Civil War hip hop

[Dusty Merritt]

Via Kevin Levin's Civil War Mermory blog: hip hop as a tool for teaching the Civil War.

I won't editorialize; just check out "Flocabulary" and see for yourself. I don't think this is supposed to be a joke. Which makes it even funnier.

I think Lincoln's rap is my favorite:

I’m Abraham Lincoln, what y’all thinking?
I’m from Illinois, you illin’ boy, North rich like cha-ching.
All slave states think that they’re going to secede?
like the Fugitive Slave Act, running away ain’t easy.
A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand
like Betsy Ross trying to climb on Uncle Sam’s hands.
I said I wasn’t gonna mess with your slavery,
but the South didn’t buy it, they were hating me.
I switched reasons to fight from Union to slavery
like Bush, Iraq’s empty of WMDs.
Emancipation Proclamation made France like me.
Who needs friends, Jefferson Davis? You have me as an enemy.
Who do you have? Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee?
I’ve got U.S. Grant and Sherman’s March to the Sea.
I wanted to be soft of the Confederacy like Huggies,
but after Booth shot me, nobody wanted to hug me…

BTW, it's endorsed by Howard Zinn :sarcastic

[Hank Trent]

Re: Civil War hip hop

Oh my. The music doesn't play on my computer, but the lyrics are there. John C. Calhoun's is my favorite just because I don't think I've ever encountered a pro-slavery rapper before. Nat Turner, though, fits right into the gangsta culture. I think they could've done better with his life--it's got all the elements of a rap song.

Knowing the facts, then seeing them laid out in lyrics like this, is hilarious. I'm not so sure it would work the other way, though. There's so much context to each phrase. Are kids going to feel it's not a chore to learn so much just to understand a line in a mediocre song?

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net