The way hip hop is portrayed in the media plays a great role in the way our students and society in general perceive it. There has been an entire world of hip hop that has been left out of the mainstream media and that may soon change. The way rap is discussed in music classrooms can be greatly broadened if consciousness in hip hop becomes a part of the mainstream coverage of it and the conversations in our classrooms.
Speaking of hip hop and the music classroom, with improvisation being one of the national standards why not have students attempt to freestyle over music they create on computers or better yet while other students beatbox accompaniment? You might just be providing your students with practice for participating in a moving cypher while on a subway car sometime later in their lives!
If you are preparing to integrate some Hip Hop music and culture in your music program, consider some of the following [updated in 2016] resources to help you develop your own knowledge [some affiliate links included]:
Jeff Chang’s Can’t stop won’t stop: A history of the Hip Hop generation is a great starting point for a compelling history of Hip Hop that can help with references in the classroom or ensemble.
Joseph Schloss’s Making beats: The art of sample-based Hip Hop is an in-depth look at the ways that people create Hip Hop music through sample-based beat production. Reading this book will give you many ways to think about and discuss sample-based Hip Hop music that you can connect to projects in your music programs.
That’s the Joint: The Hip Hop studies reader is a collection of academic writing about Hip Hop music and culture. It is a great way to expand the ways you and your students think about Hip Hop, particularly in relation to history, culture, and social context. The topics throughout That’s the Joint can serve as great themes for projects in a music program.
If you are interested in exploring the role of the DJ in Hip Hop culture, definitely take a look at Mark Katz’s Groove Culture: The art and culture of the Hip-Hop DJ, which is an extensive look at DJs in Hip Hop.
To get a sense of how people rap, consider reading How to rap: The art and science of the Hip Hop MC by Paul Edwards. This book is a collection of interviews with MCs on how they rap organized into themes. It gives an inside look at how people go about rapping, which can be interesting for students to consider especially if they are creating their own rap music.
The book Last night a DJ saved my life: The History of the Disc Jockey is also excellent at tracing the history of DJs before and through Hip Hop music and culture. Reading Last night a DJ saved my life will provide you with a ton of references that you can use in class.
For younger children, you might be interested in related poetry or children’s books that can serve as great entry points for exploring Hip Hop culture and music.
Hip Hop speaks to children: A celebration of poetry with a beat is a New York Times bestseller and wonderful collection of poetry that has so much potential for exploring rhythm and flow in relation to Hip Hop music. It comes with a CD as well.