11 Classic Hip-Hop Songs You Can Teach With (2023)

byterry heick

Let's start this post by clarifying what it is not.

this is not aboutWhyto teach with hip-hop. it's not about anyas theto teach with hip-hop. It's also not a political statement, an endorsement of controversial language and issues, or something you can play with your students on a whim and without preparation. so don't keep reading. This post will not change your opinion.

If you're still reading, here's the take, in a nutshell: The evolution of hip-hop as an art form, a critical cultural voice, and a means of reaching out to youth is an authentic, complex, and extremely "human" concept. 🇧🇷 While hip-hop is increasingly finding itself on pop music's 'Top 100' lists, it has its roots in 1970s New York City and has since branched out from codes fundamentals to a distinctive, regional musical form of its own, including both South and West Coast forms to add to East Coast backdrops.

Involving students is not easy. Ideally, you will create 'authentic' learning experiences that will dissolve the walls of the classroom and make everything 'real'. , video games (see “how to teach with video games“), or other polarizing content might be worth reconsidering.

Hip-hop, like social media, video games, smartphones, and other (metaphorical) "banned books" of education, has extraordinary potential to reach all students. The same is true of music in general, but hip-hop stands out as surprising and prone to themes of antagonism, influence, and social justice. It is also full of hyperbole and other literary devices, historical movements, along with the energy, charisma, and puns that interest students.

hip hop in the classroom

Perhaps the best way to think about these songs is to see them as sort of a chronological view of where hip-hop is at, so that students can begin to see its evolution as well, all through the lens of teachable music. the music here has something to say, something worth teaching.

Please note that I tried to include the clean version of each song, but not all of them are clean.Some have 'language'. As with any media, preview everything twice before playing it back to students in a classroom setting.

Plus, if you're still reading this, you probably know that hip-hop that's violent, foulmouthed for foulmouthing, and intellectually bankrupt doesn't stand for "rap" any more than McDonald's stands for "food." Mind you, you may be surprised at what you find.

Please note that I have included brief summaries of the songs (or have included a snippet from wikipedia), but teaching with them depends on your grade level, content area, relevant standards, and more. While I've included some common core standards that suggest themselves in a few spots, using them authentically will require you to know the music and how it can fit into your resume on its own.

10 Classic Hip-Hop Songs You Can Teach With

Title

“Microphone Demon”, Erik B. and Rakim

Summary

A pioneering east coast hip-hop duo who represent the early "know" style of rap, Erik B. and Rakim are arguably the most influential rap duo of all time, and Rakim certainly ranks among the elder statesmen of the hip hop.

Focus pattern possible

CC.11-12.R.L.1 Key Ideas and Details: Cite complete and strong textual evidence to support analysis of what the text explicitly says as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves questions unclear .

Title

"Coolie High", Campamento Lo

Overview

This song conveys a narrative through captivating lyrics, constantly jumping images, and a smooth sound that harkens back to another era.

Focus pattern possible

CC.9-10.SL.3 Comprehension and Collaboration: Evaluate the speaker's point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, identifying any fallacious reasoning or exaggerated or distorted evidence.

Title

"When They Remember You", Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth

Wikipedia summary

“Pete Rock and CL Smooth were known for the unique and soulful sound they brought to the hip-hop genre… The first verse is about the difficulties of growing up with a single mother. CL Smooth talks about how her father didn't help her mother raise him or her sister, and how her mother was forced to take on both roles in the home. She says that although her mother raised him well, she still needed a male figure in her life. She finally concludes the first verse by saying that a lack of male leadership destined young men to repeat the cycle of not being involved in their own children's lives. The second and third verses are in a more positive light. In the second verse, CL Smooth talks about how her uncle played the crucial role of a male father figure in her life and helped him become a man, and how more men are needed to make a positive impact in the community. Finally, in the third verse, CL Smooth talks to her friend Troy. She thanks him for being one of the only people who believed in him and kept him on track. She then goes on to update Troy on the well-being of his family and says that they remember him.

Focus pattern possible

CC.9-10.SL.1.d Understanding and Collaboration: Respond carefully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and disagreement and, where warranted, qualify or justify your own views and understanding and make new connections to the light of the evidence and justification presented.

Title

"Fight the Power", Public Enemy

Wikipedia summary

"Fight the Power" incorporates numerous samples and allusions to African-American culture, including calls for civil rights, black religious services, and the music of James Brown.

As a single, "Fight the Power" reached number one on the Hot Rap Singles and number 20 on the Hot R&B Singles. It was voted the best single of 1989 byThe people's voicein the Pazz & Jop critics poll. It became Public Enemy's best-known song and has been praised as one of the greatest songs of all time by critics and publications. In 2001, the song was ranked number 288 on the "Songs of the Century" list compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Focus pattern possible

CC.9-10.R.H.4 Craft and Structure: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of history/social science.

Title

“Killing Me Softly”, de Lauryn Hill

Summary

This remake of Roberta Flack's 1972 version was important both for what it represented and for the themes of the song itself. Lauryn Hill was a rap artist with The Fugees, and "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" was a bold step toward a solo career and an opportunity for the full range of her talents to shine.

In an industry dominated by men—and male bravado—female artists were often sidelined, and successful female rappers, including MC Lyte and Queen Latifah, were few and far between. On "Killing Me Softly," Hill paid homage to a part of rap's legacy (early R&B) while also demonstrating her range as a rapper, singer, and a new generation of genre-blending hip-hop talent. The perfection.

Focus pattern possible

CC.9-10.R.ST.7 Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Translate quantitative or technical information expressed in words into text in visual form (eg, a table or graph) and translate information expressed visually or mathematically (eg, a table or graph). eg, in an equation) into words.

Title

“Sacred Intellect”, Poor Just Teachers

Summary

Poor Righteous Teachers was a 1990s hip-hop group that promoted self-awareness over violence or materialism. While this wasn't entirely unique (KRS One often did the same thing, for example), their fast beats, playful tone, and contrast to other music at the time made them modestly successful. The album he appeared on was named one of the 100 Greatest Rap Albums of All Time by The Source magazine in 1998.

Focus pattern possible

CC.11-12.R.L.2 Key Ideas and Details: Determine two or more central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development throughout the text, including how they interact and complement each other to produce a complex story; Provide an objective summary of the text.

Title:

“Everything will be fine”, Nothing by nature

Overview

“Do you want me to be positive? Well, it's not where I live. A brutally honest message that somehow manages to burst with hope.

Focus pattern possible

CC.9-10.R.ST.9 Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Compare and contrast findings presented in a text with those from other sources (including their own experiments), noting when findings support or contradict previous explanations or reports.

Title

“The choice is yours”, black sheep

Summary

“The Choice Is Yours” presents listeners with a simple choice (false dichotomy?): Take it (its progressive sound and focus) or you can take that (drugs, violence, etc.). Another positive song that also garnered street cred: a balance difficult to achieve.

Focus pattern possible

CC.9-10.L.4.b Vocabulary Acquisition and Use: Identify and correctly use patterns of word changes that indicate different meanings or parts of speech (eg, analyze, analyze, analyze, advocate, defend). .

Title

"Sound the alarm" by Fu-Schnickens

Overview

Along with Das EFX, Fu-Schnickens popularized a new style of rap characterized by speed, delivery, and wordplay. "Ring the Alarm" offered nothing new in terms of meaning (it's essentially a self-proclaimed power of his as artists), the style was fresh, and a remarkable development in hip-hop history.

Focus pattern possible

CC.11-12.R.L.5 Elaboration and Structure: Analyze how an author's choices about how to structure specific parts of a text (eg, choosing where to begin or end a story, choosing to provide a comic or tragic resolution) contribute to to its general structure and meaning, as well as its aesthetic impact.

Title

"Me, Myself and I" by De La Soul

Overview

A song from the late 1980s, 1989 to be exact, which brought thoughtful and accessible hip-hop into the "mainstream" at the same time.

Focus pattern possible

CC.9-10.L.3 Language Knowledge: Apply knowledge of language to understand how language works in different contexts, to make effective choices of meaning or style, and to gain comprehension when reading or listening.

Title

“Tennessee”, de Arrested Development

Summary

An excerpt from verse 3:

"Sir, it's obvious that we have a relationship
Talking to each other every night and day
although you are superior to me
We talk to each other in a friendly way.
Then out of the blue you tell me to break up
Outside the country and in another country
Past Dyesburg on Ripley's
Where the ghost of childhood haunts me
Walk the paths that my ancestors walked
I climbed the trees my ancestors hung from
Ask these trees for all their wisdom
They tell me my ears are so young (home)
Go back the way you came (home)
My family tree, my last name (house)
For some strange reason it had to be (home)
Me script in Tennessee (home)”

Pop.