rollin' deep like the presidents

So the (somewhat dreaded) hip-hop special lesson finally happened at my work and it went great! Major relief-age. I suppose part of the reason was the 6 super cool students who showed up, most of 'em my favorites. The roster:

-one slightly age-ifed housewife who is a super-smart student
-another housewife and iron chef-esque cook extraordinaire
-(yet another) young housewife and 20-something womens' fashion designer
-one post-college girl who works at the Japanese version of Old Navy / GAP
-one middle-aged office worker
-one OG grandfather-type retired d00d visiting from another school

Yeah, a lot of housewives at my school. But I told you that before about, Ashiya, right?

The plethora of hip-hop knowledge we taught:

• slang words / idioms like wack, wassup, peez, rollin' deep, and fam
  
• a hip-hop FAQ about the origins of hip-hop, the problem of violence in hip-hop, what is rapping, and my favorite: why do hip-hop folks rock big pants? heh
  
• videos of breakdancing, freestyle battling, and a graff powerpoint slideshow
  
• lyric speculation exercise to the song Where Is the Love? by the BEP (not the greatest song ever, but something simple for the students and at the same time relevant to current events)

The lesson was about 90 minutes with a 10 minute break half-way through. Somehow, miraculously, we were right on schedule. Or as my friend and fellow teacher Selman who co-taught with me would comment, "That's nice-ergy."

Some of the pics courtesy of the digicam:


One of the many posters I made for the lesson. I drew the original in black Sharpie (booyeah!), photocopied it, and colored it with markers during some of my free time at work.

One of the Japanese staff at my school, Ai, cracked a huge grin when she saw 'em and busted out "Kakkou ii!" (rough translation: stylish, cool!) All those years I spent doodling in math class finally paid off.


Selman and me crack the b-boy poses at the beginning of the lesson.


One half of the class trying to match up the vocabulary slang words to their definitions.


The other half of the class doing the same.

All in all, a great lesson. I probably should have taken more pictures, but it's aight.


Props! Souljah rep'n the T-dot-Oh. Yours truly rep'n the 2-Oh-6. I think Sel and I have now made the special lesson that all other special lessons will be judged by. It's a good feeling... Ah, the spirituality and passion that music seems to inspire me. Even atheist anti-hero Nietzsche admitted, "without music, life would be a mistake."

Even though it was work, being able teach this lesson and have a fun time with the students... it was blessing from heaven just in time for the holiday. Gloria in excelsis Deo. My soul is feeling a 2nd wind and I got some new wallpaper to remind me if I ever get homesick again...


posted by G at 6:01 AM   |

in?scrip?tion (n-skrip-shun)n.
1. The act or an instance of inscribing.
2. Something, such as the wording on a coin, medal, monument, or seal, that is inscribed.
3. A short, signed message in a book or on a photograph given as a gift.
4. The usually informal dedication of an artistic work.
5. Jeremiah 31:33