Programming Spotlight: Field trip to the Jay-Z exhibit at BPL

photo credits: Jamila Abdulrashid

During September & October 2023, students from Bronx Hope took a trip to visit the Jay-Z Exhibition at the Brooklyn Public Library. On display were various artifacts from the career of the legendary rapper including magazine covers & Grammy Awards. In addition, for a limited time only, any New Yorker with membership to the Brooklyn Public Library can obtain any of the limited-edition Jay-Z library cards.  Click here to see them all.--Jamila Abdulrashid

Programming Spotlight: Word. Sound. Power. 2022 at BAM

 

Students from the Blum group home attended Word. Sound. Power. 2022, Brooklyn Academy of Music’s poetry celebration for teens.  Participants had the pleasure of experiencing live music and performances presented by Drew Drake, Dizzy SenZe, Freakquencee, and Amyra, including dance choreographed by Jade Charon.  

The event was emceed by Mikal Lee, and the students participated in a follow-up session in our library with Mr. Lee himself.  Students learned about Lee’s role as producer in crafting the show and the teaching artist elicited reflection, shared some of the lyrics performed by SenZe, and engaged students in a creative writing exercise. We are grateful to everyone at BAM for including our students in this special experience. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

How To Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip Hop Emcee by Paul Edwards

Where to write?  Use paper or go digital… or keep it all in your head?  Make your own beats or collaborate with a producer?  How to plan your flow in connection with the beat and write it out so you can remember?  These are just some of the essential questions a novice rapper may contemplate and Paul Edwards has solicited advice from over 100 artists-- some of them as well-known as Q-Tip, will.i.am, and Shock G, some lesser known, and organized their perspectives and insights into four parts: content, flow, writing and delivery.  Within these four parts, topics are addressed by subject matter like content forms (chapter two in part one, including braggadocio, story, abstract and humorous) and rhyme (chapter five in part two, addressing perfect rhyme, assonance, alliteration and consonance, compound rhymes, and coming up with rhymes).  The table of contents is specific and makes subtopics easy to locate.  There is plenty here to keep an interested reader busy and nothing to intimidate besides length--over 300 pages.  While the artists themselves are not always the most articulate, Edwards presents them in their own vernacular.  Teachers might not be happy to read four-letter words in regular use, but younger readers will appreciate the uncensored language.  Backmatter includes an annotated list of interviewees and a helpful index. Recommended for teen patrons who already write or say they would like to write rhymes.  Circulates frequently with Mitchell’s Hip Hop Rhyming Dictionary. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Edwards, Paul.  How to Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip Hop Emcee. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2009

Bill Batterman expounds on how to use this book to teach public speaking and debate skills on his blog, The 3nr, here.  The post includes an excellent short list of links to lyrics he deems useful to the would-be high school debater.

Hip-Hop Biographies: Drake

Saddleback’s Hip-Hop Biographies series has drawn tremendous student interest since the moment I took the books out of the box. In Drake’s biography, the reader gets to know a little bit about Drake’s childhood in Toronto, where he was raised by his white, Jewish mother. He didn’t have much of a relationship with his father, an African American musician, until he was a teenager, but when they finally started spending time together, they bonded over music. Some readers might be surprised to learn that Drake was an actor on the popular television program Degrassi High before he made it as a singer, and this book clearly explains his trajectory from one role to the next. Also of interest is his relationship with mentor Lil Wayne and a breakdown of some rivalries Drake has had with other musicians.

The font is large and accessible, and students have enjoyed flipping through the pages and looking at the colorful pictures in these slim volumes. Other popular titles in the series are Chris Brown, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne. This series is recommended for independent reading or as a starting point for inquiry work. Additionally, each book contains a table of contents, a glossary and a page of photo credits. --Anja Kennedy

Hip-Hop Biographies: Drake. Costa Mesa, CA: Saddleback Educational Publishing, 2013. Print.

Hip-Hop Rhyming Dictionary by Kevin M. Mitchell

If you like to write rap lyrics and could only pick one book to be stranded on a desert island (or locked in a small institutional room) with every night for a week, you would likely want to consider Mitchell’s reference work as you make your careful selection.  This pocket-sized paperback was designed for writers on the go, weighing in at a lightweight 180 pages.  One of my favorite lines from the intro reads “Words found offensive are … left out because there are only so many trees we can slay to make this book...”  The slim profile is part of the appeal for the reluctant readers and would-be prolific writer of rhymes.  In addition to the simple-to-use format we couldn’t get enough of in Scholastic’s now out-of-print rhyming dictionary, Mitchell includes accessible and engaging front matter.  These first fifteen pages feature an intro, an explanation of how the book works, five tips for writing, a brief history of rap, and a short bibliography of recommended reading.  Teachers of literacy, ELA and creative writing will find this essential and many a Passages student has articulated a desire not to return a borrowed copy to the library.  Multiple copies strongly recommended. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Mitchell, Kevin M.  Hip-Hop Rhyming Dictionary.  Los Angeles: Firebrand Music, 2003.

Drake by C. F. Earl

The wait is over.  New this year to the Superstars of Hip-Hop series from Mason Crest, Drake the biracial Canadian rapper on the rise since 2009 now has a spot on school library shelves. While this title would benefit from higher quality images and a reconsideration of the “hip-hop lingo” text boxes that define words as basic as “rap” (telegraphing to teens that this book does not recognize their prior knowledge), the current dearth of available library materials on this popular topic makes this volume worth considering.  Earl focuses on Drake’s ascent to stardom after establishing the music star's success as actor Aubrey Graham.  Earl pays particular attention to Drake’s use of the internet and mixtapes to create a fan base without the backing of a major label, and offers a sequential explanation of the artist's eventual connection with Lil’ Wayne which may have been previously obscure.  For urban teens not yet ready to tackle more challenging text, Drake offers an opportunity to access a simple expository text on a subject that will be of high interest to some.  The back matter includes a sparse timeline, web links, an index and picture credits.--Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Earl, C. F.  Drake.  Pennsylvania: Mason Crest, 2013. Print.

* note this review copy was provided by a publisher at the request of the reviewer.

Flocabulary: The Hip Hop Approach to SAT-Level Vocabulary Building by Blake Harrison and Alexander Rappaport

An SAT prep book might sound like a hard sell to students seeking independent reading material, but Harrison and Rappaport’s efforts will not be wasted on any teen interested in improving his or her vocabulary. While the beginning of the book explains the technique, readers can dive right into the songs in chapter 2 and start improving their lexical stylings immediately. Each song is prefaced by a wordbank which lists all notable vocabulary words contained in the song. The list is followed by the song lyrics which run down the left side of the page while the right side offers extremely brief definitions line-by-line along with identifying the part of speech the term most commonly appears as. Oxford English Dictionary it’s not, but Flocabulary offers students more than etymologies. There’s synonym matching, sentence completion, and reading comprehension exercises following each original lyric. Will your students undertake these with no assignment or grade hanging over their head? Many will-- and even without the musical CD that accompanies the books-- because who doesn’t want to rhyme fiercely and out-metaphor Lil’ Wayne on the hall? For readers with CD player access, the CD can be the treasure because the rhythm, rhyme and music allow the listener to memorize the new vocabulary words almost effortlessly, the way one memorizes the lyrics to one’s favorite song.

Chapter 3 offers brief analyses of the songs-- best suited for ELA teachers and their ilk, Chapter 4 lists hip-hop resources. Chapter 5 provides answer keys to the 11 songs and Chapter 6 is a quick reference dictionary of the approximately 500 SAT words contained in the lyrics. The book’s website offers even more for the educator.

Harrison, Blake, and Alexander Rappaport. Flocabulary: The Hip-Hop Approach to SAT-Level Vocabulary Building. Kennebunkport: Cider Mill Press, 2006.

The Rose That Grew From Concrete by Tupac Shakur

Themes of love, pain and poverty are prevalent in this collection of poetry by famed rap artist Tupac Shakur. His handwritten and illustrated poems (complete with misspellings and edits), appear alongside the printed words, making it less intimidating than polished, "scholarly" poetry. This book gets requested by students who love Tupac and poetry – but it also serves as an introduction to poetry for students who claim they aren’t fans. With lines like, “we R 2 young 2 stress and suffer” (from Nightmares), teens can relate to the casual writing style. Most even look like they were written on lined notebook paper, adding to the accessibility of the entire book. This would be a fantastic lead into a poetry unit, or an engaging resource to demonstrate the editing and revising process.

Shakur, Tupac. The Rose That Grew From Concrete. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999.