Feel the Beat

A dear friend is not a fan of rap music. I don’t blame him, really. He’s a forty-something white man who voted for Reagan. Ice-T must scare the sh*t out of him. (Lyrics are still frightening.) He equates rap with artists like Jay-Z and 50 Cent. While such artists are the face of the genre today, they don’t personify the true talent that began hip-hop music.

Like most white thirty-somethings, rap music came to me in the late Eighties and I fell for the vocal stylings of Run-DMC. Beastie Boys weren’t far behind and I’ve stuck by my three favorite Jewish boys through thick and thin. They started out when they and I were kids and I responded to their tales of rebellion, wasting time, and annoying teachers.

Through the years, their music reflected my own growing awareness about political issues, social justice, and even the importance of saying thank you. (Lyrics here.) In other words, we grew up together. Adrock, MCA, and Mike D are my own personal George/Ringo/John. (Don’t get me started on Paul.) I even have my students interpret lyrics from Bodhisattva Vow when they get into physical altercations as part of an overall lesson in the importance of nonviolence.

We Need Other People In Order To Create
The Circumstances For
The Learning That We're Here To Generate
Situations That Bring Up
Our Deepest Fears
So We Can Work To Release Them Until They're
Cleared
Therefore, It Only Makes Sense
To Thank Our
Enemies Despite Their Intent

Long way from sex rhymes, right? Beasties aside, there is another group that embodies the best of rap music.

Public Enemy.

"Shut Em Down" relates in one song everything that is powerful and positive about my favorite type of music. (Read along here.) PE is able to belt out a tune about the power of boycotting that speaks in a language kids can understand. I've taught Economics and only hope I'm as effective. I know better. But I put this on and my students understand. They get it.

Back in the 90s, I was introduced to a world beyond my safe suburban experience. Without Chuck D’s booming calls for action or Flavor Flav’s antics, I would have never known that 911 is a joke in an inner-city neighborhood. There was also no other way except through headphones to hear about the negative effects of malt liquor, fears of a black planet, or racism in Hollywood. (Lyrics here.) In the words of another great 90s band, “my lily white ass is tickled pink when I listen to the music that makes me think.”

Eminem is a talented man, (cannot be denied), but the promise of hip hop took a break as gangsta rap took over and that early promise has yet to be fulfilled. However, I've taught Language Arts and rap is modern urban poetry. Its message should be felt and understood by everyone.

Especially white forty-somethings who voted for Reagan.