A History of Rap Music
Chris Watson chriswatson@grant.k12.ca.us and Jack Stanfill musicview@hotmail.com
"There exists a unique connection between art and civil society in our American democracy. We are a nation of nations, deeply dependent upon the ability of our citizens to communicate across lines denoting difference -- difference in religion, race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, language. Music, theater, and literature function as a currency of cultural exchange within civil society: a guilt-free zone in which difference can be communicated and confronted. Harold Levy, Chancellor of the New York Public School system, says art in the classroom allows our society to "audition diversity" for our young citizens. In American popular music, blues, country music, the roots of jazz and of rock n' roll provided society an arena in which the challenges of race could be confronted absent the fears which seemed to arise automatically in the economic or political realm. Black fiddlers were in recording studios making records with white country musicians in the 1920s, decades before African-Americans could be seated side-by-side with whites on a city bus." - Excerpt of remarks by Bill Ivey, Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts Americans for the Arts Annual Conference, Los Angeles, California- June 11, 2000
Since the late nineteenth century, American music has evolved as an expression of the social climate and environment of the times. Throughout its modern history, this expression has diverged into various styles attracting its disciples of music taste. Some expressions, like traditional jazz, Dixieland, big band swing, disco, and others stagnated, refusing to evolve, becoming footnotes and addendums of this rich history. Today, the adherents of this music reveal its beauties with anachronistic fervor. Some expressions, like jazz, the Blues, Latin, and others, continue to evolve into refined stages and altered states. Its music re-emerging with each generation in creative and unique combinations. But nowhere, to this point, has the message been more important than the medium that sends it. To this end, rap music has emerged with a style more concerned with the content of its message than the constructs of its art form.
There are two main parts to this activity:
Biographical research paper- The students should pick an African American musical artist and create a 750 - 1000 word biography covering the life of the artist and their importance. The basic questions are listed below:
When and where was your artist born?
What is the musical background or your artist?
How did they learn to perform?
Why were / are they important?
Who influenced your artist?
Who did this artist influence?
The students should also include a conclusion and why the students chose this artist.
Finally, include a bibliography detailing their work.
PowerPoint presentation- This presentation should cover the main ideas of the biographical paper. The students need to understand that they are going to teach the class about their selected artist in a 5 minute time frame. See the link provided below for a print out. Black History Month Presentation Assessment.doc
Each of these activities should be added together to create a cumulative grade for the overall project.
Using the following graphic outline, I would suggest that the students create their own graphic organizer and provide at least one artist for each type of music and a picture of that artist in a poster project.
Here is a copy of the actual lesson plan and lecture notes for this lesson in Word format.
These may be used in the lecture on the types of music if you choose to use it. I would suggest the teacher try to get access to one of each type of music listed here for your students to listen to, so they can appreciate each type of music. This would also allow you to give a fun recognition quiz on four or five types of music.
Finally, if your district will allow you to use the internet or you have access in your class, I would suggest the following web site:
I have found this site to be a great resource for biographies of artist. You may want to go over this site to ensure that none of the information on this site will violate your district AUP. This site has always been willing to work with my classes.
Here is a PowerPoint presentation for you as a teacher to go over an introduction to this lesson. This could also be used to help introduce this project to your department for a school wide Black History month project.
If you have any questions, please email me at chriswatson@grant.k12.ca.us