Language of Poverty? or Poetry?

Before I begin, I must highly recommend this book!
Decoded,  by Jay-Z

As an avid hip hop head and a reader of anything I can get my hands on- I give it 2 thumbs way up.
Read it for your own enlightenment or just for fun; if you love Jay, have your ipod ready to bump the songs as you read along with his analysis of his own lyrics. And, if you are a teacher, bring it into your classroom. Put it into a context- you will not disappoint.

Recently a colleague expressed her distaste with comments made by other teachers at an English Department meeting. I couldn't attend, but she filled me in during a quick lunch.
English Department meeting conversation went something like this:
         "Our students' vocabulary isn't as good as it used to be," claims one teacher.
         "It's all that darned hip-hop music," suggests another. "They listen to all those hip-hop dudes and it weakens their vocabulary."
         "Ah, yes, it's the language of poverty seeping into our language," another quips.
They reach a consensus that " these hip-hop dudes" are responsible for this elusive "language of poverty" and the meeting progresses.

hmm... besides the inherent ignorance in the claims, I have other problems. The beauty of language, like any other aspect of culture, is that not only is it true to its environment, but it evolves. I feel as English teachers, we should all be in agreement on this notion. Zora Neal Hurston's language is riddled with colloquialisms and regional dialect that may be troubling for some readers, but overall add a richness and a sincerity- and isn't this one of the reasons why we love her so? Our beloved Shakespeare created thousands of new words- words that could have easily been pushed aside as doggerel, but we use them today. Some of his gifts were words like "dwindle," "frugal," gloomy," and "hurry".


Writers, which is what many of these influential "hip-hop dudes" are, partake in the creation and evolution of our language, whether stiff teachers like it or not, and our students pick up on it simply by being products of our environment. It is the writer's job to report, to record, to express. There is a value in this idea before we even consider the content. To ignore it, to snub it, or to shake a dismissive hand its way is the equivalent of living on an island and clipping the ropes of your only boat; eventually, your resources will dwindle and you'll die. Our existence and our intellectual growth is predicated not only on our ability to adapt, but also on our ability to work and move in this world together.


I'm afraid that meeting was missing an important voice- a voice that is often silenced in academia. The language of hip-hop is one that teachers, especially English teachers, cannot push aside. The language of hip-hop is singularly one of the most influential languages of our time. The language of hip-hop helped define a generation, helped create a voice for a large group of the voiceless, and began carving the path for a necessary untold American story. For Jay-Z it's the voice of the hustler, but I see it as the voice of a large portion black America. I view many hip-hop artists as poets, and to ignore them in schools would be to ignore a poetic movement.

I'd say it's time for everyone else to catch up. It's not a weakening of vocabulary that's the problem, it's our inability, in academia, to keep up with the times.

I think Jay-Z's interview at the NY Public Library demonstrates this friction of different worlds rubbing against each other, which is what my Department meeting showed as well. As Jay-Z sits between Cornell West and Paul Holdengräber, we can see this clearly. Both Jay and Holdengräber work to understand each other with a gentle acknowledgement of their own ignorance and appreciation of their differences-

perhaps not a bad way to look at "hip-hop" language in school.


Watch this interview. Read the book.
It's important; it says more in words and in picture than I could ever say.