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IAHHE Conference 2008
Friday, September 26th
8:30am - 3:30pm
National Music Center
Historic Carnegie Library
801 K St NW
Newsletter:August 3rd, 2008
This year's IAHHE summer program was a joyous expression of positive energy and student identity. The goal of our summer program is to help students gain a sense of themselves and their history, develop literary skills, build vocabulary, and learn techniques for positive self-motivation.
Through the medium of hip hop students also learn how to think quickly, critically and contextually. They learn how to bring together various topics and see how individual ideas are connected together through threads of information.
Instead of receiving isolated facts in separate learning situations, the students connect all of these units of information and experience them through performance. The student develops the skills to bring these ideas together through learning how to freestyle rhyme and also how to compose rhymes that bring together the multifaceted areas of their education.
On a personal level, it was amazing to see close to 100 students on a stage in front of their parents and teachers chanting positive affirmations about themselves. Students who normally would not say anything were chanting at the top of their lungs and students who may say too much sometimes were also chanting the same positive words: "We don't need nothing else but health wealth and knowledge of ourself!"
It was a beautiful presentation and one that warmed the hearts of parents and staff alike.
The students created from start to finish a demo CD with positive lyrics. Each group democratically created the lyrics and the beat and a CD cover for each group was chosen from their designs. They performed the songs and rehearsed a skit that included the song in it.
The theme of the CD and the skit was their “Declaration of Importance.” The storyline supposed that an alien came down to destroy the earth and gave the students an opportunity to save themselves if they could come up with some reasons why they were important in a document called a "Declaration of Importance."
Each student created their own list of important attributes and the groups collectively composed their rhymes from each other's list.
We are excited about continuing with this group of students in the afterschool program in the fall. |
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Get
involved by
joining IAHHE!
As a members you
may volunteer to
serve as an
officer, submit
your educational
resources,
articles, media
and/or relevant
website links.
Start an IAHHE
student chapter
at your college
or university!
For details
contact
info@iahhe.org
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Wordplay is the
essence of
Signifyin(g) and
it is how
meaning is
derived from
double
entendre. Hip
hop’s ability to
convert,
sabotage, or
flip meaning in
any context is
the trademark of
the trickster,
Esu, or the
Signifyin(g)
Monkey. Just as
Esu was the
 god
of the
crossroads in
the African
pantheon, hip
hop culture has
become the
African-American
equivalent of
the crossroads;
the place where
western
ideologies and
theologies of
money,
capitalism,
rationalism,
God, and
materialism meet
and merge with
African ideals
of community,
ancestors and
living spirits,
oral tradition,
and
reciprocity.
Jazz combined
the western
elements of
music and
performance with
the African to
create an
audience-oriented
art form that
thrived on
competition and
survival methods
and was a
response to
social and
spiritual
oppression. Hip
hop built on
those ideals and
created its own
art form that in
some ways
mirrored western
ideals yet
paradoxically
tore them down.
It took the
modus of
survival that
exists in
Western thought
(the cutthroat,
competitive,
capitalist
nature) merged
it with the
ideas of
community (crew
and posse code
ethics), the use
of art, music,
and dance as
functional items
to communicate
(graffiti, hip
hop,
breakdancing
respectively),
and created an
art form that
unlike jazz,
gave actual
words to the
cries of the
ghetto.
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MCing:
The art of the
microphone
controller or
master of
ceremonies; the
MC practices
mastery of the
verbal arts and
can create
meaning of any
circumstance in
lyrical
performance.
Knowledge of
current as well
as historical
events,
vernacular, and
grammatical
technique is
key
to constructing
a meaningful
rhyme. The
ability to call
upon this
information
spontaneously is
the trademark of
the underground
MC who takes
this artform to
its highest
level in the art
of “freestyle”
or
improvisational
rhyming.
DJing:
The art of the
turntables;
short for disc
jockey; hip hop
“heads” spend
hours at home
and in the club
perfecting their
ability to mix,
scratch and
“cut” on the
turntables.
Knowledge of the
equipment,
techniques (i.e.
rubbing an ice
cube on a warped
record will
smooth out the
warp), and the
acquisition of
an up-to-date
collection of
the latest
singles, is
imperative.
B-Boy:
The art of hip
hop movement;
b-boys practice
relentlessly.jpg)
to incorporate
basic breakdance
movements with
individual
styles to make
an exciting
display of
physical
control,
endurance, and
agility. By
contorting the
body in ways
that are
extremely
difficult and by
spinning and
sliding across
the floor, they
are able to
develop their
own individual
poses and
movements.
Graffiti:
The art of
“tags” and
“burners;”
artists paint,
draw,
and/or ink
elaborate
pictures on
various
surfaces. The
ideas are
created in a
sketchbook and
converted to
whatever surface
is preferred.
Historically
done in subways
on trains or
walls, now many
graffiti pieces
are done on
building walls
and canvases as
murals sponsored
by local city
governments or
art
exhibitioners.
“Tags” are names
sprayed in an
individualistic
calligraphic
style.
“Burners” are
full-fledged
artistic
masterpieces
that use bright
colors and
imaginative
images to depict
scenes of urban
life.
©
Except from
Hip Hop As
Performance and
Ritual,
Smith,
William E, PhD. |
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