Unit 3: Hip Hop with Basik Lee
Melody will take us on a trip across town to meet our next artist, Basik Lee. Use SG19–21 to meet Basik Lee and prepare your students to learn about hip hop.
Genre Overview
Hip hop’s roots lie in the ancient storytelling traditions of the West African jelis, who Europeans called “griots,” that were brought to the U.S. during the transatlantic slave trade. Enslaved Africans managed to maintain this focus on oral traditions, keeping song and poetry alive while creating new styles of music. During slavery and in the time that has followed, African-Americans created a quintessential musical lineage that grew to encompass spirituals, jazz, blues, rock, soul,R&B, and, in the late 1970s, hip hop. Pioneered by African-American, Latino, and West Indian teenagers in the South Bronx, hip hop drew on the West African practice of telling the stories of the people through rhythm and voice. It also expanded upon and reinvented styles of music and dancing popular in New York City clubs, like funk, disco, and even punk.
Learn more!
Readings:
- Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation by Jeff Chang
- Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America by Tricia Rose
- The Hip Hop Family Tree (a comic book series) by Ed Piskor
- The Rose that Grew from Concrete by Tupac Shakur
Listening & Viewing:
- Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force, “Planet Rock”
- De La Soul, “Me Myself and I”
- Doug E. Fresh & Slick Rick, “The Show”
- Queen Latifah ft. Monie Love, “Ladies First”
- Eric B & Rakim, “I Know You Got Soul”
- Mos Def, “Umi Says”
- Hip Hop Evolution, directed by Darby Wheeler, Sam Dunn, and Scot McFadyen
- Style Wars, directed by Tony Silver
- The Art of 16 Bars: Get Ya’ Bars Up, directed by Peter Spirer
- Rubble Kings, directed by Shan Nicholson
- Nas: Time is Illmatic, directed by One9
Additional Teaching Resources:
- The Hip Hop Classroom
- “Teaching and Learning with Hip Hop Culture” in Teaching Young Children, Vol. 10, No. 2 (December/January 2017)
PDF Downloads
SG19 ↓ Download File
SG20 ↓ Download File
SG21 ↓ Download File