a Shakespeare of her time to those of us familiar with her work.
In March, a Bergen, New Jersey freshman world literature class at High Tech High was struggling to grasp the verbiage and literary theme of Morrison’s novel “The Bluest Eye,” so the teacher (Brian Mooney) went in search of inspiration that the high school students could probably relate: Kendrick Lamar (whose most recent effort “To Pimp A Butterfly”) came complete with a metaphorical title and even more controversial and questionable cover art as well.
But (like Macbeth for Theo and Cockroach) it was his “hip hop” that was used as tool motivate his young high school students to help understand literature through the lens of what they (as a subculture…) could not grasp. Via that same method, that teacher used “hip hop” to help them grasp a literary style that they (as first) couldn’t.
As told by the New York Times (early last month), this was a teacher’s take on Kendrick Lamar (and hip hop) being useful (rather than thou understandeth it only as being the most racist over racism)….
Here ye, here ye Geraldo Rivera:
When Brian Mooney’s students struggled in March to digest the literary themes and dense language in Toni Morrison’s novel “The Bluest Eye,” Mr. Mooney sought
inspiration from an unorthodox teacher of his own: the two-time Grammy winner and world-famous rapper Kendrick Lamar.
Mr. Mooney, who teaches freshman English at High Tech High School in North Bergen, N.J., played Mr. Lamar’s album (edited, of course) “To Pimp a Butterfly” to draw correlations to Ms. Morrison’s novel.
Using a literary lens called “hip-hop ed” that he learned during his graduate courses at Teachers College at Columbia University, Mr. Mooney asked his students to reflect on the dichotomy of black culture in America — the celebration of itself and its struggle with historic oppression. His students’ sudden understanding shined through essays, colorful canvases and performance art.
Mr. Mooney, 29, blogged about his curriculum and shared his students’ work online. The blog racked up over 10,000 Facebook shares, and hardly a month passed before Mr. Lamar discovered it.
On Monday, Mr. Lamar not only became a guest lecturer in Mooney’s small classroom at High Tech, but he also became a pupil. Mr. Lamar’s manager sent a note to Mr. Mooney in April saying the performer was interested in visiting. He did not charge a fee, but the school and its foundation paid for the stage setup.
“I was feeling incredibly grateful and humbled that my work received that much exposure and reached that wide of an audience that Kendrick himself read it,” Mr. Mooney said.
The administration at High Tech High School, a magnet school, embraced Mr. Lamar’s visit. Mr. Mooney packed about 50 of his students from his world literature freshman class, after-school hip-hop literature class and extracurricular slam poetry club, for a session with Mr. Lamar.
Selected students performed spoken word sessions and raps for Mr. Lamar. “You’ve chose the wrong butterfly to pimp,” spat Alejandro Leon, a 15-year-old, paying homage to Mr. Lamar’s album. Mr. Lamar praised Mr. Leon’s poem with finger snaps and complimented his punch lines. Even Mr. Mooney showed off his rapping skills, and Mr. Lamar’s head bobbed to the beat.
“Man, this is a blast,” Mr. Lamar, 27, told the class. “I can see the energy. I can feel the energy.”
The class discussed the inspiration behind Mr. Lamar’s albums and his perception as an author himself. Mr. Lamar signed students’ artwork along the classroom walls and took selfies with beaming students.
“When I talk to kids, I’m really listening,” he said. “When I do that, we have a little bit of a bigger connection than me being Kendrick Lamar and you being a student. It’s almost like we’re friends. Because a friend listens.”
The class joined the rest of the student body, about 650 in total, in the school’s field house. Mr. Lamar sat on a panel with Chris Emdin, Mr. Mooney’s mentor from Teachers College and creator of the #hiphoped movement; Jamilia Lyiscott, who recently received a Ph.D. from Teachers College; Mr. Mooney; and some High Tech alumni to critique performances by the students.
Sade Ford, an 18-year-old senior, took the stage with her performance titled “It Takes a Village to Raise a Butterfly.” She touched upon leaving behind her hometown, Jersey City, and her coming journey as a first-generation college student at Rutgers University.
“The best part is the effect that she can give her perspective from different walks of life,” Mr. Lamar commented.
Another senior, Benjamin Vock, 17, created his poem within a day, inspired by Mr. Lamar’s song “Mortal Man.” He bemoaned the pain the black community felt with the deaths of young black men such as Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin and the privilege he experienced growing up white.
“That’s dope,” Mr. Lamar said. “You identify with my community and what’s going on in the world. And I appreciate you for that.”
To close out his visit, Mr. Lamar took a single song request. He settled on a performance of “Alright.”
“It’s truly a blessing to be in front of you all,” Mr. Lamar signed off. “I will be back. That’s a promise, y’all.”
…So you see Geraldo. What you see as a “problem,” (about rapper Kendrick Lamar) someone else saw in him [and in Hip Hop] a solution.
