Long Island University offers its first course on rap's history, including origins and notable beefs
Add one more "R" to the list of things students are learning at Long Island University's Brooklyn Campus: rap.
This spring, the college will offer its first course in Hip Hop and Spoken Word, a curriculum that will take on topics ranging from hip hop's African and New York roots to high-profile "beefs" between stars like Lil' Kim and Nicki Minaj.
The class will take a look at "the poetry and politics that have influenced the most influential cultural movement of our time," said adjunct Prof. Bryonn Bain, 35, the Brooklyn-raised poet and performer who is teaching the course. "It's as important to study [1960s Black Nationalist rap group] The Last Poets and Tupac Shakur as it is to study Shelley and Shakespeare."
Bain kicked off his first class Jan. 28 with a passionate performance of one of his poems, "Temple Worship." The students' own work - including an assignment to be performed on a city subway platform - will be a big part of the course.
After more than 35 years on the scene, hip hop as an art form is increasingly being viewed as a legitimate teaching tool and academic topic, said Michael Cirelli, executive director of the teen poetry program Urban Word NYC.
"Hip hop is now being studied for its own historical cultural significance," said Cirelli.
In class, students eagerly shouted out names like deejay Grandmaster Flash and breakdancer Crazy Legs as some of the art form's originators.
"I'm going to be nervous," said Jamar Carr, 19, a sophomore who hopes learning hip hop's history will help him achieve his dream of hip hop stardom. "But I'm serious about this, so I've got to get over it."
But Bain - who jokes that he got a second college degree spending hours watching and performing at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe - hopes they'll take an even deeper look at hip hop and spoken word's roots as tools of social justice and political empowerment.
As a Harvard Law School student a decade ago, Bain spent three days in a city jail for a crime he didn't commit. That eventually led to "Lyrics on Lockdown," a one-man spoken word show based on his experience and his correspondence with a Texas death row inmate.
"Language is powerful," Bain said. "I want to engage young poets, writers and thinkers about the verse of our time - both celebrating it and looking at it critically."
Credit:Daily News
Personal note: Liu is a very diverse campus with a lot of underground talent .. sometimes I think its a performing arts university (with the amount of spoken words, rap battles, and live student performances which are done very professional might I say) ... its only right for LIU to introduce this class and the Spoken Word class.. so far students are really enjoying it.
