Aim: What are the basic building blocks of hip hop?
Summary: Students will learn the hook to “Crush” and learn about key elements in hip hop songs.
Materials: Musical Explorers online audio
Standards: GA: MK-2GM.1, MK-2GM.6, MK-2GM.7, MK-2GM.9, MK-2GM.10 SC: GM.PR.NL-AH.3, GM.RE.NL-AH.6, GM.RE.NL-AH.7, GM.CN.NL-AH.8, GM.CN.NL-AH.9
Vocabulary: B-Boys/B-Girls, graffiti, hook, top rock
Sing “Crush”
- Listen to “Crush,” Track 4.1.
Track 4.1 – “Crush” Song
- Sing along to the hook of “Crush,” using Track 4.2. The hook is similar to the chorus of a hip hop song. It is the part of the song that gets stuck in your memory.
Track 4.2 – “Crush” Hook
- Read aloud lyrics from the song, and discuss how those lyrics communicate AJ’s message. Listen again to “Crush,” Track 4.1.
- This is an original hip-hop song that AJ wrote. What do you think the message of the song is?
- Watch a video of AJ explaining the inspiration behind the song “Crush” below.
“Crush”
You don’t even know!
You don’t even know!
Hook
What can make the city come out (out, out)
Tell em ‘bout us
What can make the city come out (out, out)
Tell em bout us
Gotta show em what it’s ‘bout now – Crush!!!
Gotta show em hit the floor now – Crush!!!
Gotta show em what it’s ‘bout now – Crush!!!
Gotta show em hit the floor now – Crush!!
Everybody feel it when we march through the door
Band fired up, you can feel the uproar
Good time, comin’ with a lot of energy
Power of the music, Whole Pote got the remedy
“Woooah” yeah get loud as a stadium
Ask what’s that? We ain’t came here to play with them
Let em hear a scream now (woo woo), come on
Hands up, let me see you dance now, come on
Match that, no for real, can you match
Give it to me now, gimme that bass
Where the tuba at? Gimme just a lil taste
Hey, hey, hey, spin around and work it out
Hey, hey, hey, whole parade comin’ out my mouth
AlI I was taught: somehow make a way
When the city up you can hear em, OK!
(Hook)
All the kids know, come and hear a new sound
Break down, hold up we going to the ground
And back up, ain’t nobody like us
Slide to the left, let the trombone bust
Spirit of the people put a smile on your face
History, legacy, you cannot erase
It’s game time and we ain’t never come to lose
Celebrate the art why you lookin’ all confused?!
We outchea run and tell ya mama dem
Savannah got a rhythm, let it move all them
Watch hip, back slip, flip it now
Georgia by the water Gullah Geechee learn now
Everybody out there, tell me can you feel it?
Hip hop, all up inside can you feel it?
Make em jump, rock to the side get it in
Clap it up and then we do it all again!!!!
(Hook)
Let’s do it, let’s let’s do it
Come together now
Let’s do it
(x2)
It don’t matter where you from
It don’t matter where
(x4)
Crush Crush Crush Crush
Crush Crush Crush Crush
(Hook)
Explore the History and Five Elements of Hip Hop
- Show students SG 28 and use the page as the basis for a guided discussion about hip hop. Some of your students might already know about hip hop. This is an opportunity to share that knowledge while putting it in a broader context. Here are some examples of questions you might explore:
- What can you tell me about hip hop music?
- Who are some of your favorite hip hop artists?
- What elements of hip hop on SG 28 do you recognize?
- What is an element that is new, or you are curious about?
The Five Basic Elements of Hip Hop
Graffiti: This is hip hop’s visual art form. Graffiti artists paint images with social messages in public spaces for people to see. Graffiti started in outdoors, public, off-limits spaces, especially on the sides of subway trains in New York City.
DJing: DJs make the beats, which are the core of hip hop music. They use turntables as instruments, “scratching” the vinyl records, and use digital equipment to change, loop, and layer sounds.
B-boying/B-girling: B-boys and b-girls are hip hop dancers; they’re sometimes called “breakers.” The “b” in b-boy and b-girl stands for “break.” In hip hop, DJs take instrumental breaks from songs and alter them by looping them and mixing them with beats; this is when b-boys and b-girls traditionally dance.
MCing: MC stands for Master of Ceremonies. The MC is the rapper. When MCs began rhyming messages and stories over breakbeats at parties, rap was born. MCing has many different roots, including Jamaican dancehall music, where a vocalist would rhyme over a DJ’s beat, spoken word poets who rhymed without any background music, and even West African storytellers telling stories over drum beats.
Knowledge: This is the abstract, all-encompassing element of hip hop that helps define the culture. Sometimes called “overstanding,” it is ultimately about knowing who you are and how you can bring that to the other four elements of hip hop. Iconic hip hop artist KRS-One says, “Rap is something you do. Hip hop is something you live.”
Many hip hop beats are made from samples of other songs, so knowing the history of hip hop and where the samples come from is important for any aspiring hip hop artist!
Be a B-Boy & B-Girl
Remind students of the final element of hip hop: knowledge. This element can inspire artists to create and make hip hop music and moves of their own.
- Using SG 29, let’s learn some of the original moves of b-boys and b-girls.
- Listen to “Crush,” Track 4.1, and practice the “top rock” step.
- Either in small groups or as a class, create some of your own dance moves to go along with “Crush.”
- Students can teach the new moves to each other and perform along to “Crush.”
Track 4.1 – “Crush” Song
Creative Extension: Create Your Own Graffiti Artwork
Graffiti has an important role in the culture of hip hop. Graffiti started as a highly stylized form of decorative writing that quickly expanded into broader styles of decorative arts. Although sometimes derided as vandalism, artists use graffiti to communicate messages that they feel are important for their communities to know. One of the original elements of hip hop, graffiti calls for social change just as hip-hop lyrics often do. Use SG 30 to create your own graffiti message.
Musical Word Wall
Add b-boys/b-girls, graffiti, hook, and top rock to the Musical Word Wall.
PDF Downloads.
Audio Tracks
Track 4.1 – “Crush” Song
Track 4.2 – “Crush” Hook
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