Hip Hop As Lit Goes Legit

More and more schools, colleges, universities, and out-of-school-time programs are using hip hop music and culture to introduce youth to important ideas about history, society, politics, and art. wordLife loves the idea of teaching and studying hip hop rhymes and lyrics as a way to introduce our young people to the literary arts.

Some of the first hip hop-based educational courses focused on the life and work of iconic hip hop artist Tupac Shakur. In recognition of this, his mother, Afeni Shakur, recently donated several pieces of the rapper's poems, rhymes, and writing to a university library in Atlanta. "We need to read history from the source," Shakur says. "It gives people the opportunity to judge him objectively. What we want to do is educate." (Quote courtesy of The Associated Press; www.ap.org)

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