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Rhymin' since day... curious is a multi-tasking microphone vandal. Hiphop poetry is the dish of the day. Whether served fresh acapella or over baking hot beats, the elements of this feast are best enjoyed raw. Catch a portion of curious online or on stage, spitting like a pig on a spit roast. Check in to keep updated...peaCe

Monday, 2 December 2013

UK #HipHopEd Top 60


Last week the UK #HipHopEd Twitter Chat took on the ridiculous task of compiling a Top Ten list of UKHH tracks to use in teaching. After much suggestion, advocation and championing, what we got was NOT a Top Ten! There was such a wide range of contexts, purposes and subject areas that tunes were suggested for that trying to qualify any decision over a place in or out of the Top Ten would have been impossible to reconcile; let alone which order the final ten should appear in! So, what we have got is a UK HipHopEd Top 60 UKHH tracks to use in education, in no particular order. Well, nearly true...actually, the list is ordered by artists depending on how many of their tracks were submitted for the Top Ten. So, if there is a winner, it is held by the first 2 artists on the list. Both artists received 4 submissions for different tracks, from different chatters. And that all means that your winners are...

UK HipHopEd Top 60

Dizzee Rascal - Fix Up, Look Sharp

Dizzee Rascal - Sittin' Here

Dizzee Rascal - I Luv U

Dizzee Rascal – Imagine


Roots Manuva - Juggle Tings Proper

Roots Manuva -Dreamy Days

Roots Manuva - Witness (One Hope)

Roots Manuva - Movements

Akala - Fire In The Booth

Akala - Find No Enemy

Akala – Shakespeare

Skinnyman - Council Estate of Mind

Skinny Man - Day to Day Basis

Skinny Man - No Big Tings

Rodney P - The Future

Skitz feat. Rodney P - Left

London Posse - How's Life In London

London Posse - Money Mad

Ty – Hercules

Ty - Emotions

Jehst – England

Jehst – 1979

Blak Twang - Red Letter

Black Twang – GCSE

Ms Dynamite - Put Him Out

Ms Dynamite - It Takes More

Smiley culture - Cockney Translation

Smiley Culture - Police Officer

Lethal Bizzle - POW

Lethal Bizzle - Oi

Braintax - The Grip

Braintax - Future Years

Katch 22 - Reverse World

Katch 22 - Death of the Flat Black Circle

Task Force - Butterfly Concerto

Chester P - Little Man

Wretch 32 - 24 Hours

Swami Baracus - The Recipe

MCs Logik - Operatin Logikally

Broken Glass - Rapology

Ruthless Rap Assassins - And it Wasn't a Dream

Scorzayzee - Great Britain

Lowkey - Let Me Live My Life

P-Money - Slang Like this

Hijack - Daddy Rich

Krispy 3 - Destroy All The Stereotypes

Kano - Ps & Qs

Rhyme Asylum - Holding On

MC Buzz B - Last Tree

Labrinth - Express Yourself

Rebel MC - Black Meaning Good

So Solid Crew - 21 Seconds

The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free

Neneh Cherry - Buffalo Stance

Melanin 9 - The 7 Blues

Cyrus Malachi - Black Maria

Tippa Irie - Complain Neighbour

Durrty Goodz - Born Blessed

Madness - Baggy Trousers



Other artists who were mentioned non-specifically:


Shadia Mansour

Caxton Press

Wee Papa girls

She rockers

Cookie Crew

Monie Love



*Props to Dizzee and Roots Manuva for leading the way with their UK #HipHopEd bangers!!
peaCe

Monday, 25 November 2013

UK #HipHopEdTopTen Twitter Chat



Tonight at 8pm we will be discussing the best UK Hip-hop songs to use in the classroom. These are the suggestions from HipHopEders so far...


Skitz feat. RODNEY P - Left
http://youtu.be/8O2R39GYGAs

London Posse - How's Life In London
http://youtu.be/-ahFJmFcY98

Roots Manuva - Juggle Tings Proper
http://youtu.be/dkHu_x1YkNw

Roots Manuva -Dreamy Days
http://youtu.be/bJmoxDA1cTg

Skinnyman - No Big Tings
http://youtu.be/tb01FSSZ4-4

Task Force - Butterfly Concerto
http://youtu.be/AUZlH7N-24I

Braintax - Future Years
http://youtu.be/87ADE3iVyFQ

Ms Dynamite - Put Him Out
http://youtu.be/E0YzqD9HqUA

Wretch 32 - 24 Hours
http://youtu.be/SdJ7HV8PcvA

MCs Logik - Operatin Logikally

Scorz - GB

Broken Glass - Rapology

(For post-Windrush narrative) Ruthless Rap Assassins - And it Wasn't a Dream

(For extended metaphor) Swami Baracus - The Recipe
http://t.co/cVUqKLmHhp

Akala - Fire In The Booth

Scorzayzee - Great Britain

Katch 22 - reverse world

Katch 22 - death of the flat black circle

Lowkey - Let Me Live My Life

P-Money - Slang Like this

Hijack - Daddy Rich

Krispy 3 - Destroy All The Stereotypes

Akala - Shakespeare

Black Twang - GCSE

Lethal Bizzle - POW

Lethal Bizzle - Oi

Dizzee Rascal - Sittin' Here

Dizzee Rascal - I Luv U

Kano - Ps & Qs

Rhyme Asylum - Holding On

MC Buzz B - Last Tree

Tuesday, 29 October 2013

UK #HipHopEd Manifesto

Over the last 2 years the UK#HipHopEd crew have been working towards a manifesto of our beliefs. On Monday 4th November we will be inviting responses to this manifesto as part of the relaunch of our UK #HipHopEd Twitter chats. These chats were the groups first official foray into HipHopEd, following on from the ground-breaking work of our US family. The chats will continue weekly throughout Novemebr before the work on our 5th UK #HipHopEd seminar in February 2014. If you are interested in matters of hiphop and education, find us on Twitter using  '#HipHopEd' and have your say on the topics raised. peaCe

Friday, 9 August 2013

Even More FREE Hand Made Mash Up - Volume 4 *DOWNLOAD*


Once again back it's the incredible...

Hand Made Mash UP Volume 4.

If you've been following this series of compilations, you'll know the deal. The first 3 volumes of this series contained 10 live recorded, single take mash ups, ranging from Pop to Hiphop to Dubstep to Trap and a few eclectic gems aside.
This time things are not too different, but different they are. Volume 4 presents 9 new mash ups, recorded in iDj live, just as before, but in addition, this volume also contains 315-20 minute mixes recorded live in a single take without headphones - old school via new school!! Just click on the image to go to the Dropbox link.
The same disclaimer applies to those who are easily thrown by anything less that pro Tools perfection when it comes to mixes and mash-ups...these are all mixed, arranged, effected and recorded live - one shot!
Hopefully this gives you something fresh to fill your iPod with as you set off on your summer holidayings!

Next stop Barcelona!!!!!

paCe

Hand Made Mash Up Volume 4 features:
M-Dubs
GTA
New Edition
Marley Marl
Craig G
TWRK
Nas
Madonna
Yellow Claw & Yung Felix
Rudimental
Flight Facilities
K Flay
CNTRL
Tropkillaz
Zapp
Notorious BIG
Tupac

And many more in the mix...


Monday, 22 July 2013

UK #HipHopEd Seminar 4: Keepin it Real"? - Authenticity, Race, Gender and Hip-Hop Education in the UK.

Curious snapshots from the first 4 UK #HipHopEd Seminars.


Each Uk HipHopEd seminar has had a different energy brought to the room due to the subtly profound changes in dynamic that different people bring. Avoiding the obvious Barrington Levy puns, a hallmark of the seminars to date, is that the range and depth of the debated topics have been both broad and deep. Each day existing as an example of academic cyphering that is as authentically hiphop as it is academic. However, despite the breadth and depth, each has distinct characteristics and uniquely defining moments that leave snapshots in the mind to be recalled like cerebral backdrops to future conversations and reflections. Here are my snapshots from the first 4 #UkHipHopEd seminars...

SEMINAR ONE
The first seminars energy came mostly from the newness of it all. The journey from the Twitter timeline to the Institute of Education seminar suite was a short and fast one. The potential in the room was palpable; teachers, youth workers, poets, academics, film makers, photographers occupying every seat. @rapclassroon (Darren Chetty) continued the natural leadership that had driven the original chats and hosted a day of performance, presentation, discussion and debate with a bit of live Skype to manage also! Amongst the eruditus and empowered eloquence (*strikes B-boy pose), the snapshot moment of the day will remain (in my mind at least,) that of the newly-formed group, forged into union, huddled diminutively, waving goodbye under the widescreen-projected god-head of Prof. Chris Emdin, at the end of our Skype chat; bridging LDN and NY's physical and educational divides in a supportive and inspiring way. The connection to the 'parent' movement gave a sense of authenticity and validity to this initial meeting of artist/teacher tweeters and the mythic retelling of how the US HipHopEd movement successfully and sustainably opened 2 Hiphop schools in the motherland of rap was inspiring. The spirit of reverence was apt. Onward towards a manifesto...

Additional Reading:



SEMINAR TWO
Seminar 2 should have been simple. Repeat a proven formula with a few different people and new themes. Enter Shay D. Female Iranian rapper with the Lyrically Challenged hiphop collective and hiphop workshop leader. Shay D brought a passion to the proceedings. She participated confidently and challenged some of the ideas about race and representation in the room vigorously. The snapshot moment of Shay D and Chris Mentalist going toe to toe (chair to chair), battling over a disputed comment; with the rest of the room either scrambling to defuse the tension or sitting back waiting for the storm to die down will remain the defining and most hiphop moment of the day, and stand as testimony to the belief and passion that exist within the HipHopEd movement; and like true battle MCs it was all love afterwards. This is not a snapshot of the movement’s greatest success, rather one of its passion, honesty and ability to push the boundaries of both the academic discussion format, and the hiphop cypher (perhaps battle is more apt in this instance) and find resolutions that stays true to the spirit of HipHopEd. This is where ideas and beliefs are cogeneratively forged in the fires of disparate notions of discourse and decorum; but where reality and theory collide with experience and instinct. This is bumpy ground, but well worth the ride.

Additional reading:


SEMINAR THREE
If Shay D brought a more contemporary hiphop voice to the room, Seminar 3 let Uk hiphop royalty in the building. TY has been delivering conscious hiphop to the UK hiphop scene since before people said 'conscious hiphop' and TY is used to working a crowd. Bridging the hiphop/ed gap was Poisonous Poet turned teacher Reveal and rapper/music teacher Awate. Further to the 'ed' side, Dr Patrick Turner from London Met led the day with a presentation that sparked the debate about racial representation and identity that dominated this seminar. Himself an ex-member of a hiphop crew, Patrick was joined by his teenage son. From my position, the young man had TY challenging and leading the discussion to one side and his father feeding the debate on the other. This image reminiscent of the angels and devils (but with a less polar opposition) of cartoon folklore brought 3 fundamental strands of the movement into one space - hiphop; the educator and the young learner. A perfect example of praxis? This was the theme of Seminar 3; that awkward and much misunderstood merging of theory and practice; education's version of circular breathing. The space where all that is said and thought is done. Where, where, will, won’t, what, why and how collide to form experiences that can be as beautifully chaotic and deceptively complex in their fluid expressions as sub-aquatic lava flows. HipHopEd is built for praxis.

Additional Reading:




SEMINAR FOUR
Whether it was the choice of Gender as one of the 3 themes of Seminar 4 that encouraged or inspired  more women to attend (and maybe men to not?) is less important than the fact that there were more women at this seminar. The UkHipHopEd movement has never been exclusively male.  Kate Ryan's pivotal role in the original cohort of tweeters has provides the only ever-present female voice, but Shay D in seminar 2 and Anne from 
www.rapgenius.com in seminar 3 (amongst others) have ensured that there has been a strong and committed, plural female voice throughout. I don't know whether the participation of a larger number of women changed the debate or not, but it certainly felt more 'authentic' as a representation of educators (and humans) to have a larger female presence; if not yet, a more 'authentic' representation of hiphop.
Ironically, my snapshot of the day is not provided by one of the female participants, but instead it is the image of both genders watching a white neo-nazi rapper from Germany perpetuating every rap video cliché you saw perfectly parodied in The Roots, 'What They Do' video; and then debating it's authenticity as a representation of whiteness. A 25-strong debate about the rantings of a young white supremacist, living out his black rapper fantasy, isn't what I expected to be engaging with in a primary school hall on a warm and sunny Saturday, 3 days before the end of the academic year, but it is more useful than trolling comment boxes on YouTube for challenging such surreal and dangerous co-options of Hiphop culture.

Additional Reading:


SO WHAT CHA SAYIN?!
The UkHipHopEd movement continues to build links between the sky high (and often pie in the sky) research of Hiphop academics; Hiphop educators working in schools (colleges, youth centres, theatres etc) and our young people, growing up to a Hiphop soundtrack in an ever- shifting capitalist landscape, where reality and authenticity are hard to pin down, but where creativity and knowledge are 'hard currency' for 'growth'. You can only win the game you're playing and all games have rules. All rules can be broken. Break rules.

This movement is ready for your surprises.

Can't wait, won’t wait for Seminar 5.

peaCe

Links:







Tuesday, 25 June 2013

Spoken word poetry at the V&A this Friday 28/6/13

Friday Late: Dalston Takeover

FRIDAY LATE AT THE V&A

Come and see a one-off showcase of spoken word poetry from Angry Sam, Poetcurious, Keith Jarrett and Benny Diction, performing poems about Hackney, London and life from 6:45-7:15.
Free Admission