Hip-hop and rap classes to be taught in East Lancashire schools (From Lancashire Telegraph)

I would have thought that they would have been better off using the money to teach people how to read and write, rather than encouraging them to participate in gang culture.

Well this will ensure employment when leaving school won't it? Who makes this stuff up.

Just watch the next generation smackheads queue up!

wtf!! ditto all above.

Tax from the rich

So they will be able to rap - but not actually read and write the English language effectively - I'd like to be a fly on the wall at the job interviews these 'dudes' get. Why waste money on something like this when it could be spent to improve the education of dozens of young people instead of a 'lucky' 15?

Seems fine to me.
Rappers tend to have to think on their feet, make up rhymes on the spot and so on. They also need to understand music and rhythm.

They aren't teaching this instead of reading / writing and it's during half term.

We deserve better! We really do, why not get in touch with Death Row records to see if any U.S gangbangers can attend to show the kids in the hood how to engage in "hip hop culture". What next a diploma in drive by shootings?

Deus Vobiscum

JayEss wrote:
Seems fine to me.
Rappers tend to have to think on their feet, make up rhymes on the spot and so on. They also need to understand music and rhythm.

They aren't teaching this instead of reading / writing and it's during half term.

Yes I'm sure that this will give them an advantage later on in life. I can picture it now, "1 Pac Declan no job" from Burnley Wood rapping to the manager in the job centre asking him for a crisis loan.........innit.

.....no wonder the education system is down the toilet.

So, tell me, Mr . . er . . . 7pac, what is it that makes you an outstanding candidate for our bank?

Wenn-ah-does-mah-tin
g-an-rap
Yous-job-seems-a-loa
d-a-crap
Giz-me-job-dis-very-
minute
cos-I'm-da-greatest . . .innit?

We do have other candidates to interview.
Don't call us, man, we'll call you !!

Love it!

burner wrote:
So, tell me, Mr . . er . . . 7pac, what is it that makes you an outstanding candidate for our bank?

Wenn-ah-does-mah-tin

g-an-rap
Yous-job-seems-a-loa

d-a-crap
Giz-me-job-dis-very-

minute
cos-I'm-da-greatest . . .innit?

We do have other candidates to interview.
Don't call us, man, we'll call you !!

You mock, but your scenario WILL actually happen at some point !!!

Waste of money.

£16,400.00 in da bin init ! Well done, this whole country is beyond comprehension !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s interesting that at no point does this story claim the students can’t read or write. It seems that some comment makers have just made assumptions that this story is about illiterate chavs from some council estate because that’s all they know about hip-hop and rap.

Don’t forget that it’s a also a music style used by the working classes in both the UK and the US to talk about oppression, unemployment and life/death in general, Similar in content to British/Irish folk music. There is a lot more to it than just drug and gun culture.

Even if they are from some council estate then surely giving some of our kids a little bit of hope, a little bit of pride, and a chance to express themselves has got to be worth something, rather than labelling them as scum and mocking their inevitable failure.

If even one of the 15 kids on this course develops the inspiration to make a better life for themselves, then they won’t claim benefits, they’ll end up paying taxes and contribute far more in their life time than the £16,400 it costs.

Indeed Jack Daniels, because it's always the highly literate, well educated kids who see Jay Z et al as role models isn't it.

darwenTower wrote:
Indeed Jack Daniels, because it's always the highly literate, well educated kids who see Jay Z et al as role models isn't it.

Indeed!

That's the same Jay Z's that headlined the Glastonbury Festival in 2008 when a full weekend ticket at a price of £175 (plus a booking fee of £5).

jack daniels wrote:
It’s interesting that at no point does this story claim the students can’t read or write. It seems that some comment makers have just made assumptions that this story is about illiterate chavs from some council estate because that’s all they know about hip-hop and rap.

Don’t forget that it’s a also a music style used by the working classes in both the UK and the US to talk about oppression, unemployment and life/death in general, Similar in content to British/Irish folk music. There is a lot more to it than just drug and gun culture.

Even if they are from some council estate then surely giving some of our kids a little bit of hope, a little bit of pride, and a chance to express themselves has got to be worth something, rather than labelling them as scum and mocking their inevitable failure.

If even one of the 15 kids on this course develops the inspiration to make a better life for themselves, then they won’t claim benefits, they’ll end up paying taxes and contribute far more in their life time than the £16,400 it costs.

jack daniels wrote

"Don’t forget that it’s a also a music style used by the working classes in both the UK and the US to talk about oppression, unemployment and life/death in general, Similar in content to British/Irish folk music. There is a lot more to it than just drug and gun culture."

I wouldnt describe it as a music style as you usually have to play musical instruments for something to be described as musical or at least sing "A Capella"
Hip hop and (c)rap dont appear to have any evidence of using either of those. In fact the article doesnt mention any music at all as it says:
"to hone the craft of writing and composing, beat-boxing, rhyming and turntablism"
Writing and composing about slapping my **** up, shooting people and taking drugs is hardly the stuff of Lennon and McCartney and their ilk, well maybe taking some of the softer drugs like LSD and cannabis but not heroin or crack cocaine.

I havent heard of any folk songs insulting and threatenng or "disrespecting" (if we have to get into that kind of culture) women, gays and white people.

Benji. You must be taking the 'soft drug' LSD as a daily routine. At no point did I say that folk music sang about drugs and guns (except maybe Irish folk).

As an aging punk I've had to listen to this drivel in the past and I just can't listen to another set of twisted and bitter old men have another go at tomorrows generation.

Some punk stuff wasnt too bad, although a lot of it was very immature and unpolished, the vocalists in particular.
Music is usually interpretated as being harmonious and melodic.
Hip hop and (c)rap have none of these attributes.
They even have the cheek to call some of it R & B !!!!!
What an insult to real R & B artists.

Benjis mum wrote:
Some punk stuff wasnt too bad, although a lot of it was very immature and unpolished, the vocalists in particular. Music is usually interpretated as being harmonious and melodic. Hip hop and (c)rap have none of these attributes. They even have the cheek to call some of it R & B !!!!! What an insult to real R & B artists.

Was it immature or just a bit of fun?

You might also consider whether it was unpolished because

A) it was the raw sound that people wanted hear and play and

B) it simply cost too much for these working class people.

Better funded (middle class) bands such as Pink Floyd, the rolling stones, Queen and Led Zeppelin do have better sound quality than some of their working class peers.

I think you are also being a bit petty and stubborn with your opinion that hip hop and rap is not music because you think it’s not harmonious and melodic’. That’s just a matter of opinion, and because we all like different things, it also explains why there are so many different kinds of music genre out there. If we used your theory to the N’th degree, we should ban all music except classical because nothing compares in production quality, melody and harmony.

You’ve become the Music Taliban….

By the way, (and this is REALLY going to bug you)

What came first – US gang culture based on drugs, crime and guns or Music talking about US gang culture based on drugs, crime and guns?

It’s simply 20th century American Inner city folk music talking about 20th century American Inner city issues. It’s only a few kn0bs that glorify guns and it’s a shame you and your Music Taliban friends can’t see that.

Punk was immature as the Sex pistols showed by thinking they were being clever by trying to shock people by swearing on TV when being interviewed.

"You might also consider whether it was unpolished because

A) it was the raw sound that people wanted hear and play and

B) it simply cost too much for these working class people.

Better funded (middle class) bands such as Pink Floyd, the rolling stones, Queen and Led Zeppelin do have better sound quality than some of their working class peers."

I cant play the guitar very well and I cant sing but I could have made better sounding records than most of the punk groups back then.

If you listen to some of the early live stuff by the stones etc they werent as polished as they were in later years, it would be silly to suggest that anyone would be when starting out, unless they had all been studying at music colleges before getting together, but they were still worth listening to and the played real R & B not what is mistakenly called R and B today.

I think that gang culture came first as that allowed them to get into crime and drugs as they had the numbers and strength of the gang to be able to do it. The hip hop and (c)rap came later to glorify the culture.

"From November until March the young people will then run their own after-school sessions for peers, teaching them skill in beat-boxing and rhyming."

I don't think that the subject matter makes any real difference here other than to act as a medium to engage young people and give them an opportunity to learn about responsibility, self-motivation and teach them how to influence their peers.

Surely these are skills that employers are looking for.

Checking for further information on the Mid Pennine Arts website you can also see that the young people involved will have the chance to gain Arts Award qualifications 'which is a personal learning programme which develops and assesses both arts-related and transferable skills, such as creativity, communication, planning and teamwork.' Surely useful for future CVs.