Lesson Plan: Using Hip Hop to Introduce Allusion
Audience: High School English students
Contributed by Will Jurkiewicz, Brother Rice High School, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Rationale: Thanks to the processes which led to postmodernism, all culture is a buffet table. It is not so much what the chef prepares but what the diner puts together as his or her meal that counts; appropriation is an act of creativity. Because everything is in quotes in postmodernism, the allusion may be the most important literary device of our age. Luckily, rap is a) really popular nowadays, and b) perhaps the most postmodern of all musical forms as it is built on appropriation. In the works of Arrested Development, Public Enemy, Queen Latifah, and De La Soul, to name a few, one can find beats lifted from old soul records, sound bites lifted from politicians, activists, TV commercials, and other cultural reference points, lyrics steeped in allusions to historical or social events and phenomena, samples of other popular music, and all kinds of other appropriations. Hip hop is the perfect form of music to use when discussing allusion.
Objectives: The student will be able to:
- define allusion.
- understand and explore the functions of allusions.
- have the raw materials to begin looking at allusions in literature.
- gain deeper insight into the artistry of hip hop.
Audience: This assignment lends itself to any level high school English class. This could serve as either an introduction or a refresher to the allusion when exploring poetic devices. One might turn this into an introduction to postmodernism with an upper level class.
Time Frame: 2-3 class periods
Materials:
Hardware
- cassette player
- overhead projector and transparency
- all the equipment you need to make a dub tape of the selected songs (record player, CD players, dual cassette deck, etc.).
Recordings
- a dubbed tape with snippets of the selected songs listed below or alternatively one or two of the songs listed in bold
Other Materials
- album covers (optional)
- blank tape and hand held tape recorder or a digital sampler and microphone (optional)
- a Bible (for use with “I Am the Lyte") and copies of any other texts to which poems you use in the classroom may refer
- picture of Malcolm X holding shotgun looking out window after attacks on his family (for use with “Wicked")
- copies of a poem that features an allusion you have recently discussed in class. In the case of my freshman genre literature class, this would be “A Black Man Talks of Reaping” by Arna Bontemps. In my junior level British literature class, it would be T.S. Eliott’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” which features allusions to the Bible, Hamlet and The Divine Comedy.
Note: If you are interested in using rap to teach allusions but want to use an abbreviated song list, note the 3 songs listed in bold. Also, you could use 2-3 Public Enemy albums, especially those produced by Hank Shocklee and the Bomb Squad. The Bomb Squad albums often contain over 200 digital samples per song, not to mention verbal allusions galore. Once could easily find allusion that demonstrate all the functions of allusion even in one song. I encourage you to shape your lesson around your own record collection as much as possible. Stick to what you know or are willing to learn.
Background:
Hip hop’s roots are almost as diverse as the appropriations it uses in its music. It draws on the Jamaican tradition of “toasting” (in which MC’s speak over records at block parties), the African American traditions of “the dozens” (put-down contests) and “signifying” (rhyming for amusement), and American popular musics such as rock, funk, reggae, and jazz. Hip hop began in this country in the late 1970s when Bronx DJs such as Kool DJ Herc, Grandmaster Flash, and Afrika Bambaata set up block parties using turntables, mixers, and loud sound systems, mixing the “break” or instrumental sections of records together to create their own dance mixes. Soon, DJ’s used MC’s (masters of ceremonies or microphone controllers) to keep the dancers motivated to dance and to add an air of verbal flash to the atmosphere. When sampling technology developed in the 1980s, the rap world quickly embraced it, as hip hop had from day one revolved around creating montages of “found” sources. The sampler expanded the sound of rap as it allowed DJ’s to create musical mosaics from any sound source, not just from records. At their core, samples (sounds appropriated from other sources are allusions, and because hip hop is built on samples, hip hop is the music of allusion. Few types of music can help today’s students understand allusion, not to mention poetry, better than hip hop.
An allusion is a reference to some cultural artifact, be it a person, place, thing, event, or quote. Allusions have the following effects:
- They conjure a number of associations and feelings in the reader in a minimal amount of space. In other words, they do the work so the author doesn’t have to. e.g.: Arrested Development’s sample of “Mommies Are People” in “Mama’s Always on Stage” for me brings back a flood of memories of childhood in the 1970s in under three seconds. When MC Lyte says “I am the Lyte,” people with a background in Christianity understand that she is comparing her power as a rapper with the power of God as a force of omnipotence and wisdom.
- They train the audience--the audience must figure out and understand the original source. e.g.: Ice Cube’s line “people see me and they wanna know how come I got a gat and I’m lookin’ out the window like Malcolm” refers to the picture of Malcolm X looking out the window of his home holding a rifle to protect his family from attacks. One must do a little research to understand the reference and meaning behind this allusion.
- They increase the audience’s bond with the author, as the author and audience become/are part of a select group who understand the allusion. e.g.: Das EFX’s allusion to the “Dukes of Hazzard” or the old “Connect Four” commercial with the line “pretty sneaky, sis” helps the band create an instant bond with kids who grew up watching a lot of TV in the early 1980s and alienates everyone else.
- They place an artist on a continuum with his influences and allow the author to honor his or her influences. e.g.: Chuck D rhyming in the style of the Last Poets or Public Enemy sampling Malcolm X’s voice helps the audience understand the link between Public Enemy’s message and the message of the 1960s and 1970s Black Power movement.
- They create a dialog between two or more texts--the original and the one at hand. e.g.: in rap, we could look at the Beastie Boys’ “Fight for Your Right to Party” and Public Enemy’s “Party for Your Right to Fight,” or in rock, we could look at the argument over “the southern man” between Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
- They encourage a reading of the original text along the appropriator’s terms. e.g.: When Too Short samples Kool and the Gang’s “Hollywood Swinging” in “Money in the Ghetto,” we are encouraged to think of Kool and the Gang as creators of pimp music, whether they are or not. Too Short isn’t exceptionally gifted/insightful/smart, etc....
- They open the doors to reader-response interpretation of the text, as original sources have different connotations to different people. e.g.: The Isaac Hayes sample in Tricky’s “Hell Is Around the Corner” would have different effects on a twelve year old kid who has never heard Isaac Hayes and an Isaac Hayes fan in his fifties. The twelve year old kid might say, “Hey, this is funky new music unlike any I’ve heard before” where the baby boomer might say, “He’s just ripping off Isaac Hayes.”
Procedures:
- Have students take out their notebooks and the poem “A Black Man Talks of Reaping” by Arna Bontemps or “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” or whatever poem you have recently studied with an allusion in it.
- Recall prior knowledge from the last class by asking students to define allusion.
- Explain that making a written reference to another cultural artifact is just one way to create an allusion. Ask students what other ways might be and create a list on the board. This list will be helpful for the homework assignment, in which students find an allusion and write about what function it plays. With your hand held tape recorder, record one of the answers the students give and play it back in order to demonstrate sampling.)
- Using sampling as a segue to discuss how hip hop is built on the concept of allusion, or borrowing things from other sources and putting them together to create new meanings. Discuss how appropriation can be an act of creativity (mosaic, hip hop, allusion in literature, TV commercials, pop art, collage, etc.) Maybe bring in some examples.
- Tell students what you’ve figured out seven major functions that allusion have, and that no matter what medium carries the allusion, it will serve many of these functions. Explain that you are going to use allusions in rap to explain these seven major functions and that students must take notes on what these seven major functions are in order to complete their homework assignments. Use an overhead transparency listing the seven functions to aid note-taking. Use a top sheet to disclose functions as you cover them.
- Using the dubbed tape of snippets or the other songs listed as examples, lecture on the seven functions based on the background information above.
- Tell students that these seven functions are by no means comprehensive and that they should try to come up with their own ideas of what allusions do as they study and write poetry.
- If there is time, ask students how the allusion to Biblical reaping fits into our understanding of the function of allusions in “A Black Man Talks of Reaping” or how allusions aid our understanding of whatever other allusive poem you choose to use with students.
- Assign homework (see “Evaluation” below).
- Use the next day to share students’ allusion findings and to revisit the poem you have been studying if time didn’t permit such a discussion the previous day.
Evaluation:
Students must each find one allusion from any source (TV, music, literature, newspaper, etc.) and write a one-page explanation of what the allusion does for the reader. What functions does it serve? Does it do something we didn’t discuss? Students should provide excerpts of their “texts,” identify what the allusion is and to what it alludes, and explain what the functions of this allusion is. Tell students to not just recite the characteristics, but in your own words, explain the impact the allusion has on them using the seven characteristics as guidelines. Invite students the share their findings in class the next day.
Selected Recordings:
“Mama’s Always on Stage” (end snippet) by Arrested Development (3 Years, 5 Months, and 2 Days in the Life of..., Chrysalis Records, 1992)
“Mommies Are People” by Marlo Thomas and Friends (Free To Be...You and Me, 1972)
“I Am the Lyte” by MC Lyte (Eyes on This, Atlantic, 1989)
“Wicked” by Ice Cube (Predator, Priority Records, 1993); lyrics and music by Holmes, Trotter, Goodman, Lars, Jones, and Ice Cube; One in the Chamber Music, WB Music Corp., A BMI Publisher.
“They Want EFX” by Das EFX (Dead Serious, Atco, 1993); lyrics and music by Wesley, Brown, Bobbitt, Weston, Hines; EMI April Music Inc., A BMI Publisher.
“Fight for Your Right to Party” by the Beastie Boys (License to Ill, Def Jam, 1987)
“Party for Your Right to Fight” by Public Enemy (It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Def Jam, 1988); lyrics and music by Boxrey, Ridenhour, Sadler; Def American Songs Inc.
“Southern Man” by Neil Young and Crazy Horse (After the Gold Rush, Reprise, 1972)
“Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd (Second Helping, MCA, 1973)
“They Used to Call It Dope” by Public Enemy (Muse Sick N Hour Mess Age, Def Jam, 1995)
“E Pluribus Unum” by the Last Poets (Chastisement, Blue Thumb Records, 1972)
“The White Man’s Got a God Complex” by Public Enemy (Muse Sick N Hour Mess Age, Def Jam, 1995)
“The White Man’s Got a God Complex” by the Last Poets (The Legend: The Best of the Last Poets, MIL Multimedia, 1996)
“Hollywood Swinging” by Kool and the Gang (Celebration, Polygram Records, 1992)
“Money in the Ghetto” by Too $hort (Get in Where You Fit In, Zomba, 1995)
“Hell Is Around the Corner” by Tricky (Maxinquaye, Island Records, 1995)
“Ike’s Rap II” by Isaac Hayes (Live at the Sahara Tahoe, Stax, 1973)
Enrichment/Additional Resources:
If you are unfamiliar with sampling technology and rap recording, you may wish to read copies of Electronic Musician, Musician, Vibe or other music magazines that discuss modern technology in music. Other sources on the music and culture of hip hop include:
Fernando, S.H., Jr. The New Beats. New York: Doubleday, 1994.
Rose, Tricia. Black Noise. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 1994.
A Black Man Talks of Reaping
by Arna Bontemps (1902-1973)
I have sown beside all waters in my day.
I planted deep, within my heart the fear
That wind or fowl would take the grain away
I planted safe against this stark, lean year.
I scattered seed enough to plant the land
In rows from Canada to Mexico
But for my reaping only what the hand
Can hold at once is all that I can show.
Yet what I sowed and what the orchard yields
My brother’s sons are gathering stalk and root,
Small wonder then my children glean in fields
They have not sown, and feed on bitter fruit
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
by T.S. Eliot (1919)
S’io credesse che mia rispota fosse
A persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma perciocche giammai di questo fondo
Non torno vivo alcun, s’i’odo il vero,
Senza tema d’infamia ti rispondo.*
Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question…
Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”
Let us go and make our visit.
In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.
And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.
In the room the women come and go,
Talking of Michelangelo.
And indeed there will be time
To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair--
[They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!"]
My morning coast, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin--
[They will say: “But how his arms and legs are thin!]
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
For I have known them all already, known them all:--
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?
And I have known the eyes already, known them all--
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out the butt-ends of my days and ways?
And how should I presume?
And I have known the arms already, known them all--
Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
[But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!]
Is it perfume from a dress
That makes me so digress?
Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.
And should I then presume?
And how should I begin?
.....
Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of window?…
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
.....
And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!
Smoothed by long fingers,
Asleep...tired...or it malingers,
Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
Though I have seen my head [grown slightly bald] brought in upon a platter,
I am no prophet--and here’s no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coast, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.
And would it have been worth it, after all,
After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while,
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it toward some overwhelming question,
To say: “I am Lazarus, come from the dead
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all"--
If one, settling a pillow by her head,
Should say: “That is not what I meant at all.
That is not it, at all.”
And would it have been worth it, after all,
Would it have been worth while,
After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,
After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor--
And this, and so much more?--
It is impossible to say just what I mean!
But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:
Would it have been worth while
If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,
And turning toward the window, should say:
“That is not it at all,
That is not what I meant, at all.”
.....
No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous--
Almost, at times, the Fool.
I grow old...I grow old…
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.
I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.
*A passage from Dante Alighieri’s Inferno (Canto 27, lines 61-66) spoken by Guido da Montefeltro in response to the questions of Dante, whom Guido supposes is dead, since he is in Hell. The flame in which Guido is encased vibrates as he speaks: “If I thought that I was replying to someone who would ever return to the world, this flame would cease to flicker. But since no one ever returns from these depths alive, if what I’ve heard is true, I will answer you with hear of infamy.”
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