Me and Joshua spent the day analysing Shakespeare with London based Hip Hop artist (and sibling of Ms.Dynamite) Akala.
Akala gave us pieces of laminated paper each with a quotation and we (as a group) had to decide whether the quotes were rap lyrics or Shakespeare's prose. An exercise Akala said no one has gotten completely right. We mistook two lines from Shakespeare for Jay-Z lyrics and another two for early Wu Tang Clan... we weren’t embarrassed, it was a surprisingly easy mistake to make.
Akala’s workshop was brilliant overall and it’s a great help in destigmatizing Hip-Hop and reminding us of one of the basic values rap and Hip-Hop offer – creative language. It’s a shame that this is one of the elements that’s lost itself in the commercial bracket of Hip-Hop’s subculture.
Me and Josh found the workshop rewarding when we were given a chance to apply a Shakespearian mentality to our own writing. As the workshop is aimed at 13-18 year olds we defiantly find these kinds of exercises helpful for developing writers and poets.
Akala, at Free Word we salute you sir.
Akala gave us pieces of laminated paper each with a quotation and we (as a group) had to decide whether the quotes were rap lyrics or Shakespeare's prose. An exercise Akala said no one has gotten completely right. We mistook two lines from Shakespeare for Jay-Z lyrics and another two for early Wu Tang Clan... we weren’t embarrassed, it was a surprisingly easy mistake to make.
Akala’s workshop was brilliant overall and it’s a great help in destigmatizing Hip-Hop and reminding us of one of the basic values rap and Hip-Hop offer – creative language. It’s a shame that this is one of the elements that’s lost itself in the commercial bracket of Hip-Hop’s subculture.
Me and Josh found the workshop rewarding when we were given a chance to apply a Shakespearian mentality to our own writing. As the workshop is aimed at 13-18 year olds we defiantly find these kinds of exercises helpful for developing writers and poets.
Akala, at Free Word we salute you sir.
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