Preston analyzes Illmatic, a music album made by Nas, and points out how the music he creates joins poetry and art with personal reflections of him and his community. The Gosztola article showed how “Chris Columbus” is a song about Christopher Columbus, his misrepresentation as a hero rather than imperialist, and how he is responsible for the death and destruction in the Americas. The “First Nations” music video is a very education piece that shows and discusses different cultural aspects of Native American people across North America. Finally, “Last Emperor’s Secret Wars” shows the blend of comic books, rap, and story telling as the comic book heroes as they faced each other.
After having the discussion about integrating rap music as a class in high school, these songs really took me back to some of the comments and points expressed there. It is clear to see the amount of creativity that goes into making a rap song in addition to what is left to teach students about different types of flows, rap history, different technologies, etc. These songs were very much telling a story and it really made me interested in what students would say or bring up.
Is playing a ‘clean’ version of a song for students censorship of the artist’s message? If so, how could educators approach incorporating songs with not-so-school-appropriate language?
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