Absolutely gripping. AKALA: But then the band and the actors who are also rappers and singers rewrote the rest of the story of Richard II as a collection of songs. You don't want war, cor, the kids brilliant. AKALA: Precisely. Answer: He claims that they share rhythm. Using hip-hop to explore Shakespeare is not as unlikely as it might sound. So Id get into fights but it was after school and away from the school because I knew if I failed school my gangster uncles would beat me up.. And great stories that really are cross culture, that we see from every culture around the world sort of in myth forms. Shakespeare Should Not Be Taught In School - 421 Words | Bartleby Something like this helps hiphop, at its best, be understood. Thank you for sharing. But it is still mysterious how that works and since you look at Shakespeare through this lens of both politics and music, Im curious what you think makes Shakespeares work timeless or relatable. So, if someone, you know, if youre an artist who wants to write a verse that you can go into a cipher with and be confident that whatever beat that the DJ puts on you can flow with it, the pentameter is a great rhythm to do that. So I think all of these big themes, all of these characterobviously, you know, writing in English helped. The most delightful TED session! Do they say, oh do they always think it cant possibly be Shakespeare because it sounds so modern? So we give people all different sorts of verses to show how versatile Shakespeare was and how much he experimented across his career. Like playing being a virtuoso classical pianist or playing violin or being a great actor. Chance never did crown me, this is destiny. Wow. Youll recognize this as Sonnet 18. Nothing but intellect and pure truth in the booth . AKALA: Right. Iago is the great character in that play. This man has a brilliant mind and a brilliant heart! I love your art, i've learnt more from akala lyrics and youtube vids than i ever did in history or english class, Hip-Hop & Shakespeare? So, I think, like I said, theres a lot of proeven Received Pronunciation. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and DerbyAm I, who ready here do stand in arms. A terrific introduction to hip hop and sonnets -- I love the final rap of quotes from plays. AKALA: Of course. You know, they watch MTV and they see MTVs version of hip-hop culture, which is ironic given that, you know, Viacom is this massive big corporation. But usually if you know something and already like it, you will clap more compared to if you didn't know it. William Shakespeare is regarded by many as the greatest playwright of all time and the most important author in the development of the English language. And the point is, the guy wrote performance poetry and great stories that were about sex and violence and love and tragedy. "Socrates' philosophies and hypotheses can't define" Hip Hop Shakespeare 7. This covers roughly first 10 minutes of this, so I help this can help somebody out there with homework. BARBARA: Well, thats a really important and controversial point because theres this huge amount of skill required in that level of rap, right? The first Ted I happily watched all the way through, and will watch again. So the point is to just show you that once you remove the baggage of what you think Shakespeares about and what you think hip-hops about, the all of a sudden it becomes much more difficult to differentiate. You think of Shakespeares best characters. phillip watson age. I've only known about you for about a month, but for you, I have a lot respect. Begin typing your search above and press return to search. Many of Shakespeares works can be changed to fit the style of hip hop. Why might Akala say that we should teach Shakespeare? Its literally all over the place. That's where we learn to hate literature. Romeo and Juliet are still among Shakespeare's most widely read plays, despite not generally being regarded as one of his best. Akala and Hip-Hop Shakespeare on the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast It was edited by Gail Kern Paster and Esther Ferington. Its Nas. I'm not tryna get into a argument. BARBARA: And the other interesting thing when you consider what youre saying and drawing this line from way back into the past is that anyone, even if you dont know any of this history, you can hear hip-hop and you can immediately like get it or like it. That boy Akalas a diamond fella.All you little boys are a Comedy of Errors,You bellow but you fellows get played likeThe cello. 6 why might akala say that we should teach shakespeare. Annunciation means something quite different (its the visitation of the Angel Gabriel to Mary). AKALA: No, absolute pleasure. Showing this to my students. Shakespeare should not be taught in the ninth grade curriculum because it's too hard to teach; also its very difficult to understand, last it's not even relatable to today's youth. It helps us to get the word out to people who havent heard it, people who might enjoy it. AKALA: And spending time with him and hearing him rap, in Brazilian Portuguese, I was like, the rhyme is not the same. What I would hear audibly as a rhyme in English isnt exactly what a rhyme is in Brazilian Portuguese. Ill do a couple more and then well talk about what the point of the exercise is, I suppose. Akala was brought up to take his education seriously. On point all the time! There was a study that found the most preserved form of the Elizabethan English accent was in the most isolated areas of Appalachia due to being cut off from the evolution of society for so long. Since 2009, under the auspices of his Hip-hop Shakespeare Company, Akala has been going to community centers, prisons, and schools in immigrant and underserved communities, using the tools of hip-hop to spread an understanding of the relevance of Shakespeares poetry. It hits so hard it's so lit.. Wow. You have the commercial, the mainstream hip-hop which is commercialized and its mainly put out by these large corporations, again, primarily historically probably white owned and operated. Would love to see more of Akala on TedxTalks :). Genevieve White, writing for the British Council, stated that there are a variety of . Thank you. I teach Shakespeare and I absolutely agree. I really hope many young rappers, and young people in general take much influence from this guy. At age 9 I was put in a special needs group for kids who didnt speak English without my parents knowing.. A lot of young boys dont know how to express their emotions and that leads to conflict because they end up articulating them with their fists or worse.. "Musicality was central to . Why Shakespeare is still relevant over 400 years since his death. -DJing -MCing -Break dancing -Graffiti art -Knowledge 5.) They raise questions of morality, politics, war, wealth, and death. So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. So, when you turn on the BBC, youll find that people speak like this. Get real, homey. Its for me, BARBARA: Well this is politics. Most of his audience was unabl to even read or write.Hip Hop means "Intelligent Movement".The 5 elements of Hip Hop are: DJ, MC, break dance, graffiti art, and knowledge.The appeal of the Wu Tang Clan was that it united people that listened to all different kinds of music.The "custodian of knowledge" means enlightened, having ideas and doing activities that unite people. Discover Shakespeares stories and the world that shaped them. I have used this as a concept for a university class presentation. After this he does Sonnet 18 (that one that goes 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day) from shakespeare with a music background and he shows how it sounds like hip hop. I found it fascinating, enlightening and extremely educational. AKALA: Thats all right. okay all boring "whos here because of their English teacher" comments aside, he was actually spittin', Legend, even english teachers and my mum love this guy , @Keijah Lee peep fans are my favourite people. So I felt it would be radical to take this symbol of elitism and say no, thats not what he was in his time and he is still relevant today.. No matter what you say it will never work. You listen to a song like Preacher and the Bear., [CLIP of the Golden Gate Quartet singing The Preacher and the Bear.], Lord, look here, you know you delivered ol Daniel from the lions den.And you delivered three Hebrew children from the fiery furnace, and then. Akala ended up doing well at school and his GCSE results were some of the best in his year group. Shakespeare was a masterly adapter, and his work is largely based on borrowing and interpretation. That was great! Don't you know the king's name is a tower? AKALA: Okay. OMG my theatre arts teacher showed this to us in class last year. AKALA: But also I mean the Elizabethan theater itself was not, you know, the Globe was on the south side next to the bear baiting and the prostitution. Maybe its hatred I spew.. @Xelanderthomas Ok. Theyre a bit nave and its, for me, its this ability to convey what it is to be human, the human frailties but these timeless characters, more than even the plays themselves, these theyve become real people, if you like. CATEGORIES : definition of grammar by different authors Uncategorized. These great plays were originally performed with, and spoken by Shakespeare himself, in the most backward, hillbilly, West Virginny accent you can imagine. Respect is mandatory! Mansa Musa I, the ruler of that kingdom is, you know, many economists estimate the richest human of all time. I think if you look at hip-hop in particular, in London, the most diverse audience youll ever see at any gig you ever go to, without question, will be a hip-hop show. This man makes me think about artistic styles of the ages. Coming soon, maybe, who knows? The Folger is dedicated to advancing knowledge and the arts. We should teach Shakespeare because it could teach our future generation ways into how these texts, visuals, and themes, can connect to our life experiences or tragedies. This man is pure geniusshould be on telly. Since 2009, under the auspices of his Hip-hop Shakespeare Company, Akala has been going to community centers, prisons, and schools in immigrant and underserved communities using the tools of hip-hop to spread an understanding of the relevance of Shakespeares poetry. And so its that I want people to take away the fact that cultures there to be enjoyed. It is not an "ah ha" moment but a "Ta dah" movement because it resonates. It has to be rhythm first. So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. I want this guy as my history/English/RE teacher, he as an absolute breath of fresh air and you have to love his music! Yeah, I'm sure Akala would do a real bang up job explaining Lagrangian mechanics and the solution of partial differential equations.