The Rap on Rap 0
Now that you are hearing rap music–watered down, corporate rap, to be sure–in commercials on mainstream television, it’s safe to say that rap is here to stay.
With a few exceptions, all I know about rap music is that it’s too loud and I can’t understand most of the lyrics. (That’s also all I know about “death metal.”)
Oddly enough, that’s what my parents knew about rock . . . .
If that’s all you know about rap, listen to this episode of Hear Say, the local NPR station’s news and information show:
Segment A: The Politics of Hip-Hop
Virginia Wesleyan professor Dr. Murrell Brooks began researching his current curriculum over two decades ago, but he might not have realized it at the time. In 1980’s L.A., Murrell was a founding member of hip-hop group Double Trouble. He’s taken those experiences and applied them to his “Politics of Hip-Hop” course. He joins Cathy Lewis to share how he’s using the genre’s trajectory as the road map for teaching the societal circumstances that have shaped the art form since the 60s.
