Hip-hop will soon be accepted as an important form of music in America. The Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. has decided to create a hip-hop exhibition. Rappers and DJs will be alongside the greats from classical, jazz and folk music. The museum’s collection of hip-hop objects should trace the music’s inner-city origins in the Bronx in the 1970s to the present day. The exhibition will be called “Hip-Hop Won't Stop: the Beat, the Rhymes, the Life”. It will take over five years and two million dollars to gather enough material to showcase hip-hop’s roots.

The museum plans to work with many hip-hop artists and the music channel MTV. Smithsonian spokeswoman Valeska Hilbig said: “Hip-hop was born in New York but it’s now a global phenomenon….It’s here to stay, and it’s part of American culture, just like jazz is part of American history.” Rappers and DJs from the early days, such as Grandmaster Flash, DJ Kool and Afrika Bambaataa have promised to donate records, turntables, posters and a “boom box” to the collection. Gangsta rap legend Ice-T expressed his happiness with the project and said he would send anyone interested in hip-hop to the museum.

WARM-UPS

1. HIP-HOP: In pairs / groups, talk about hip-hop. When did you first hear it? What do you think of it? Write down three words to describe hip-hop. Share them with other students.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words are most interesting and which are most boring.

Soon / music / America / exhibitions / classical music / jazz / origins / rhymes / roots / MTV / global phenomena / museums / turntables / boom boxes / legends

Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

3. GENRES: Tell each what you think of the following music genres:

Hip-hop Rock Blues Jazz Reggae

Pop Folk Country and Western Grunge Other

4. EXHIBITIONS: In pairs / groups, put the following in order of which you would like to see at an exhibition:

______ The history of hip-hop ______ Dinosaurs ______ The history of your town ______ Postage stamps

______ Leonardo Da Vinci ______ Modern inventions ______ Balloons ______ Photography

5. HIP-HOP STARTERS: With your partner(s), finish the following sentence beginnings:

1. Hip-hop is _______________________________________________________.
2. Hip-hop should be _________________________________________________.
3. Hip-hop cannot ___________________________________________________.
4. Hip-hop can never _________________________________________________.
5. Hip-hop must _____________________________________________________.
6. Hip-hop always ___________________________________________________.

6. MUSEUM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word “museum”. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	Hip-hop music has finished and will soon become a part of history.	T / F
b.	A famous U.S. museum will hold a hip-hop exhibition.	T / F
c.	Hip-hop started in Los Angeles, California.	T / F
d.	Officials said it would take five weeks to gather enough exhibits.	T / F
e.	The museum plans to work with many different hip-hop artists.	T / F
f.	Hip-hop is almost a global phenomenon.	T / F
g.	Famous artists have pledged a boom box to the exhibition.	T / F
h.	Famous rapper Ice T thinks the exhibition is a great idea.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

a.	accepted	beginnings
b.	form	stated
c.	alongside	record players
d.	origins	category
e.	gather	give
f.	channel	collect
g.	global	recognized
h.	donate	worldwide
i.	turntables	station
j.	expressed	next to

3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

a.	Hip-hop will soon be accepted as	to the present day
b.	be alongside the greats	showcase hip-hop’s roots
c.	trace the music’s inner-city	but it’s now a global phenomenon
d.	…the 1970s	in hip-hop to the museum
e.	gather enough material to	from the early days
f.	Hip-hop was born in New York	origins
g.	it’s part of American culture,	turntables, posters and a boom box
h.	Rappers and DJs	from classical, jazz and folk music
i.	promised to donate records,	just like jazz
j.	he would send anyone interested	an important form of music

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words in the column on the right into the gaps in the text.

Hip-hop is history at American museum

Hip-hop will soon be __________ as an important __________ of music in America. The Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. has decided to __________ a hip-hop exhibition. Rappers and DJs will be alongside the __________ from classical, jazz and folk music. The museum’s collection of hip-hop objects should __________ the music’s inner-city origins in the Bronx in the 1970s to the __________ day. The exhibition will be called “Hip-Hop Won't Stop: the Beat, the Rhymes, the Life”. It will take over five years and two million dollars to __________ enough material to showcase hip-hop’s __________.		create trace roots accepted present form gather greats
The museum __________ to work with many hip-hop artists and the music __________ MTV. Smithsonian spokeswoman Valeska Hilbig said: “Hip-hop was __________ in New York but it’s now a global phenomenon….It’s here to stay, and it’s part of American culture, just like jazz is __________ of American history.” Rappers and DJs from the __________ days, such as Grandmaster Flash, DJ Kool and Afrika Bambaataa have promised to __________ records, turntables, posters and a “boom box” to the collection. Gangsta rap __________ Ice-T expressed his happiness with the project and said he would send anyone __________ in hip-hop to the museum.		part legend channel donate born interested plans early

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Hip-hop is history at American museum

Hip-hop will soon be __________ as an important form of music in America. The Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. has decided to create a hip-hop __________. Rappers and DJs will be alongside the ________ from classical, jazz and folk music. The museum’s collection of hip-hop objects should ________ the music’s inner-city origins in the Bronx in the 1970s to the present day. The exhibition will be ________ “Hip-Hop Won't Stop: the Beat, the Rhymes, the Life”. It will take over five years and two million dollars to ________ enough material to showcase hip-hop’s roots.

The museum plans to work with many hip-hop artists and the music ________ MTV. Smithsonian ____________ Valeska Hilbig said: “Hip-hop was born in New York but it’s now a global ____________ ….It’s here to stay, and it’s part of American culture, just like jazz is part of American history.” Rappers and DJs from ____ ______ days, such as Grandmaster Flash, DJ Kool and Afrika Bambaataa have promised to _________ records, turntables, posters and a “boom box” to the collection. Gangsta rap legend Ice-T _________ his happiness with the project and said he would send anyone interested in hip-hop to the museum.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘hip’ and ‘hop’.

• Share your findings with your partners.
• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. STUDENT “HIP-HOP” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about hip-hop and museums.

• Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers.
• Go back to your original partner / group and compare your findings.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

soon greats objects present rhymes gather

plans global history promised donate send

DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
2. What do you think of hip-hop music?
3. What do you think of hip-hop fashion and lifestyle?
4. How would you describe hip-hop to someone who had never heard it?
5. Why does hip-hop sometimes have a bad image?
6. What do you think about hip-hop being exhibited in a famous American museum?
7. Do you prefer American hip-hop or that in your own language?
8. Who do you think is the greatest hip-hop artist?
9. How do you think hip-hop has changed society?
10. Would you like to go to the exhibition?

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. What’s the difference between hip-hop and rap?
3. Why do you think lots of older people don’t like hip-hop?
4. In what ways is hip-hop different from pop and rock?
5. What’s the difference between a boom box and a stereo?
6. Do you think hip-hop will one day be seen to be as important as jazz?
7. What do you think of hip-hop love songs?
8. Do you think hip-hop will ever become mainstream and that something more original will replace it?
9. What’s (who’s) your favorite hip-hop song / movie / artist?
10. Did you like this discussion?

AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

1. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
2. Was there a question you didn’t like?
3. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
4. What did you like talking about?
5. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

MUSICAL PHENOMENA: With your partner(s), discuss how the following musical genres have changed society. It might be a good idea to change the genre to ones that have changed your society.

	Society before	Society after
Rock ‘n’ Roll
60s
House / Electro
Punk
Grunge
Disco
Hip-hop

Give a presentation to other groups about what you discussed.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find information about the Smithsonian Institute and hip-hop. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson. Did you all find out similar things?

3. ARTIST: Make a poster about a hip-hop artist. Explain his/her contribution to hip-hop and/or rap. Show your poster to your classmates in the next lesson. Which artist did you learn most about?

4. HIP-HOP: Write an essay describing your feelings about hip-hop. How does the music make you feel when you hear it? Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Did everyone write about similar feelings?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. F

b. T

c. F

d. F

e. T

f. F

g. T

h. T

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	accepted	recognized
b.	form	category
c.	alongside	next to
d.	origins	beginnings
e.	gather	collect
f.	channel	station
g.	global	worldwide
h.	donate	give
i.	turntables	record players
j.	expressed	stated

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	Hip-hop will soon be accepted as	an important form of music
b.	be alongside the greats	from classical, jazz and folk music
c.	trace the music’s inner-city	origins
d.	…the 1970s	to the present day
e.	gather enough material to	showcase hip-hop’s roots
f.	Hip-hop was born in New York	but it’s now a global phenomenon
g.	it’s part of American culture,	just like jazz
h.	Rappers and DJs	from the early days
i.	promised to donate records,	turntables, posters and a boom box
j.	he would send anyone interested	in hip-hop to the museum

GAP FILL:

Hip-hop is history at American museum

Hip-hop will soon be accepted as an important form of music in America. The Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. has decided to create a hip-hop exhibition. Rappers and DJs will be alongside the greats from classical, jazz and folk music. The museum’s collection of hip-hop objects should trace the music’s inner-city origins in the Bronx in the 1970s to the present day. The exhibition will be called “Hip-Hop Won't Stop: the Beat, the Rhymes, the Life”. It will take over five years and two million dollars to gather enough material to showcase hip-hop’s roots.

The museum plans to work with many hip-hop artists and the music channel MTV. Smithsonian spokeswoman Valeska Hilbig said: “Hip-hop was born in New York but it’s now a global phenomenon….It’s here to stay, and it’s part of American culture, just like jazz is part of American history.” Rappers and DJs from the early days, such as Grandmaster Flash, DJ Kool and Afrika Bambaataa have promised to donate records, turntables, posters and a “boom box” to the collection. Gangsta rap legend Ice-T expressed his happiness with the project and said he would send anyone interested in hip-hop to the museum.

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