Classroom Experience Starting Points (from Adam Kruse)

The following comes from Adam Kruse's (2016) article, "Featherless Dinosaurs and the Hip-Hop Simulacrum: Reconsidering Hip-Hop's Appropriateness for the Music Classroom" in Music Educators Journal.

Starting Points for Hip-Hop Classroom Experiences

Hip-Hop as a Bridge (connecting hip-hop to other music and vice versa)

• Creating: Compose backing tracks using sample material from other musical genres.
• Performing: Perform hip-hop pieces with accompaniment consisting of conventional band, orchestra, and/or classroom instruments.
• Responding: Use hip-hop listening examples to teach concepts (e.g., form, texture, rhythm); make connections to other musical genres.
• Connecting: Explore hip-hop’s social, historical, and political history in relation to the contexts of other musical genres.

Hip-Hop as a Lens (hip-hop as a way to understand contexts)

• Creating: Compose rap lyrics that speak to current or historical social issues.
• Performing: Perform hip-hop pieces at a school or community event with a social or political purpose.
• Responding: Develop and implement a framework for evaluating hip-hop musical compositions and/or performances.
• Connecting: Relate themes in contemporary hip-hop music to students’ life experiences.

Hip-Hop as Practice (hip-hop as hip-hop musicians do it)

• Creating: Create original backing tracks using genre-appropriate hardware and/or software (e.g., FL Studio, Akai MPC, Native Instruments Maschine).
• Performing: Perform original hip-hop music – “covers” in hip-hop are generally frowned upon.
• Responding: Analyze flow patterns of different rappers using genre-specific descriptors and terms.
• Connecting: Relate the rise of gangsta rap to its social, political, and geographic contexts.