BARBARA: What do you want the takeaway to be for your audience? Didn't want to listen, when I said last year. I wish she showed us more of him. You know, the hero, the rise and fall, redemption, jealousy. Surrender yourself to the floor. 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. Teachers must be upfront about the problematic aspects of Shakespeare's plays. It wasnt just prejudice that affected his schooling but also the one size fits all approach. Shakespeare was he wasnt the kind of guy who would know Shakespeare if , AKALA: In modern perception. Absolute unit. AKALA: Right, Tybalt, hes a great character, much better character than Romeo and or Juliet, right? Wow. This statement has been disproven many times by academics. AKALA: So what we do with that is we take five different verses and we play a beat, any kind of beat and we theres so not all of them are iambic. Your ears literally dont have the vocabulary to understand it. So we give people all different sorts of verses to show how versatile Shakespeare was and how much he experimented across his career. I'm a high school English teacher. AKALA: Yeah, what we try to I show young people, adult or anyone, I think as a songwriter, for me, actually, any songwriter should be engaging with Shakespeares work, if youre interested (a) in lyricism, but (b) in rhythm. Big up Akala. pure knowledge and fire! Obviously, he added stuff that is incredibly original. The majority of my teachers were really, really good. And you could take any verse of Shakespeare thats in iambic pentameter and you can put it on most regular 4/4 hip-hop and you can put it on most of what we call in the UK grimeits a very transferable rhythm. 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. And so if poets today try and do that, its like poetic mathematics. For the Folger Shakespeare Library, Im Folger Director Michael Witmore. He became part of the elite in a way. AKALA: I was not born under a rhyming planet. BARBARA: Well, as you say, they havent ever been exposed to this tradition of theres this, you know, bifurcation in hip-hop. And before it became fully mainstream, you know, groups like the Wu-Tang and others, you know, made it mainstream but to a really credible audience. Salute. Akala ended up doing well at school and his GCSE results were some of the best in his year group. He then goes on to explain how many people who often criticize hip-hop dont actually understand it. . This is great. HipHop ain't dead Akala's got it at Ted and has risen Shakespeare from the dead. Ancient. He is like the quantum physics of literature. The most recent episode in the Folger's Shakespeare Unlimited podcast features British poet, rapper, and educator Kingslee James Daley, who goes by the stage name Akala. Why might Akala say that we should teach Shakespeare? What is special about hiphop is the fact that it can vividly describe part of american culture that's hidden behind of a veil in such a keen, vicarious, and rebellious way. AKALA: No, I dont think that has the same ring to it. Most of his audience was unabl to even read or write.Hip Hop means "Intelligent Movement".The 5 elements of Hip Hop are: DJ, MC, break dance, graffiti art, and knowledge.The appeal of the Wu Tang Clan was that it united people that listened to all different kinds of music.The "custodian of knowledge" means enlightened, having ideas and doing activities that unite people. Draw for your sword orSee to it your knees meet and greet the ground,Bow! So Hip-hop Shakespeare is true to his way of writing. You know, sometimes when I ask young people, for example, I say, where, you know, where does black America music come from? 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. Still the GOAT. But Bob Marleys an icon. Your ears and your brain literally are not yet trained to understand the vocabulary of that music. [CLIP from Akalas track, Comedy Tragedy History]. Akala at TEDxAldeburgh, AKALA - DAT BOY AKALA (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO), Akala: The History Of Cultural Appropriation In Black Music, THIS CHANGED MY LIFE | Akala - Fire In The Booth (part 1) REACTION, Akala - The Thieves Banquet Part I + II ( Lyrics ), Akala & Ms Dynamite Ft Ghetto & Big Seac - Knowbody, Akala ft Kabaka Pyramid & Marshall - Giants, Akala Details The Roots Of His Philosophies: "There's Not Enough Seats At The Table", Akala - 10 Years Of Akala (Full Album Stream), A HISTORY OF RACISM | AKALA - MAANGAMIZI (REACTION), Deepest Song: Akala - "Find No Enemy" Via @AmaruDonTV, There Is No Escaping Shakespeare | The New York Times, IAMBIC PENTAMETER for Teachers and Students. You think of Shakespeares best characters. Nasir Jones. His points about Wu Tang are really interesting. 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. 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. 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! You know, they watch MTV and they see MTVs version of hip-hop culture, which is ironic given that, you know, Viacom is this massive big corporation. Wrens can't make prey where eagles don't perch. But, actually, perceptions of Shakespeare can be problematic. Working together for an inclusive Europe. He doesn't rap about women, money and weed whatsoever like most of the rappers rap about today, he talks about racial difference, discrimination and humanity. Yeah, I'm sure Akala would do a real bang up job explaining Lagrangian mechanics and the solution of partial differential equations. Im saying what Nas rapped about was profound and incredible. I've heard his fire in the booths but never checked him out even though they were and still are the best ones. BARBARA: No. 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. So, when we understand in Mali, for example, you have a character called the griot praising, you know, often on the payroll of the kingyou know, wrote long poems, the most famous of which is the Malian epic of Sundiatagenealogist, a historian, a musician that would actually go to school for 21 years: seven years for speech, seven years for musicianship, seven years for singing. People dont spend 30,000 sending their kid to Eton to get the same quality of education kids at state schools get, do they? Shakespeare Unlimited comes to you from the Folger Shakespeare Library, home to the worlds largest Shakespeare collection. Akala is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. I dont think we can divorce Shakespeares global success from British imperialism and if India colonized the world, would we be reading the Mahabharata and the Rmyaa and these wonderful texts of Indian spirituality in the way that we read Shakespeare, as universal human text? I love your art, i've learnt more from akala lyrics and youtube vids than i ever did in history or english class, Hip-Hop & Shakespeare? What is the rhythm of IAMBIC PENTAMETER? My class and I are speaking of Shakespeare and I will definitely recommend this to my students. Othello is not originally his story. Folger Shakespeare Library. Thats kind of fascinating. So, I dont have a problem with some of the negativity in hip-hop. It helps us to get the word out to people who havent heard it, people who might enjoy it. Maybe its hatred I spew. Using hip-hop to explore Shakespeare is not as unlikely as it might sound. You must know that this guy is clearly good at putting words together. In addtion Shakespeare was a . @Xelanderthomas Ok. BARBARA: Yeah, certainly not in class terms, yeah. And one element of hip-hop was always knowledge. There is a close focus on education in the book - and not much of . Both can be representing entertainment and both can be representing life as it is. the outer limits or edge of an area or object. Akala is currently researching the reasons why the educational attainment of fourth-generation British Caribbeans is low. Thats right folks. Deepen your understanding of his works and their cultural influence. BARBARA: Okay, I gotta file that one away. The point is youre supposed to get them wrong, which well discuss in a minute. Its for me, BARBARA: Well this is politics. Part of my job, I think, and part of our job with hip-hop with Shakespeare is to sort of undo this undue reverence. It was low culture, it came from the ghetto, that it was fake classical music, all this other stuff. "Socrates' philosophies and hypotheses can't define" Hip Hop Shakespeare 7. 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. Everyone has a perception of those characters. But its a dangerous point of reference to think that people suddenly started making music under the condition of enslavement. -Five sets, two beats; dee-dum, dee-dum, dee-dum, dee-dum, dee-dum 3.) Dive deep into the worlds largest Shakespeare collection and access primary sources from the early modern period. Understanding Shakespeare has a tremendous impact on young people because he is seen as so difficult. I used to not like hip hop but I do now, and I completely agree with you. Is it Shakespeare, or is it hip-hop? British poet, rapper, and educator Kingslee James Daley, who goes by the stage name Akala, likes to recite a passage and then challenge his audience with this question. But that didnt mean he was always a good boy. MICHAEL: Kingslee James Daley is better known as the rapper Akala. But usually if you know something and already like it, you will clap more compared to if you didn't know it. **Just helping out :) Please correct me if any of these are incorrect!! What is hip-hop but a state of mind? But many of these stories are not original stories. Yeah? 0. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster and Esther Ferington. This is for my theater class _ good luck. Ian McKellen came. You know, if youre 12 how would you understand the fact its even called the Mystery of Iniquity or RZA, 12 Jewelz, hes gotta rap about physics, right? I really liked him before but my enjoyment of him has been taken to a whole new level due to this. BARBARA: Well, spew is such a Shakespearean word, I think. This doesnt belong to you. 16:09 - 16:12 What are we training the . phillip watson age. I mean you gotta remember when blues was around, you know, in the UK, we have a paper called the Daily Mail, a favorite right-wing paper. 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. Many versions of this story about two star-crossed lovers who die sad deaths have been made for the theater and movie. They don't give up much. The main thing that they share is rhythm. 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. You think of full stuff. Theres lots of stuff that doesnt rhyme anymore because the accent of English has changed. Everyone is born with a love of learning. Ive known so many working-class kids who pretend to be less smart than they are.. 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?" One example of that is in conflict mediation. Shakespeare is the only literature we assign to students with extensive footnotes, glossaries, and explanations of nearly every word, according to the teacher. And any good poet of any era employs similar themes and similar techniques. You don't want war, cor, the kids brilliant. This might encourage some students to not give up before they begin. MICHAEL WITMORE: This is a Shakespeare podcast so lets start by reading some Shakespeare. AKALA: A hundred percent. Shakespeare was a masterly adapter, and his work is largely based on borrowing and interpretation. The first Ted I happily watched all the way through, and will watch again. This podcast episode, The Poets Pen Turns Them to Shapes, was produced by Richard Paul. They are quite bland. No matter what you say it will never work. It was the first time I realized cause we know this about music, right? Hip Hop Shakespeare 4. I reccomend people who are interested in this point watch his interview on Russia Today where he discusses the causes in detail. Learning never stops! And that isnt an accident. 6 why might akala say that we should teach shakespeare. Most people know the iambic pentameter, but if you look at something at like The Tempest, its not in pentameter at all. The second. And the point is, the guy wrote performance poetry and great stories that were about sex and violence and love and tragedy. You look at the end of a Shakespearean text and theyll be the word mood and blood. And youll be like, why have that in there? I have used this as a concept for a university class presentation. Same honestly. Find teaching resources and opportunities. Akala raps the following Shakespeare sonnet. I want this guy as my history/English/RE teacher, he as an absolute breath of fresh air and you have to love his music! BARBARA: Well you also do this interesting exercise I saw a presentation of yours in India where you asked people to find the pocket of the rhythm in a Shakespeare passage. This man has a brilliant mind and a brilliant heart! And great stories that really are cross culture, that we see from every culture around the world sort of in myth forms. So, sitting people down and forcing them to read Shakespeare Performance poetry has to be performance first. Your making things up. Both Hiphop and Shakespeare are examples of the some of the most paramount poetry there is. So, with that in mind, it makes sense that he's taught in school. Get real, homey. The first person I saw give a lecture was KRS-One. a feeling of resentment. O'Brien said that Shakespeare has been adapted to different times in history since nearly the moment he wrote the plays, and calls the trend to bring hip-hop and Shakespeare together a great one. Blood, I'm the heir to the throne . AKALA: He was like, I like this stuff. And so people would gather. Materially corrupt,Spiritually amuck,Oblivious to the cause,Prosperously bankrupt.Blind leading the blind,Guilty never defined,Filthy as swine,A generation pure in its own mind. interfere with the normal arrangement. Can they identify which lines of verse are from hip-hop songs and which are taken from the works of Englands most famous poet and playwright? 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. Its Nas. Using hip-hop to explore Shakespeare is not as unlikely as it might sound. I will do. Well considering this is a Ted talk i can't imagine any of this talk was 'on the fly'. One reason sometimes put forward is that there is something in Caribbean culture that devalues education. 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. for someone from UK he knows the roots of hip hop. xx For that reason, people get offended. Learn about the building renovation and start planning your visit. @Tiffany Summers I think it is only you and the person who liked your comment that have the problem. I never expected this. , Akala is too much! AKALA: Of course. I study Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nottingham (2nd in the UK for my course according to the Guardian) and not one of my lecturers can deliver like this man! Many people want to find a reason for his 'intelligence' because he didnt go to Oxbridge and people wanted to explain that. . His plays delve into the issues of love, loss, treachery, honor, tenderness, anger, despair, jealousy, contempt, fear, courage, and wonder. The Poets Pen Turns Them to Shapes was produced by Richard Paul. BARBARA: I want to start by picking up on something you use at the beginning of the presentations that you do, usually, and its the, Is it hip-hop or Shakespeare? bit. You know, he went to a grammar school. AKALA: Okay. I mean if I gave you Lauryn Hill, The Mystery of Iniquity, one of the most complicated but brilliant raps, ever, [CLIP of Lauryn Hills The Mystery of Iniquity.]. 3. One of them knew it word for word! The original Shakespeare theatre was built in 1599, it has since become Shakespeare's Globe theatre Although it's not "well known", Akala says the world in the book might feel familiar to some . The audience, such misers! Two-years later and you are still saving lives in English classes. Chance never did crown me, this is destiny. I would absolutely love to see him and Jordan Peterson have a public discussion. (As in, a school subject unit). 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. And in the UK, Shakespeares very, very political. a rough or noisy fight or quarrel. AKALA: How difficult that is to do to make sense, to rhyme, to be semi-autobiographical and to put ten syllables in every single line. That is one of the things that has made me so passionate about education and made me want to dedicate part of my adult life to working with young people, in the way that people gave their time to work with me.. We had help from Joe Philip at Covered PR, from Mariama Abudulai and from Ryan Pate at the Dub Room Studio in Los Angeles. Then he says how iambic pentameter is so similar to a heartbeat and how it is 'intrinsic to life' and how it helps people get across feeling and what u want with that rhythm. And its cause it was mood and blood or loins and loins, which means loins and lines. @Truth Hurts I think my comment got caught by the spam filters, because it had a few links to outside of youtube (it was on NPR), and it will have to be manually approved by the person who uploaded this video. Maybe you don't like it, but don't degrade the genre to say that its "an excuse for people to say whatever they want with total impunity", because its not. Got linked here through an article on decolonising shakespeare and one rabbit hole later. damn Akala's good. And you can get to meaning after that.". Garland Scott is the associate producer. Devour cowards, thousands per hour. I can't believe they didn't clap after he did 12 Jewels. And the word is *enunciation*. I think theres something about Shakespeare as a brand, but I think that comes as much from what has been written about him as what he wrote. We possess the speech.Draw for your sword and settle your quarrels.Draw for your sword orSee to it your knees meet and greet the ground,Bow! Cause theyre not that interesting. -Because of the intrinsic value in inspiring people towards their own creative excellence. Shakespeares writing influences a lot of modern-day trends we see in todays society such as music. Award winning hip-hop artist, education activist and author, Akala received an honorary doctorate from Oxford Brookes in June 2018. I remember hearing the odd song from him when I was younger. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. I would take this fellows class or lectures whether I was a music lover/musician, writer or actor. I really do enjoy his intelligence expressed in his passion in hip hop. England still has this Victorian hangover in the way we teach Shakespeare, Akala explains. AKALA: And then you listen to Rappers Delight, its the same flow. In the 1400s, the main kingdom he speaks about in that book is the Empire of Mali. Musicality was central to Shakespeare. 6 why might akala say that we should teach shakespeare . Easily one of my favourite artists now. Because you talk, also in that presentation, about how rhyme differs from place to place, from language to language which Ive never thought about it that way. French Louisiana was one of the only places in the Americas at that time where enslaved Africans had a day off. Samantha He's like a present-day Alan Watts. Even an acclaimed Shakespearean actor like Sir Ian McKellen cant always answer correctly. After this he talks about the medieval empires of Western African and how they had people who were the custodians of the history and cultural and spiritual traditions and were often musicians. As Akala points out there are over 100 songs in Shakespeare's plays and iambic pentameter - a poetic meter with five pairs of unstressed and stressed syllables per line - is used as much in hip-hop songs as it was in the sonnets. How he remembers all these lyrics off the fly, i'll never know. This is amazing and very eye opening. You are blessed with knowledge and you speak wise words. So I felt it would be radical to take this symbol of elitism and say no, thats not what he was in his time and he is still relevant today.. This is fantastic. It has to be rhythm first. Oh, that well, there you go. AKALA: I think theres two points in there. Since 2009, under the auspices of his Hip-hop Shakespeare Company, Akala has been going to community centers, prisons, and schools in immigrant and underserved communities, using the tools of hip-hop to spread an understanding of the relevance of Shakespeares poetry. You can hear immediately that is not the same as shall I compare thee to a summers day. It doesnt have the same roll to it. He became very wealthy. BARBARA: So, youre talking about the work that you do with The Hip-hop Shakespeare Company. He says hip comes from the word hippy from a Senegalese language and it means 'open one's eyes and see' and the hop is representative of movement. And its not always peoples fault. Thanks. )Why might Akala say that we should teach Shakespeare? Throughout his entire career, he was experimenting with different forms of rhythm. This guys should be a guest lecturer in a lot off universities man. You know, for us in the UK and perhaps to an extent here in America, I dont want people to feel culturally intimidated by something that theyre told is beyond them.
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