I love practicing hip hop as a heuristic. It provides entry into a range of important skills for kids, adolescents and adults alike. Off top, I’m talking vocabulary development, literary interpretation, creative writing, engaged listening, choreography, design, performance …and the list goes on, er, can’t stop, won’t stop.
Similar to your favorite religion or political philosophy, an orthodoxy has been established. And the twin pillars of any good orthodoxy are 1) shared history and 2) shared meaning.
I came across Carole Boston Weatherford’s The Roots of Rap at a bookstore while my kids were picking out a Wimpy this and a Harry that. The illustrations (by Frank Morrison) were arresting. The format, a free flowing rhyme, takes readers down hip hop’s history row.
The book opens
“Folk tales, street rhymes, spiritual–rooted in spoken word. Props to Hughes and Dunbar; published. Ain’t you heard?”
As you can see, Weatherford is playing ZERO games. She roots hip hop history in cosmopolitan folklore, street life, the church and African-American literary pioneers.
Now that’s a word.
Joaquin (7) dove right in.
I can’t say enough about the artwork. I wonder if they’d publish a poster pack as part of the series, or a limited drop with signed artwork.
Visit Weatherford’s site and you’ll note that she’s written books on The Tuskegee Airmen, Gordon Parks, Harriet Tubman and the Civil Rights movement. And her son Jefferey is an accomplished artist, too. Clearly, the Weatherfords value arts education. Big propers.
And props to Little Bee Books for putting this out. This is a book our family highly recommends.