was excited to see his name pop up, as he is a writer, performer and human being who has inspired me deeply. So much so, that I abandoned Twitter, for fear of TMI, and came here to release.

As an English teacher, I find his literature an excellent way to enthuse my students to read, write and gain confidence when expressing themselves verbally. Watch this:



He proves to my students that you don't have to speak in the queen's English to be heard, or say something important. He visited our school a few years back, and was able to keep a hot, stuffy room, full of over 100 students and staff, hanging on his every word for two hours. He's charismatic in a totally unassuming way, with a warm and genuine nature that gives you faith in the messages he sends out; anti-colonialism, veganism, anti-war, race/identity...

Zephaniah with me and some colleagues

The themes of his work are also right up my street, his books rightly deserve a place alongside the literary 'greats' that we push upon our children. I use 'Refugee Boy' with my year eight groups to explore issues surrounding assylum and refugees from war torn Africa. It gives us the opportunity to iron out misconceptions surrounding refugees, remove the stigma attached and allow students to reflect and empathise. It also gives me the opportunity to explore a little African history and geography with my classes; my students know that if I can bring a lesson 'back to Africa', I'm a happy Miss!

When it comes to poetry with my year 7 groups, I use 'Dis Poetry' to teach the top techniques: metaphors, similes, assonance, rhyme, alliteration... Again, his style and verbal prowess win over the students, who lap it up and excitedly make their own 'Dis Poetry' spoken word poems. Here's his:

Before I was a teacher, I was a TA. I was assigned two of the 'toughest' boys in school to assist; both with educational statements for behaviour, numerous suspensions under their belts, a history of drugs and violence. They were lovely kids, both of them, that type of behaviour is exactly that - a behaviour, not a character. This was always evident when I got them reading. The 'tougher' one of the two particularly enjoyed 'Gangsta Rap'. I'll admit, his initial enthusiasm came from the fact that I let him read a book with swear words in it, but when he got to know Ray, the protaganist, he was transformed. So much so, that the librarian lifted his ban from the library (hallelujah!)

I could go on forever about this man and his work, but I don't have the time. Instead, I'll leave you with a few more poems I like to teach, and a link to his website where you can explore more - should you wish!


The British



Talking Turkeys



Overstanding




Bought and Sold 
Smart big awards and prize money
Is killing off black poetry
It's not censors or dictators that are cutting up our art.
The lure of meeting royalty
And touching high society
Is damping creativity and eating at our heart. 

The ancestors would turn in graves
Those poor black folk that once were slaves would wonder
How our souls were sold
And check our strategies,
The empire strikes back and waves
Tamed warriors bow on parades
When they have done what they've been told
They get their OBEs. 

Don't take my word, go check the verse
Cause every laureate gets worse
A family that you cannot fault as muse will mess your mind,
And yeah, you may fatten your purse
And surely they will check you first when subjects need to be amused
With paid for prose and rhymes. 

Take your prize, now write more,
Faster,
Fuck the truth
Now you're an actor do not fault your benefactor
Write, publish and review,
You look like a dreadlocks Rasta,
You look like a ghetto blaster,
But you can't diss your paymaster
And bite the hand that feeds you. 

What happened to the verse of fire
Cursing cool the empire
What happened to the soul rebel that Marley had in mind,
This bloodstained, stolen empire rewards you and you conspire,
(Yes Marley said that time will tell)
Now look they've gone and joined. 

We keep getting this beating
It's bad history repeating
It reminds me of those capitalists that say
'Look you have a choice,'
It's sick and self-defeating if our dispossessed keep weeping
And we give these awards meaning
But we end up with no voice.