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Hip Hop and Shakespeare

Akala and the Hip Hop Shakespeare Company

Teacher Edition- Answers are in (parentheses)

For the following quotes, choose whether you believe the quote is from Hip Hop, or Shakespeare.

1. To destroy the beauty from which one came

Hip Hop Shakespeare

2. Maybe it's hatred I spew; maybe it's food for the spirit

Hip Hop Shakespeare

3. Men would rather use their broken weapons than their bare hands

Hip Hop Shakespeare

4. I was not born under a rhyming planet

Hip Hop Shakespeare

5. The most benevolent king communicates through your dreams

Hip Hop Shakespeare

6. Socrates' philosophies and hypotheses can't define

Hip Hop Shakespeare

Answers:

1. Jay-Z, Can I Live

2. Eminem, Renegade3. Shakespeare, Othello

4. Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing

5. The RZA, Wu Tang Clan6. Inspector Dek, Wu Tang Cla, Triumph

7. Akala makes the point that it's hard to distinguish between hip hop and Shakespeare when the context

& perception is taken away, and you're left with the raw language of the two art forms. Do youagree with this statement? Why or why not?

What are some of the things that hip hop and Shakespeare share? (Rhythm, figurative language)

By writing in iambic pentameter, what did Shakespeare enable his rhymes to do? (make them fit withalmost any beat; gives his rhymes a consistent rhythm & tempo)

What does Akala call iambic penameter (He says to place your hand over your heart in order to feel it)?

(iambs are the beat of life, music imitates the rhythm of life, da DUM, da DUM. This rhythm is intrinsicto life)

Akala makes the point that iambic pentameter often acts as a mnemonic device-- something that helps

readers to remember the words easier. Do you think putting words to a rhythm enables you to remember

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the information better? Why or why not?

In hip hop, Shakespeare, and real life, whatyou say is just as important as... ? (how you say it-- the

rhythm, tone, and mood of what you say)

When Shakespeare was alive, did his plays sound the same way they do now? Give an example to proveyes or no: (Shakespeare did not speak the Queen's English; hours was pronounced 'ers' and 'moon' and

'blood' rhymed)

What does Akala mean by the term custodian of knowledge? (A 'custodian of knowledge' is someonethe community/society can look towards to gain knowledge and information both about the past and

present. Shakespeare was a custodian of knowledge for his times, as hip hop artists can be seen now.)

Why do some people take issue with Shakespeare being a custodian of knowledge? (Because he wasn'tOxford educated, he wasn't royalty or nobility, some believe that he's not 'entitled' to be a custodian of

knowledge)

Quite literally, what does the term Hip Hop mean? (Intelligent movement)The fifth element of hip hop is _______________________. (knowledge)

In the medieval West African empires, a griot is a member of the community who does what? (A

rhythmic, oral poet, singer, musician, a custodian of knowledge who related the spiritual & historical

tradition of the society)Most commercially successful rappers boast about what two main things? (how clever they are & their

background, where they grew up)

What does Akala say is one of the most inspirational things about hip hop? (that people who were toldthat they weren't supposed to do that stayed true to themselves and became the 'custodians of knowledge')

According to Akala, hip hop and Shakespeare share one great power. What is that power? (To transmit

knowledge & to question the world around us)

The success or failure of societies in the 21st

century will be dependent on what? (Dependent on the

mind; the ideas of the people within that society)

8. Akala states that hip hop and Shakespeare share a unity in human culture, a unity in the ideas that

humans pursue; and to inspire people towards their own form of artistic literary, cultural, & societalexcellence. After watching this video, do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?