Former Contributor to the Huffington Post
Vicki Cobb's Blog
  • Vicki Cobb's Blog
  • About
  • Contact

A Primer for a Cultural Phenonmenon

18/8/2019

 
Picture
The more closely an individual skillfully expresses his or her own personal truth, the more it resonates with universal humanity.  Thus, art is created.  iNK author, Carole Boston Weatherford and artist Frank Morrison have created a work of art to explain an art genre-- the wildly pulsating manipulation of words, sounds, music, dance and rhythms of rap.  Like other art forms, rap has its roots in earlier incarnations of popular music most of which are foreign to me.  I was raised on classical music and discovered jazz as a young adult.  I was never into popular commercial music as a girl although I did, on occasion, listen to the "Hit Parade" on the radio on Saturdays. I certainly didn't grow up with earbuds and unlimited access to what flows through fiber optic cables.  So I'm not qualified as an expert to render my opinion on Weatherford's and Morrison's  new book The Roots of Rap:16 Bars on the 4 Pillars of Hip-Hop.  So, to do this work (which is clearly a labor of love) justice, I treated it as a study guide.  I began by looking up the 4 pillars of Hip-Hop which are graffiti, break-dancing, rapping and "dub, " the  simultaneous changes of speed and direction of  two records on two turn-tables by one DJ.

First,I read the book through, soaking up the impassioned and powerful artwork of Frank Morrison. My take-away was that the source of the music was people rising up from urban streets who demanded that they be heard and created music and art (graffiti)  that compelled attention.  Although I had heard some of the names of the artists through the zeitgeist, I didn't really know who they were.  So I went to You Tube, looked up the artist, opened a new window where I could read the lyrics as I listened to the music and watched the videos.  I was determined not to miss a beat. 

Weatherford introduces her musical history  in The Roots of Rap with:

"Soulman James Brown shouting, 'I'm black and I'm proud.' 
​"Giving birth to funk--bass lining pulsing loud. 
​ "BA BUMP BA BUMP BA BOOM BOOM BUZZ--​ BA BUMP BA BUMP BA BOOM BOOM BUZZ"

This music was played at volume to the max in boom boxes and cars, filling public spaces with sound that invited dancing. Not just toe-tapping dancing but amazingly athletic  break-dancing on sidewalks.  I watched the B-Boys--the best of the best.  Who know the human body was capable of such moves?  Why haven't they been adopted to liven up the floor exercises in gymnastic competitions and add points for difficulty?  Next came the Jamaican reggae beat that was embellished by DJs who man-handled turntables, improvising live and in real time a novel mix of already recorded music, creating a  genre  called "dub."  D. J. Kool, known as the founder of hip-hop, interacted mightily with his live audience who kept up with his off-beat approach and rat-a-tat lyrics that are both fervent and witty.   Weatherford was a kind guide to this greenhorn as she gently shared her knowledge of music that she has come to love.  So if rap is foreign to you, this not just a book to read.  It is a course in music appreciation. 


In the back-matter there is a "Hip-Hop Who's Who" that can keep a playlist-builder busy. Rap has no limit  in its range of expression, from  anger to yearning to a celebration of life, which makes it popular world-wide. It is an amalgam of  diverse cultures, beats, songs and poems.  Some of it may be too raw for the very young.  But then, some very young children have already experienced a harsh reality not of their own making.  Whatever it is, there's a rap song for that.

In this one-of-a-kind picture book about music without a sound track Carole Boston Weatherford and Frank Morisson have created an introduction to  a universal form of communication that is echoing around the world.  Go catch the wave. 

​



​





     Vicki Cobb

    *Award-winning author of more than 90 nonfiction books for children, mostly in science.
    *Former Contributor to the Huffington Post
    *Founder/President of iNK Think Tank, Inc.
    *Passionate advocate for the joy of learning for every child and teacher.


    Disclaimer: All opinions, typos, and grammatical errors are my own,  especially small word omissions which I often don't notice in my fervor.  

    RSS Feed

    ​​​​Archives

    March 2022
    November 2021
    August 2021
    February 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018

    ​Categories

    All
    Abuse
    Achievement Gap
    Adkins Jan
    Albee Sarah
    Anti Bullying
    Anti-bullying
    Art
    Author Driven Nonfiction
    Author-driven Nonfiction
    Authors On Call
    Biology
    Birds
    Black History
    BLC2018
    Book Review
    Child Abuse
    Children As Political Pawns
    Children's Nonfiction
    Citizenship
    Civics
    Civil Rights
    Class ACTS
    Climate Change
    Clinton Chelsea
    Collard III Sneed B.
    Common Core State Standards
    Conversation
    Coronavirus
    Costaldo Nancy F.
    Covid-19
    Critical Thinking
    Data-driven
    Definition
    Democracy
    Dewey John
    Dogs
    Dunphy Madeleine
    Ecology
    Education
    Educational Standards
    Electron Microscope
    Empowerment For Children
    Endangered Species
    Excellence
    Extinction
    Fact-checking
    Fleming Candace
    "flow"
    Galileo
    Girls' Education
    Global Warming
    Greenberg Jan
    Grit
    Gun Violence
    History
    History Of "school Reform"
    Home Libraries
    Hurricanes
    INK Database
    INK Database Of Books
    Insects
    Interactive Video Conferencing
    Isaac Sally
    Jeopardy Winner
    Learning
    Lesser Carolyn
    Leveled Reading
    Levinson Cynthia
    Lexiles
    Listening
    Literacy
    Literature
    Liu Eric
    March For Our Lives
    McClafferty Carla
    Mentor Texts
    Montgomery Heather L.
    Montgomery Sy
    Motivated Reasoning
    Motivation
    Munro Roxie
    Nathan Amy
    Nonfiction
    Nonfiction Minute
    Nonprofit And Education
    Opening Schools
    Patent Dorothy Hinshaw
    Pedagogy
    Picture Books
    Podcasts
    Primary Source
    Pringle Laurence
    Pundits Of The Pandemic
    Rap Music
    Reading
    Rules
    Rusch Elizabeth
    School Choice
    SchoolTube
    School Visits
    Science Experiments You Can Eat
    Science Teaching
    Semple Heidi E.Y.
    Social Skills
    Socrates
    Speaking
    Spring Fling
    Standardized Testing
    STEM
    Studies On Education
    Swanson Jennifer
    Teaching
    Technology And Children
    Thomas Peggy
    Trump
    Truth
    Voting
    Warren Andrea
    Washington George
    Weatherford Carole Boston
    Webinars
    Work With Us
    World War II
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Links

The Nonfiction Minute
​

​iNK Think Tank website

​Vicki Cobb's Kids' Fun Page

We Dare You Videos


Company

iNK Think Tank, Inc. is a nonprofit with the mission of using nonfiction children's literature in classrooms

Contact

vicki@inkthinktank.org
​

© 2019


© COPYRIGHT 2019. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.