TEACHER RESOURCES - museumca.org

TEACHER RESOURCES

Amanda Sade, Tops Drop, 2017

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BACKGROUND

THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE

TEACHING & LEARNING GOALS

KEY TERMS

BACKGROUND INFORMATION FROM THE EXHIBITION

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

Hank Willis Thomas, Black Power, 2006

RESPECT TEACHER RESOURCES 3

BACKGROUND THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE

Whether your class is participating in a facilitated school tour or self-guided visit, we think that RESPECT is best experienced through student-driven activities.

Facilitated school tours: This is not your typical tour! OMCA Hip-Hop Educators and Docents will facilitate student-driven inquiry of the exhibition. Students will explore the exhibition using inquiry activities, coming together at the end to share their findings in a cypher.

Self-guided school visits: Classroom teachers can design their own student-led learning experience in RESPECT using the materials in this Teacher Resource Guide. We encourage you to customize these materials and tell us how it goes!

TEACHING & LEARNING GOALS

Through participating in a RESPECT exhibition tour, students will:

• Understand that Hip-Hop is more than just commercial rap music

• Understand that Hip-Hop is about creative reuse

• Learn how California has influenced Hip-Hop, and how Hip-Hop has changed society

• Feel inspired to use their own Hip-Hop knowledge and skills to share messages important for their community

Almost 45 years since its creation, Hip-Hop’s youthful impulses have matured into a global culture for the 21st century. Once outcasts, members of the Hip-Hop community are now fathers, mothers, elders, and leaders in our society.

Hip-Hop’s artistic importance extends well beyond music. Its fresh creativity and style are infectious. It is present in the fashion we wear, the language we speak, the media we watch and create, and the attitudes we take on.

Through Hip-Hop, marginalized voices find a powerful platform to be heard, and diverse peoples are unified by a common culture. It uplifts and connects people. It teaches children, empowers youth, drives politics, and builds economies.

Jamel Shabazz, Sisters, SoHo, NYC, 2003


KEY TERMS

As with all complex cultural forms, concrete definitions are hard to pin down as they cannot fully capture complex ideas. These are not ultimate definitions, but they serve as a starting point for developing a deeper understanding. Hip-Hop is a complex culture with multiple artforms. Some of the forms found in the RESPECT exhibition and student experience include:

Emceein(g) (aka rapping): a form of expression using spoken word, rhyme, and rhythm, and aligned with the beat provided by the DJ.

Deejayin(g) (aka DJing, turntablism, disc jockeying): playing and mixing together sections of records, and physically manipulating the records to create new sounds on turntables. Provides the sound and rhythm for Hip-Hop.

Breakin(g) (aka breakdancing): Hip-Hop dancing performed by dancers called B-boys and B-girls, responding to the break of the music.

Graffiti (aka graff or graff writing): the urban visual art form of Hip-Hop. Graffiti ranges from quick “tagging” or artistic signatures, to more elaborate calligraphy, to monumental masterpieces.

Knowledge: the consciousness and critical knowledge of self and community that creates the foundation needed to work toward social change.

Cypher (aka cipher): A space where people create Hip-Hop. Where people stand in a circle and, taking turns, everyone has the opportunity to participate through emceein(g) or providing rhythm, a response, or support.

Beatbox: to make a beat with one’s mouth, instead of drums.

Flow: the poetic and rhythmic delivery of speech.

Sampling: taking part of one song and reusing it in another song, a popular practice in Hip-Hop that can pay tribute to other artists.

Break: the part of a song where instruments and vocals are stripped away, leaving just the percussion rhythm.

Dolce and Gabbana, Gold Headphones, 2015


The exhibition RESPECT: Hip-Hop Style & Wisdom is organized into five sections, each with an important piece of the Hip-Hop story. Although no exhibition can provide a comprehensive Hip-Hop story, there’s a little something for everyone.

BOOM!: The Birth of a CultureHip-Hop grew out of the highly political early 1970s, which was still charged with the radical fervor of the Civil Rights Movement. Hip-Hop began as a cultural response to the ongoing political struggles of disenfranchised communities.

Early on, critics of Hip-Hop dismissed and demonized it as a symptom of urban decay, rather than recognizing it as a strategy for survival. In truth, Hip-Hop channeled the legitimate anger, genius, and vitality of marginalized youth toward positive ends.

In the face of the crack epidemic, Reagan-era conservatism, corporate takeover of radio, defunded school arts programs, and police violence, Hip-Hop spread and gained strength.

WisdomHip-Hop is more than a musical genre. It is a culture with an evolved identity, tradition, and history. It is rooted in the black American experience, yet welcomes other influences. Hip-Hop teaches the value of knowledge, self-determination, a respect for the past, cultural innovation, and speaking truth to power. Above all else, it asserts the responsibility to live righteously and improve the lives of others.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION FROM THE EXHIBITION

StyleTo be Hip-Hop is to have individuality, confidence, and flair. Hip-Hop style is less about taste and more a matter of belief in oneself and one’s position in the world. Hip-Hop’s visual presence and charisma establish a place for the individual in the anonymity of public space. Hip-Hop is grounded in the populism of the street. It elevates the familiar and enlivens the everyday.

The Town, The BayOakland and Bay Area residents live in historic lands. Hip-Hop history is made here. The Bay Area has influenced the evolution of mainstream Hip-Hop. The region’s multi-ethnic urban culture, political activism, deep musical legacy, and independence have all shaped the Bay’s unique and ongoing impact.

Hip-Hop DojoIn this space, you can learn and practice four basic elements of Hip-Hop culture: rapping (rhyming), DJing (mixing music), graffiti, and dancing. Excelling in any of these elements requires practice with others. Students hone their skills and find their voices in the energy and flow of community.

School groups are invited to spend time here after they experience the rest of the exhibition. This is a participatory social environment for everyone—from beginners to experts. Students can share their own inspiration and personal style, or participate by encouraging others.


These suggested classroom activities can be done before or after visiting the RESPECT exhibition. They are designed for a range of grades, and can be adapted or skipped as appropriate for your students.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

Jamel Shabazz, Young Boys, East Flatbush, Brooklyn, 1981


a. This is a great opportunity to do a student culture check: what kind of Hip-Hop artists do your students like to listen to? Teachers can help students look for artist connections in the RESPECT exhibition and in the Hyperbole & Hip-Hop post-visit lesson plan on page 13.

3. If students need time to think independently before brainstorming as a group, provide handouts of the KWL chart for students to jot down notes.

4. Move the class discussion into what students want to know. Ask students how they might be able to figure out the answers to the ideas in the “Want to Know” section.

5. The classroom teacher can take a photo of the chart and email the student questions and ideas with the RESPECT educator ahead of the field trip.

After the RESPECT Field Trip6. After visiting OMCA and exploring the RESPECT exhibition, have

students take a second look at the class’s KWL chart, thinking about what changes or additions they would make.

7. Take instructions from students as to how to complete and correct the class chart using their experience in the RESPECT exhibition.

8. Are some questions still unanswered? This could be a great opportunity for students to research the answers, refining their own research skills or learning from demonstrated research techniques.

KWL ChartEstimated Time30 minutes before the field trip 20 minutes after the field trip

MaterialsSomething large to write on (board, butcher paper, or chart paper) Markers Optional: KWL chart handouts

GoalTo activate students’ background knowledge on Hip-Hop before visiting OMCA, and to synthesize the museum visit.

ProcedureBefore the RESPECT Field Trip1. Create a KWL chart either on the board or a piece of butcher or

chart paper.

K(now) W(ant to Know) L(earned)

2. Warm up by engaging students in a discussion of what they know about Hip-Hop. This could be from the music they listen to, the music people in their family like, or what they know from television or the movies. Older students may have practiced beatboxing, emceeing, or breaking and can provide unique insight.


cypher, the topic can be anything relevant, and the form is flexible, meaning spoken word, movement, or other creative responses can be shared within the same cypher. While cyphers are largely improvised, and in a classroom cypher participants are responsible for creating a highly supportive environment for everyone as a performer, there is also the expectation that students as performers will practice and prepare for a strong delivery of their ideas. Like most things in life and the classroom, animated delivery of ideas with a practiced flow will more effectively move others.

Students will participate in their own learning cypher during the facilitated RESPECT tour. The following activity provides one way to introduce the learning cypher into the classroom before (or after) the museum visit. Cyphers can be a creative format for student response, and can be adapted across classroom topics.

Procedure1. Identify a theme for the cypher. For example, students could share

their prior knowledge at the start of a unit, or share out responses following a reading, lesson, or unit. Powerful topics include those that address especially important concepts, issues, and experiences that students usually do not get a chance to discuss in their daily lives. While the topic can be anything, here are a few sample cypher prompts related to RESPECT:

a. Where do you see Hip-Hop in your life? b. What does respect mean to you? Where do you give

or receive it, and where should more be given? c. What do you like or dislike about Hip-Hop? (Why?) d. Does Hip-Hop bring people together or divide them?

Classroom CypherEstimated Time30 minutes

MaterialsWriting utensils of choice Paper of choice

GoalTo introduce students and teachers to a cypher as a platform for sharing student ideas and demonstrating understanding.

Background: CyphersA cypher is the space where people create Hip-Hop. It’s where participants stand in a circle and take turns contributing through improvised emceein(g), rhythm, beatboxin(g), or some other response. There are also dancing and deejaying cyphers. Cyphers have roots in African traditions where communities come together to share stories, dance, perform and share food. In a Hip-Hop cypher the exchange between participants builds community, encouraging all to join in whether they themselves perform or encourage their peers. In many cyphers, one participant builds off of the work of another. Although emceeing holds emotions that range from elated to outraged, there is a tradition of positivity—even when an emcee provides a critique, it can be in the spirit of creating something better for the community.

Lending itself well to the classroom, cyphers provide opportunities for all students to talk, to affirm others, and to fold in newly relevant information learned from peers. It is a way for a group of individuals to make meaning and build understanding together. In a classroom


2. Ask students to jot down a few ideas in response to the prompt, either as idea fragments or carefully crafted lines.

a. Optional: play a simple beat as students jot down their ideas. When it comes time for students to share their ideas or lines, they can say the lines to the beat.

3. Students and teacher gather in a circle where everyone is somewhat equally spaced and can keep eye contact with the rest of the group.

4. One at a time, students share out their ideas whenever they’re ready. (In other words, “popcorn style.” Sharing won’t necessarily go in a linear order.) Students might share exactly what they wrote, riff off of what they wrote, or they might choose to improvise completely and respond to what others share.

Kendal Carter, Effigy for a New Normalcy VII, 2017


Procedure1. All teachers are welcome to visit the RESPECT exhibition ahead

of the day of the field trip. To request a free planning pass, please contact the OMCA Docent Center at [email protected].

2. Have students form small groups with 3–4 students in each group. Each group will receive a list of RESPECT Gallery Activities and an Written Record, along with pencils and a writing surface. Together, students will select 2–3 activities from the list.

3. Give students time to explore the exhibition to complete the activities, as well as collect ideas and inspiration for their own thinking using the Written Record. Encourage students to discover something that changes their understanding, that they can share or teach to others.

4. Teacher and chaperones can rove around and check in with student groups as they explore the exhibition.

5. After students have had time to explore and collect ideas, regroup in a circle and have students share out highlights and new discoveries. Try using the format of the Classroom Cypher activity.

Exhibition Visit: Suggestions for a Self-Guided VisitEstimated Time60 minutes

MaterialsCopies of the Written Record handout Copies of the RESPECT Gallery Activities Pencils Writing surface

OverviewThis lesson plan provides a suggested outline for a self-guided visit of the RESPECT exhibition. Facilitated tours will follow a similar inquiry format, although facilitated by OMCA’s Hip-Hop educators with opportunities for hands-on experiences.

Back in the Day• What’s your favorite aspect of Hip-Hop?• Who or what shaped it back in the day?

California Love• Hip-Hop started in NY but it eventually took off in

California. California was known for freestyling.• What are some things that make California unique?• How have Hip-Hop artists used what they know

about California to inspire their art and music?

RESPECT Gallery Activities Suggestions for Self-Guided Groups

State of Mind• Find an object or a person. What do you see?• Mimic their pose. What do you feel in the pose?• What would the object or person say?

Does everyone in your group agree?

Practice• Like most things, to be great in Hip-Hop

requires practice.• Find an example of someone who has practiced

to become great. What kind of practice do you think they had to do?

On Fleek• Find three different pieces of clothing in

the exhibition. • What do you think the owners wanted to express

about themselves through these clothes?

WRITTEN RECORD WRITTEN RECORD


One common criticism is that Hip-Hop artists promote excessive, larger-than-life behavior and lifestyles. To examine this criticism, it is important to think about Hip-Hop culture as a response to social and economic marginalization, where African American and other communities of color have been denied basic resources and opportunities. Hip-Hop artists who use hyperbole to express and position themselves as larger than life fight against the degrading effects of racism on individual and community self-esteem. (Hyperbole is a figure of speech that is an outrageous exaggeration used to emphasize a point.) Artists and members of Hip-Hop culture who assert themselves through exaggerated or boastful speech, behavior, clothing and style demonstrate to others that they have strength and power. In this light, hyperbole is used in Hip-Hop to symbolize triumph and accomplishment against the odds.

Preparation1. Ahead of time: do a student culture check and ask what Hip-Hop

artists students like.

2. Look for lyrics from these Hip-Hop artists that demonstrate exaggeration or hyperbole. Some sample lyrics are provided on page 15.

Hyperbole & Hip-Hop Estimated Time45+ minutes

MaterialsExamples of hyperbole in Hip-Hop Writing utensils of choice Paper of choice

GoalTo introduce students to hyperbole and its use for empowerment of self and others in Hip-Hop.

Background: Hyperbole & Hip-HopMusic and other art forms like Hip-Hop hold cultural memory. They connect community members through shared knowledge that is passed down through generations. Like other African American music traditions, Hip-Hop holds cultural memory and stories of what is important from past and current generations of African Americans, including experiences of racism and social and economic marginalization. African American musicians have used music and art to powerfully respond to experiences like slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, Black Power, and #BlackLivesMatter.

Like many other forms of African American music (including ragtime, blues, and jazz), Hip-Hop is often criticized for its “negative” influence on youth. Given the historic and ongoing marginalization of Black culture, it is important to examine these statements and the surrounding social conditions that may complicate these judgements.


4. Ask pairs or small groups to share back the messages they identified. As a group, discuss why hyperbole and exaggeration might be so common in Hip-Hop culture. Discuss how exaggeration can be a response to oppression (being pressed down), both individually and as a group.

5. For younger students: Have students create a series of hyperbole (or affirmation) statements for themselves using the letters of their name. The hyperbole statements should reflect what students want to say or emphasize about themselves. Teachers may wish to model the process for students:

• Q - quicker than lightning • U - up for taking on the world • E - elbow my way to the top • E - enough energy to climb ten mountains • N - never met a challenge that beat me down

6. For older students: Students will write a poem, lyric, or spoken word piece that incorporates hyperbole and reflects things they would like to emphasize about themselves or a particular issue.

Procedure1. Discuss the definition of hyperbole. Hyperbole is an outrageous

exaggeration used to emphasize a point. It is a figure of speech that often uses humor.

• Optional: Younger students may be more interested in discussing lyrics that affirm or lift you up. This activity can shift to focus on affirmative lyrics.

2. Share some examples of common phrases that use hyperbole, and then ask students to add in their own examples. Younger students may think about the phrases that affirm and make others feel good about themselves. Here are some examples of hyperbole that teachers might share:

• Your backpack weighs a ton • She has a million things to do • That was the easiest thing in the world • I’ll be there in two seconds

3. Have students form pairs or small groups. Provide each group with examples of Hip-Hop lyrics that include hyperbole (or affirmation). Some examples are provided on the next page. Ask students to identify the hyperbole and what message they think it conveys. (What does it mean?) How does it connect with their own life? Do they agree or disagree?


Turn on the Lights

Alphabet Rockers

So show me the world that I need to see So I don’t lose touch Pinch my cheeks cuz I’m cute I am the living proof I am the love of your life the heart of your dreams & I need you to tell me the truth (I’m gonna change the world!) Yes I can be president Yes I can follow the rules Yet all my answers to questions get questioned and second guessed And that ain’t cool What I see is not fair to me I don’t see myself on TV

Ladies First

Queen Latifah

Who said the ladies couldn’t make it, you must be blindIf you don’t believe, well here, listen to this rhymeLadies first, there’s no time to rehearseI’m divine and my mind expands throughout the universe

Hip-Hop Hyperbole Examples

Can You See the Pride in the Panther

2Pac

Can you see the pride in the Pantheras they unify as one.The flower blooms with brilliance,and outshines the rays of the sun.

The Rose That Grew from Concrete

2Pac

Did you hearDid you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete?Provin nature’s laws wrongIt learned to walk without having feetFunny it seems but by keeping its dreamsIt learned to breathe fresh airLong live the rose that grew from concreteWhen no one else, even cared

Mathematics

Mos Def

The body of my text possess extra strengthPower-lift the powerless up out of this towering infernoMy ink so hot it burn through the journalI’m blacker than midnight on Broadway and MyrtleHip-Hop passed all your tall social hurdles


If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)

Nas, featuring Lauryn Hill

So many years of depression make me visionThe better livin’, type of place to raise kids inOpen they eyes to the lies history’s told foulBut I’m as wise as the old owl, plus the Gold ChildSeeing things like I was controllin’, click rollin’Tricking six digits on kicks and still holdin’Trips to Paris, I civilized every savageGive me one shot, I turn trife life to lavishPolitical prisoner set free, stress freeNo work release, purple M3’s and jet skisFeel the wind breeze in West IndiesI make Coretta Scott-King mayor the cities…And then we’ll walk right up to the sunHand in handWe’ll walk right up to the sunWe won’t land

Jesus Walks

Kanye

We at warWe at war with terrorism, racismBut most of all we at war with ourselves

Superstar

Lupe Fiasco

If you are what you say you are, a superstarThen have no fear, the camera is hereAnd the microphonesAnd they wanna’ know oh oh oh oh, yeah

And you better wear your shadesThe spotlights here can burn holes through the stageDown to the basement pass the Indian gravesWhere the dinosaurs laidThen out through China, nearly miss the airlinersMagnified times five, ‘less it’s pointed at the rhymerRicochets off the moon and sets the forest ablaze

Superstar

Lauryn Hill

I used to work at Foot Locker, they fired me: I frontedOr I quitted, now I spit it—however do you want it?Now you get it! Writing rhymes, in the range, with the frames slightly tintedThen send it to your block to have my full name cemented (Lauryn Hill!) And if your lines sound like mine I’m taking a percentage (ka-ching!) Unprecedented, and still respected when it’s vintageI’m serious, I’m takin over areas in AquariusRunnin red lights with my ten thousand chariotsJust as Christ was a Superstar, you stupid star!They hail you then nail you, no matter who you areThey’ll make you now to take you down, and make you face it


Pray for Me

Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd

I fight the world, I fight you, I fight myselfI fight God, just tell me how many burdens leftI fight pain and hurricanes, today I weptI’m tryna fight back tears, flood on my doorstepsLife a livin’ hell, puddles of blood in the streetsShooters on top of the building, government aid ain’t relief Earthquake, the body drop, the ground breaksThe poor run with smoke lungs and ScarfaceWho need a hero? (hero)You need a hero, look in the mirror, there go your heroWho on the front lines at ground zero? (hero)My heart don’t skip a beat, even when hard times bumps the needleMass destruction and mass corruptionThe souls are sufferin’ menClutchin’ on deaf ears again, rapture is comin’It’s all prophecy and if I gotta be sacrificed for the greater good, then that’s what it gotta be

Michael Miller, Easy-E Duz, 1990


Malkia Chionesu

Over the last decade, Malkia Chionesu has been working to improve the Bay Area community, including her current role of Training Director at Beats Rhymes and Life, a local Hip-Hop Therapy non-profit. Malkia is pursuing a master’s degree in Industrial Organizational Psychology. Her goal is to promote socially responsible connections between community and businesses, advocating for better access to culturally congruent mental health services.

Tommy (aka Emcee Soulati) Shepherd

Tommy Shepherd is the GRAMMY-nominated Music Director of Alphabet Rockers, and internationally renowned for his beatboxing, featured in Oakland’s Antique Naked Soul. Tommy (aka Emcee Soulati) tours internationally in hip hop theater (Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Campo Santo) and is a co-founder of the live Hip-Hop collective Felonious.

And thanks to T.A.J. for his creative input, knowledge, and generous support.

A special thanks to the Hip-Hop educators and community members who generously shared their knowledge and creative ideas in shaping the RESPECT student experience and Teacher Resource Guide.

Kaitlin McGaw

Kaitlin McGaw is the GRAMMY-nominated Artistic Director of Alphabet Rockers, who make music that makes change. Their Hip-Hop album, Rise Shine #Woke was nominated for Best Children’s Album of 2018. She is a Harvard University Graduate in African American Studies, and an arts education and social justice community leader in the Bay Area.

Maddy (aka MADlines) Clifford

Maddy “MADlines” Clifford is an independent Teaching Artist based in Oakland. She has spent the last several years using spoken word and Hip-Hop lyricism to bring the magic of literacy to underserved communities in the Bay Area, Seattle, and as far away as Uganda. Maddy holds an MFA in Poetry from Mills College. She collaborates and curates widely and she’s set to release an album as one half of the Hip-Hop duo, FR333.

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