Maybe cause they are bloody brilliant, lots of them. Oh, that well, there you go. Find the lyrics and meaning of any song, and watch its music video. On point all the time! You listen to Chinese music and be like, I cant tell it apart. I mean I hear I hear and I respect this message that Shakespeare is kind of the ultimate virtuosic hip-hop artist, that you really kind of see this connection between the two. BARBARA: Well maybe youve already answered this question but, you know, every age relates to Shakespeare in a different way, and its the clich to say that every age relates to Shakespeare. Showing this to my students. Akala On Shakespeare, Black Representation & His First YA Novel - Bustle Alexa But it is still mysterious how that works and since you look at Shakespeare through this lens of both politics and music, Im curious what you think makes Shakespeares work timeless or relatable. You can learn more about Akalas work at www.hiphopShakespeare.com. How? So, with that in mind, it makes sense that he's taught in school. A very interesting talk. But youll learn it in a second because, as youll hear, asking the question, Is that Shakespeare or is it hip-hop? is often the opening gambit that launches a conversation about poetry and prejudice for the British poet, rapper, and educator, Kingslee James Daley, who goes by the stage name Akala. I dont no, definitely not. The only differencesometimes iscultural understanding.. without knowledge, how can you understand? I mean weve got hundreds of these that we do. Absolutely gripping. Othello is not originally his story. But it meant that unlike most kids, you know, culturally we were very rich and so it was a weird juxtaposition where I was probably exposed to more a greater cultural offering than most rich kids in England. Menu. Maybe its hatred I spew. For many who were intimidated or just plain bored by Shakespeare at school, its a revelation. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. I need this video, so i can show this to other people who say hip hop is shit. Ill do a couple more and then well talk about what the point of the exercise is, I suppose. Bring Shakespeares work to life in the classroom. He played with rhythm and language so its natural that to enjoy him we should do the same. His plays delve into the issues of love, loss, treachery, honor, tenderness, anger, despair, jealousy, contempt, fear, courage, and wonder. They say, slave music. AKALA: Yeah, its political, a hundred percent. Akala is one serious dude, man knows his stuff and reps "urban music" hard. Two-years later and you are still saving lives in English classes. But some thought I was just a little bit too bright for someone like me. Faro particip en la Semana de la Innovacin 24 julio, 2019. He is incredibly clever, even picking the name akala, a Buddhist word meaning "immovable" and in "dat boy akala" there is a line that says "my name means you can't move me" I like little things like that! AKALA: I think theres a lot of different things and it depends where you are. 19:48 - 19:50 . "I was not born under a rhyming planet" Hip Hop Shakespeare 5. -Five sets, two beats; dee-dum, dee-dum, dee-dum, dee-dum, dee-dum 3.) There are three quarters of a million books surviving in the University of Timbuktu, which was the main university in that kingdom, though there were three universities. I feel that Akala was more interactive with the audience and much more informative. Top 5 Reasons for Teaching Shakespeare - Global Student Network Both can be representing entertainment and both can be representing life as it is. Akalas dedication is enabling young people to retain their love of learning and benefit from educations life-enhancing effects and making it cool to be clever. I have a or so-called. Thank you!!!! And thats what great culture does. BARBARA: You have a rap about this, right? I mean it certainly could be Shakespeare. For me, its that sense of cultural property, of not being told, You are X. @Xelanderthomas Ok. Well done. This entire TEDTALKS had me gripped from start to finish, Had this guy Come into our school day, no lessons for yr 8 listening to this man all day loved it. BARBARA: Now, you said even when you then change the rhythm its fine. Joshua Sackey - TED TALK NOTES-Shakespeare.pdf - Course Hero Posted July 25, 2017. You know, Ovid, Pluto, the Bible. Some of my uncles were gangsters. Everyone is born with a love of learning. Amazing, educative and inspiring!!! And if you think of the millions of people all around the world, that rap, only a handful of them are actually genuinely incredible. This podcast episode, The Poets Pen Turns Them to Shapes, was produced by Richard Paul. This was to show how people are still affected by his work and are still writing like him. It's only fitting that his plays . So if you write a verse on a regular tempo sort of hip-hop beat, 70 to 90 BPM, its very difficult to write the verse in such a way that it transfers onto what we in the UK call grime, which is 140 beats per minute. Chance never did crown me, this is destiny. So it depends on the audience. Akala ended up doing well at school and his GCSE results were some of the best in his year group. AKALA: Okay. He is glad that British universities have increased the diversity of their students in recent years but still feels we have some way to go to match American universities. Akala, one to watch out for!!!! Photography by Paul Tait, Gaza scholar, Hadil Louz believes she made the best decision of my life by coming to Oxford Brookes to study International Human Rights Law read her story, [] Akala, hip-hop artist, writer and social entrepreneur read our cover story []. Didn't want to listen, when I said last year. I benefited from a radical tradition of Pan-African Caribbean self-education and went to a special Black Caribbean Saturday school in Camden The Winnie Mandela School. And actually its a different challenge now and iambic pentameter is very easy to find the rhythm of because its consistent, whereas the stuff in The Tempest is much more difficult. At age 9 I was put in a special needs group for kids who didnt speak English without my parents knowing.. You must know that this guy is clearly good at putting words together. Thanks. Skespeare wrote in the 1600s. 0. So, sitting people down and forcing them to read Shakespeare Performance poetry has to be performance first. So, the type of societies that West Africans came from to the Americas has often been oversimplified. AKALA: I am reckless what I do to spite the world.. He then goes on to show how these oral traditions influenced a lot of music styles from jazz, funk, blues to hip hop. CATEGORIES : definition of grammar by different authors Uncategorized. Why You Should Study Shakespeare | Voices Everyone here because of their teachers lmaooo, if that is the case your teachers deserve more than you can possibly give if you find yourself in this position give him/her a hug or if that isn't appropriate shake hands or elbow bump a man that deserves to be heard, I loved Akala before my teacher and now when Im listening to it at school my teacher is on about how I like It now. So if artists wanna learn how to make stuff rhythmic that doesnt rhyme, you think of Hamlet: What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving. School was fraught with contradictions and challenges for me despite my academic abilities. For that reason, people get offended. okay all boring "whos here because of their English teacher" comments aside, he was actually spittin', Legend, even english teachers and my mum love this guy , @Keijah Lee peep fans are my favourite people. Should we teach Shakespeare in school anymore? - The Writing Post This culture needs more like him My level of appreciation for Shakespearean plays went up a few notches after listening to the play on a rap beat. With iambic pentameter examples from Shakespeare, Akala Gets Real On Capitalism And Economic Exploitation, Shakespeare's Ghosts and Spirits - Professor Sir Jonathan Bate FBA CBE, Akala at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Akala highlights The Racial Bias And Stigma With Mental Health (Recap), Akala: Football, Music & Politics | Music HISTORY, The Shakespeare strategy | Brad Berens | TEDxBergen, Reaction to Akala - The Journey ft. Mic Righteous. Support us to bring Shakespeare and his world to life for everyone. And its not always peoples fault. They are quite bland. Our doors are reopening in Fall 2023! Bless the Good Man. Think about some of Shakespeare's most famous plays, such as Romeo and Juliet. Akala: Why we need more black, working class period drama so happy to find akala. So, when you understand this context, when you understand the type of instrumentation in West Africa, it becomes much more easy to explain how these musical cultures were created in the Americas. If I had a teacher like that I know I would have been attending all my lesson. the outer limits or edge of an area or object. The point is youre supposed to get them wrong, which well discuss in a minute. Esther French is the web producer. It hits so hard it's so lit.. Wow. . From the Folger Shakespeare Library, this is Shakespeare Unlimited. Tes talks toAkala | Tes Magazine You know, youre being poetic but at the same time youve put these very serious constraints on you but what the iambic pentameter, I think, gives you, it makes it a lot easier to memorize and as weve now discovered, you know, we can see that over modern music is a pretty good way for a person to learn how to flow. This guy is smart asf! TEDx + Akala = Best entertainment! A lot of black kids go to university on sports scholarships and they have to get the grades otherwise they dont get to play. Skim and scan the text of the excerpt from Scene 1 and diffuse some of Shakespeare's unfamiliar language using the following translation table. This was a boy who had already read Lord of the Rings and was tackling The Autobiography of Malcolm X far ahead of anything he was being taught in school. Why Shakespeare is still relevant over 400 years since his death. AKALA: Well I think one of the challenges we often have when interpreting the culture of the African diaspora is for a very long time, I think theres been a lot of great work done over the last half a century to repair but still to some degree because of the problems that many countries in Africa face today, we project those problems into the past in a time when they might not necessarily have existed. I've heard his fire in the booths but never checked him out even though they were and still are the best ones. Absolute unit. The play was verbatim, but the tone was deliciously original. But its a dangerous point of reference to think that people suddenly started making music under the condition of enslavement. You listen to a song like Preacher and the Bear., [CLIP of the Golden Gate Quartet singing The Preacher and the Bear.], Lord, look here, you know you delivered ol Daniel from the lions den.And you delivered three Hebrew children from the fiery furnace, and then. Its not there to beat you over the head with. The enlightenment of knowledge is a moving force. The majority of my teachers were really, really good. But I think some of the perceptions are because of the way a lot of commercial modern hip-hop is, that basically it doesnt take much intelligence to be a rapper from people that dont know about hip-hop. , the inclusion of a bill of rights in the u.s. constitution was the direct result of the. Why might Akala say that we should teach Shakespeare? Akala makes the point that it's hard to distinguish between hip hop and Shakespeare when . Why might Akala say that we should teach Shakespeare? So Id get into fights but it was after school and away from the school because I knew if I failed school my gangster uncles would beat me up.. AKALA: A hundred percent. BARBARA: No. Its interesting though, because they can do it when it comes to movies which is just as much entertainment as Hip Hop. PDF Teacher: Why I don't want to assign Shakespeare anymore (even though he Genevieve White, writing for the British Council, stated that there are a variety of . Well what happens when you hear rappers rap in French or in Brazilian Portuguese or inI went to ZimbabweShona. Hamlet is not his story. Get real, homey. Feel free to go check out Mongomery's book, A Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English, he's written other things but that one should suffice.Since youtube doesn't want me to link it, google "Shakespeare's Accent: How did the Bard really sound?" And performance, you know, go I think for me, culture is has I unapologetically see culture as a tool for liberation, for people to come together, to better human society. AKALA: Yeah, I dont have a Dostoyevsky one, but its all right. How he remembers all these lyrics off the fly, i'll never know. BARBARA: This reminds me of this wonderful presentation that you do which shows the relationship between iambic pentameter and how it fits with hip-hop and the rhythmic relationship between the two. But many of these stories are not original stories. It was low culture, it came from the ghetto, that it was fake classical music, all this other stuff. And with the music and the beats and the rapping, it makes an old subject brand new." He's also made a convert out of this . So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. Everyone has a perception of those characters. I never expected this. Maybe its food for the spirit. Wait, is that Shakespeare? Maybe the people who don't like it actually understand it in a way you don't comprehend. swift's a modest proposal what seem to be the only options for the children of beggars when they grow up (3)? His points about Wu Tang are really interesting. In a way, theyre kind of more perfect characters, if you like. -Custodians of Knowledge 6. If anyone is doing an assignment for school that's asking which performance you enjoyed more, MC Akala or Kate Tempest, here's some help if you chose Akala In MC Akalas performance, he used multiple examples such as Sonnet 18, and how if you change the tempo it can be sang like hip hop. Using hip-hop to explore Shakespeare is not as unlikely as it might sound. I can't believe they didn't clap after he did 12 Jewels. I teach thesis, like ancient Greece's Or Egyptology, Today, everyones like Charlie Parker, of course hes a genius. , Imagine him, Rakim, RZA and KRS in the same room, akala is real class, very good at explaining anything, One of the several greatest philosiphers of the 21st century alongside lowkey logic(peoples army) and immortal technique and brother ali. Cause theyre not that interesting. Akala is upset by how the British education system lets down young people from particular backgrounds. This was a great learner moment. Shakespeare's themes still resonate today. remains to be my favorite ted talk, ive watched over and over and over again, I like the way he blends these disparate cultures (griots = bards) and mentions the need for explanation about Shakespeare's education as if only certain people have about the custodians of knowledge. That piece by NPR has some examples of the pronunciation of the words as we know it from Shakespeare's time.Tell me if it sounds like Appalachian English or not. prologue reading and questions.docx - Course Hero AKALA: describes it as jazz. Although one might argue that all of his works should be included on this list due to his enormous literary influence, these seven plays and one book of poetry are unquestionably among his greatest works. Got linked here through an article on decolonising shakespeare and one rabbit hole later. damn Akala's good. No, thank you very much. What kind of name means "messenger"? Wheres this mountain of evidence? . I have used this as a concept for a university class presentation. Deepen your understanding of his works and their cultural influence. I will use this to start teaching the other kids I've taken under my wing about the importance of being the "custodian of knowledge" for themselves. This is a great Tedx talkand so far as his music goes I would strongly recommend his "Fire in the booth", along with "Find no enemy" and "I still believe" [featuring Black the Ripper & Lowkey]. Combining art forms.The background knowledge as far as Shakespeare is concerned is.. Well, that one is up to whoever is filling in the worksheet! Then he talks about rhythm and the 'iambic pentameter'. But mainly its to challenge peoples perceptions. i havent been on this thread in ages. BARBARA: This is The Hip-hop Shakespeare Company, your company? So, even that in England people think, Shakespeare was posh, which, again, is a, you know, a statement of class and a statement of that way I was just talking. And even the portions of the Shakespeare and text that they sung sit perfectly over music because he wrote in this rhythm and because its very musical. So, in a lot of so our last production as a company was of Richard II which was, we did essentially a concept, rock opera, if you like, think, you know. Great discussion, as usual.. And even he got a couple wrong. You don't want war, cor, the kids brilliant. So, we sanitize Elizabethan England quite a lot and project onto Elizabethan England this kind of sense of properness and the Elizabethan theater that absolutely just didnt really exist at the time. If youre going to use big words in order to sound superior, best understand them first. )Why might Akala say that we should teach Shakespeare? Both she and the British Caribbean side of Akalas family encouraged his learning. There was a long tradition of gathering at Congo Square on a Sunday and when we understand this griot tradition and the drums and call and response and African polyrhythms and everything that came before it, we can literally plot a line through jazz and blues and gospel and reggae music in the Caribbean up to hip-hop. 6 why might akala say that we should teach shakespeare I always believed that knowledge was not something that was stationary or stagnant, but something that was verb more than subject. So they set up Saturday schools.. AKALA: Its well, (a) its the rhythm of the human heart. Wow. But what we look at one of the things thats interesting about the iambic pentameter, anyone whos an MC will know that its very difficult to write a verse that is transferable. Big up Akala and the intelligent movement! I do think theyre partly just his brilliance but I think theyre also related to, you know, wider issues of politics and culture and all of that sort of stuff. Who said maybe it's hatred I spew Maybe it's food for the spirit? OMG my theatre arts teacher showed this to us in class last year. . Same honestly. In awe at the knowledge of this lad. You still talk but it still perplexes me. You know, hes not do you know what I mean? man got forced to write a comment for homework lol, Akala is great! Akala ascribes the low educational achievement and aspirations of poorer children not just black children in England to two things: a divisive education system and an anti-intellectual culture. Learn more about William Shakespeare here: He claims that they share rhythm. BARBARA: Also, Im still gonna go no Shakespeare. This was an excellent use of my time! But usually if you know something and already like it, you will clap more compared to if you didn't know it. Alaka believed in the idea of uniting people under music and poetry, and Shakespeare has been appealing to all different types of people. Love them both! Why I'm Rethinking Teaching Shakespeare in My English Classroom Wow love that! BARBARA: Well, and thats the irony, too. AKALA: Okay. But its the consistency, I think. Why might Akala say that we should teach learn Shakespeare? It is not an "ah ha" moment but a "Ta dah" movement because it resonates. No matter what you say it will never work. Youll recognize this as Sonnet 18. I am so glad that my 15yr old daughter showed me this video. You have the commercial, the mainstream hip-hop which is commercialized and its mainly put out by these large corporations, again, primarily historically probably white owned and operated.