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VH1
And You Don't Stop - 30 Years of Hip-Hop
Episode 2
VH1 Music Studio
Cable in the Classroom
Lesson for Music Classes, Grades 9-12
Lesson 2
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NOTE TO THE TEACHERS: The programs viewed in conjunction with these lesson plans may include references, consistent with the eras portrayed, to substance abuse, violent acts, and topics of a sexual and/or political nature. Because this may be considered inappropriate for classroom use in some communities, you are encouraged to review the programs before presenting them to your students, and if necessary, choose those sections that enhance your lesson and are acceptable for use in your classroom.
IMPORTANT: Some lyrics are inappropriate for classroom use and have been edited here by using asterisks in the place of inappropriate words. Please edit the lyrics further as needed. CD's edited for obscene content can be found at stores such as Wal-Mart.
Objectives
- Students will discuss how Hip Hop changed from city to city as it spread across the United States.
- Students will decide which elements of the music are regional and which are national and how the lyrics reflect local perspectives.
- Students will discuss geographic differences evident in the music within various genres.
National Standards:
6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.
7. Evaluating music and music performances.
8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.
9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture.
Materials
- VHS VCR Player
- Television
- VH1's And You Don't Stop - 30 Years of Hip-Hop Episode 2 (Cable in the Classroom edited version)
- Web-based lesson materials
- CD player/audio equipment
- Overhead projector (optional)
- Pencils/pens and paper (students)
- Teacher selected recordings of three Hip Hop songs from approximately the same year, but from different geographical areas (see end of lesson for songs representing four typically discussed regions that could be used for this purpose)
- Overhead transparencies of the lyrics to the selected songs (optional)
Prior Knowledge:
Students have experience discussing musical genres.
Procedures
1. Ask students to suggest where the Hip Hop musical genre began, geographically, in the United States. Make a list of the regions, whether broad or specific, to which they can refer after watching the VH1 program.
2. Show VH1's And You Don't Stop - 30 Years of Hip Hop, Episode 2, the section that focuses on Hip Hop stylistic differences that have surfaced in different geographical regions.
3. Have students compare the list created in Step 1 with the knowledge they now have of the regions where Hip Hop began. Lead them in discussing the ways in which regional tastes differ and how other popular musics from a region have influenced the evolution of Hip Hop music. How might a regional style affect the stylistic development of a Hip Hop artist? Could the political and social issues of a particular region have an affect on the topics, language, and mood/emotion used by artists living in the area?
Examples: Southern rappers may be influenced by blues and country music, a slower pace of life associated with rural areas and a deeply entrenched and cohesive Black community; rappers from Oakland, CA may have been influenced by the drug trade in the 60's and the race riots in LA, poverty, and other urban problems. (See the "Supplemental Resources" section for links to information about several different regional styles, and see the end of the lesson for song lyrics representing four different rappers: Outkast, Southern Hip Hop; dc Talk, Christian Hip Hop; Snoop Dogg, West Coast Hip Hop; Big Daddy Kane, East Coast Hip Hop.)
4. Select three Hip Hop songs that were released in approximately the same year, but that are from different areas of the United States (the songs at the end of this lesson could be used for this purpose, or additional selections can be made). Play each selection for the class and have students write down the similarities and differences between them, and then share their ideas. Consider using the following chart to make a combined list of the students' answers on the board or overhead.
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Lyrics |
Beat |
Other Instruments |
Vocal Style |
Frame of Reference |
Song 1 |
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Song 2 |
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Song 3 |
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5. Guide students in discussing other musical genres and the ways in which they vary from region to region, country to country, etc. Have them look at the styles of country music, rock and roll, Romantic era opera, classical instrumental works, folk music, etc., and expand the discussion into earlier eras. How do artists adopt a musical style, but add their own elements? How might a country's own musics create a reinterpretation of a style adopted from another country? Is German opera different from American opera (other than language)? How did folk and country music change as it moved across the nation from the Appalachian Mountain region to the open plains of the mid-West? If possible, play recorded examples of the styles of music being discussed to help the students make comparisons.
Supplemental Resources:
The links below on Wikipedia Encyclopedia Online provide thorough overviews of the various Hip Hop/Rap styles:
For information pertaining to Chicago Hip Hop, see "The Chicago Hip Hop Story"
at www.galapagos4.com/blackbook/chicago_history.htm.
National
Standards for Music Education
1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
2. Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire
of music.
3. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments.
4. Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines.
5. Reading and notating music.
6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.
7. Evaluating music and music performances.
8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines
outside the arts.
9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture.
These standards-based materials are provided through a partnership with MENC: The National Association for Music Education. This lesson plan was created by MENC member Rachel Weissman, Music Enrichment Teacher, Evergreen Montessori School, Wheaton, MD
Outkast's "SOUTHERNPLAYALISTICADILLACMUZIC"
from the album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzic (1994)
[Big Boi]
Well its the M I crooked letter comin around the South
Rollin straight hammers and vogues in that old Southern slouch
Please, ain't nothin but incense in my atmosphere
I'm bendin corners in my 'llac boi, cause that's how we be rollin here
Deep, the slang is in effect because it's Georgia
Kicking the khakis and Adidas
packin yo' heaters cause you 'sposed to, cousin
Catfish and grits is how my flow flow
Rollin steady in that caddy but them 50 bottles got to go
See Juice and gin used to be my friend, from the begin
And now i'm just a player sippin sauce, every now and then
To catch a buzz like a bumble bee
Niggaz who tried to **** with me
Get sprayed like raid cause it ain't nothin see
[Andre]
My heat is in the trunk along with that quad knock
No my heart don't pump no Kool-Aid
Jump and you'll get you sprayed
Hooray yo block the one and only OutKast
Many a nigga fallin fast and
I continue blastin, swiftly
Quickly, they ain't gon' get me, got somethin fo' em
The devil up in yo grill and you still don't even know' em
Show'em, who's the ok
Like collard greens and whole eggs
I got soul, thats somethin that you ain't got
That's why yo style is ro-ten,
Stop in the land of ATL
Where nothin but pimps, fully equiped
Quick to make a sale, swell
Swollen got my pockets, business boomin like rockets
Folks try to stop it but they know that it's that...
(Chorus)
Its that Southernplayalisticcaddilac funky music
Now players if you choose it
You better make sure you don't abuse it
We gonna get cha hiiiighh, hiiiighhh
[Andre]
Time to drop these bows, like Dusty Rhodes
Then I yell ho
We knockin em off they feet like a Southern hustler supposed to do
I's in the house, house like, a joint is lit fo my kin folks
And all the niggaz that was down, since we been broke
Takin em deeper than a submarine
So scream when you hear the team of two
My crew be thick as two fat hoes sittin off in a Brougham
I'm packin my tag backwards if you want to be actin wrong
Word is bond like super glue
Its funky like poopa scoop
And every word I say you can true
[Big Boi]
Well okey dokey KastOut
I swear to God I got the highest boomin cadillac
The expialalistic coupe de ville
Can you handle that you rat
I take my time cruisin round the city malls
And under my seat for you suckers its your final curtain call
The one two to the gauge p-u-m-p
You want to do a jack, I heat the barrel til it's empty, get me
See i get friendly gettin in where i fit
Organized is on the track with the southernplayalistic ****
So copy my slang and bite my ****
But don't try gafflin me
Cause sleepin you'll get served with some Southern hospitality
(Chorus)
[Big Boi]
Well Southernplayalisticadillac music has been laid
I may wait for all the ... be rolling like that today hoes
So back up off get up on it if you want it cha'll
Looking for hoes and snitches was my thing on player's ball yup
So now I step, rather walk with the pimp
While my niggas are at East Pointe
with that College Park hemp smoke style
Is how I wanna end it on this track
so I pass it to my partner and step back up in my Cadillac
[Andre]
Step up in my shoes you crews sitting on Trues
And Vogues for the hoes only when we rollin through
Atlanta skies be blue
The sun is beamin it seemin
That i glisten, rather gleaming
20/20 got me leaning to the side
Full of pride, now ain't that somethin
I'm dippin into your hood
This ain't braile, but i'm bumpin
Thumpin out the roaches
Dungeon if ya'll missed it
Big Gimp, Goodie MOb, PA, Outkast
Southernplaylistic
(Chorus 3X)
Lyrics courtesy of: www.go2lyrics.com/O/Outkast/180951.html
dc Talk's "Jesus Freak"
from the album Jesus Freak (1995)
[what will people think
When they hear that I'm a jesus freak?
What will people do
When they find that's it's true? ]
Separated, I cut myself clean
From a past that comes back in my darkest of dreams
Been apprehended by a spiritual force
And a grace that replaced all the me I've divorced
I saw a man with tat on his big fat belly
It wiggled around like marmalade jelly
It took me a while to catch what it said
Cause I had to match the rhythm
Of his belly with my head
'jesus saves' is what it raved in a typical tattoo green
He stood on a box in the middle of the city
And claimed he had a dream
(chorus)
What will people think
When they hear that I'm a jesus freak
What will people do when they find that it's true
I don't really care if they label me a jesus freak
There ain't no disguising the truth
Kamikaze, my death is gain
I've been marked by my maker
A peculiar display
The high and lofty, they see me as weak
Cause I won't live and die for the power they seek
There was a man from the desert with naps in his head
The sand that he walked was also his bed
The words that he spoke made the people assume
There wasn't too much left in the upper room
With skins on his back and hair on his face
They thought he was strange by the locusts he ate
The pharisees tripped when they heard him speak
Until the king took the head of this jesus freak
(repeat chorus 2x)
People say I'm strange, does it make me a stranger
That my best friend was born in a manger
People say I'm strange, does it make me a stranger
That my best friend was born in a manger
(repeat chorus 2x)
What will people think
[what will people think]
What will people do
[what will people do]
I don't really care
[what else can I say]
There ain't no disguising the truth
[jesus is the way] v
Lyrics courtesy of: www.lyricsondemand.com/d/dctalklyrics/
jesusfreaklyrics.html
Snoop Dogg's "Lodi Dodi"
from the album Doggystyle (1993)
Yeah, gotta say what's up to my nigga slick rick
For those who don't like it, eat a ****
But for those who with me, sing that ****
As it go a little something like this
La di da di, we likes to party
We don't cause trouble, we don't bother nobody
We're, just some niggaz who're on the mic
And when we rock up on the mic we rock the mic [right]
For all my doggs keepin y'all in health
Just to see you smile and enjoy yourself
Cuz it's cool when ya cause a cozy conditionin
Which we create, cuz that's our mission
So listen close, to what we say
Because this types of **** happens every-day
I woke up around 10 o'clock in the mornin
I gave myself a strech up, a mornin yawn and
Went to the bathroom to wash up
I threw some soap on my face and put my hands up on a cup
And said um mirror mirror, on, the wall
Who is the top dogg of them all?
There was a rubble dubble, five minutes it lasted
The mirror said, you are you conceited bastard
Well that's true, that's why we never have no beef
So I slipped off my khakis and my gold leaf
Used oil of olay, cuz my skin gets pale
And then I got the file, for my fingernails
I'm true to the style on my behalf
I put some bubbles in the tub so I can take a bubble bath
Clean, dry, was my body and hair
I threw on my brand new doggy underwear
For all the *****es I might take home
I got the johnson baby powder and cool water cologne
Now I'm fresh, dressed, like a million bucks
Threw on my white sox, with my all blue chucks
Stepped out the house, stopped short, oh no
I went back in, I forgot my indo
Then I dilly [dally] I ran through an [alley]
I bumped into this smoker named [sally] from the [valley]
This was a girl playin hard to get
So I said what's wrong? cuz she looked upset
She said um
It's all because of you, I'm feelin sad and blue
You went away, now my life is filled with rainy days
I love you so, how much you'll never know
Cause you took your dope away from me
A-huh, a-huh, ahuh
D***, now what was I to do
She's cryin over me and she was feelin blue
I said, um, don't cry, dry your eye
And here comes your mother with those two little guys
Her mean mother steps then says to me hi!!
Decked sally in the face and punched her in the eye
Punched her in the belly and stepped on her feet
Slammed the child on the hard concrete
The ***** was strong, the kids was gone
Somethin was wrong I said, what was goin on?
I tried to break up, I said, stop it, just leave her!
She said, if I can't smoke none, she can't either!
She grabbed my closely by my socks
So I broke the hell out, and I grabbed my sack of rocks
But um, they gave chase, they caught up quick
They started cryin on my shoes and grabbin my ****
And sayin....
Why don't you give me a play
So we can brake it down the long beach way
And if you give me that okay
I'll give you all my love today
Doggy, doggy, doggy, can't you see
Somehow your words just hypnotize me
And I just love your jazzy ways
Doggy dogg, your love is here to stay
And on and on and on she kept goin
The ***** been around before my mother's born!
I said, cheer up! so I gave her a hit
I said, you can't have me, I'm too young for you *****!
She said, no you're not, then she starts cryin
I says I'm nineteen, she says, stop lyin!
I says, I am, go ask my mother
And with your wrinkled *****, I can't be your lover
Yeah, uhh, tic toc you don't stop
And to the, ah tic toc and you don't quit
Yeah, tic toc and ya don't stop, and to the
Ah tic toc and ya don't quit, *****!
Lyrics courtesy of: www.lyricsondemand.com/s/snoopdogglyrics/
lodidodilyrics.html
Big Daddy Kane's "Chocolate City"
from the album Looks like a Job for... (1993)
(1995)
Mister cee [intro]:
I be the cruddy one that they call the dj mister cee,
With the whole wolf pack in the place to be.
Better known as the chocolate city.
So scoob lover, huh, are ya with me...?
{scoob lover:}
Yo, I break punks up like a fight. give me the mic, I'm hype.
(d*** kid, you're starvin' for life)
Cuz people be tellin' me, brothers be gellin' me,
Tryin' to get fame from my name but they chumps and they butt-soft.
They know I'm wilder than a dog with hot sauce.
A mic, a stage, a crowd, and I won't stop:
I set it off and get live like an alarm clock.
People thought scoob and scrap was just a nickname;
Now that we rap, we sell more records than cocaine.
Awww, shucks, now I'm back from the down-low,
Here comes scoob with the currrr-ly afro.
No chemical reaction, no need for askin', pure satisfaction,
My last name's jackson.
You slip up, I get ill -- my boot to your grill,
My nine kills, I'm big scoob from brownsville.
The world's greatest lover, the chaaaaa-clate brother...
Chorus:
Who's the committee? (chocolate city!) 3x
Scrap lover are ya with me?
{scrap lover:}
Yo, I drop science kinda like a pigeon;
Over rough tracks I tax any midget with a small digit.
Smooth and mild but complicated,
I put the crowd to to smashed like a driver that's intoxicated.
Rappers write rhymes, and talk about guns and jail,
But wouldn't squeeze a lemon in a cocktail.
Don't say huh? or what? , and don't ask who,
Cuz if you hear me, I must be talkin' to you.
You probably thought I couldn't steal it, cuz I was a dancer,
I didn't have a chance, but y'all can kill it.
You gotta be off your rocker,
I'm lettin' suckers know that scrap got more soul than foot locker.
And if you heard I got skills, believe it's true;
Suggest for pete rock, for reminiscin' over you.
It's not a threat, it's a bet, cuz hey,
The last sucker who tried woulda been 25 today.
Chorus 3x
Big daddy are ya with me?
{big daddy kane:}
Yo-yo-yo-yo, look out, get out the way!
Here comes the k the a the n the e -- huh, ya better flee.
Cuz I don't need no hoodie to be hard, shoot:
I'll kill a nigga in a three-piece suit.
I don't be havin' it so the rear I'll attack,
A size-15 to the buttocks, a-matter-fact.
A hard-core blow to the face I'll provide,
To give you a crooked eye, just like st. ides.
Leave you home and you must be screamin' and yellin';
Not even kool moe dee shades can hide your swellin'.
I bring it rough, tough;
I said that I was browner than bobby, so you know that it's good enough.
I'm untouchable to rappers my size.
You dreamed of beatin' me, you better wake up an apologize.
Some claim to be a daddy or poppa,
But with me, you'd have no ranks if your name was shabba.
Chorus 3x
Now you know you'd too like to be with it...
{li'l daddy shane:}
Shane, I cause pain, I make it rain.
I'm wearin' and tearin' down to the last grain.
Ha, I'm not a chocolate brother, but I don't mourn,
Cuz I swear this vanilla kid got it goin' on.
So don't even step to me if you're worth nothin',
Because I just might hurt somethin'.
My competition thinks twice, cuz yo, for a young nigga, I'm kinda nice...
{laree williams:} [singing]
Ooooooooooooohhhh! chocolate city are ya with meeeee?!
Scoob and scrap and mister cee! kane and shane and laaaarrrrreeeeeee!
Kaaaaaane....would your black a** sing it for mee-heee?!
(kane: ohhh, ho, **** yeahhhh!) [laughter]
Lyrics courtesy of:
www.go2lyrics.com/B/Big+Daddy+Kane/15211.html
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