A new musical genre has made it into the venerable halls of America’s prestigious Smithsonian Institute. Hip-hop artists will now take their place alongside the greats from classical, jazz and folk music. The museum has announced plans to embark on a definitive collection of artifacts that traces hip-hop's inner-city subculture origins in the Bronx in the 1970s to the present day. The exhibition is to be called “Hip-Hop Won't Stop: the Beat, the Rhymes, the Life”. For nearly three decades, rap artists had been plying their trade being recognized only by the millions of fans who purchased their records and attended their concerts. Officials predict it will take five years to amass enough material that will showcase hip-hop’s true roots.

The Smithsonian plans to work with a myriad of hip-hop artists and the music channel MTV. Museum 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. It’s part of the narrative we tell at the museum.” Pioneering rappers and DJs, such as Grandmaster Flash, DJ Kool and Afrika Bambaataa have promised to donate memorabilia, such as records, turntables, posters and a “boom box” to the collection. Gangsta rap legend Ice-T expressed his enthusiasm for the project, saying: “When somebody comes and asks me about my music and about hip-hop, I can say, ‘Take your …hindquarters to the museum, all right?’”

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.

Musical genres / artists / classical music / jazz / artifacts / tracing origins / rhymes / concerts / MTV / global phenomena / museums / memorabilia / boom boxes / ice

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 become a part of history.	T / F
b.	A prestigious U.S. museum will house a hip-hop exhibition.	T / F
c.	Hip-hop started in Los Angeles, California.	T / F
d.	Officials predict it will take five weeks to gather enough exhibits.	T / F
e.	The museum plans to work with a myriad of 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.	genre	chronicle
b.	venerable	exhaustive
c.	definitive	display
d.	plying their trade	sensation
e.	showcase	legs
f.	myriad	historical objects
g.	phenomenon	respected
h.	narrative	multitude
i.	memorabilia	category
j.	hindquarters	working

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

a.	made it into the venerable	subculture origins
b.	take their place	to stay
c.	traces hip-hop's inner-city	their trade
d.	rap artists had been plying	of hip-hop artists
e.	it will take five years to	alongside the greats
f.	work with a myriad	memorabilia
g.	….It’s here	amass enough material
h.	It’s part of the narrative	halls of…
i.	promised to donate	enthusiasm for the project
j.	expressed his	we tell at the museum

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

A new musical genre has ________ it into the venerable halls of America’s prestigious Smithsonian Institute. Hip-hop artists will now take their place ________ the greats from classical, jazz and folk music. The museum has announced plans to ________ on a definitive collection of ________ that traces hip-hop's inner-city subculture origins in the Bronx in the 1970s to the present day. The exhibition is to be called “Hip-Hop Won't Stop: the Beat, the ________, the Life”. For nearly three decades, rap artists had been ________ their trade being recognized only by the millions of fans who purchased their records and attended their concerts. Officials ________ it will take five years to amass enough material that will showcase hip-hop’s true ________.		embark rhymes made predict artifacts alongside roots plying
The Smithsonian plans to work with a ________ of hip-hop artists and the music channel MTV. Museum 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 part of American history. It’s part of the ________ we tell at the museum.” ________ rappers and DJs, such as Grandmaster Flash, DJ Kool and Afrika Bambaataa have promised to ________ memorabilia, such as records, turntables, posters and a “________ box” to the collection. Gangsta rap ________ Ice-T expressed his enthusiasm for the project, saying: “When somebody comes and asks me about my music and about hip-hop, I can say, ‘________ your …hindquarters to the museum, all right?’”		pioneering born take narrative legend myriad donate boom

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Hip-hop is history at American museum

A new musical genre has made it into the ___________ halls of America’s ___________ Smithsonian Institute. Hip-hop artists will now take their place ___________ the greats from classical, jazz and folk music. The museum has announced plans to embark on a ___________ collection of artifacts that traces hip-hop's inner-city ___________ origins in the Bronx in the 1970s to the present day. The exhibition is to be called “Hip-Hop Won't Stop: the Beat, the Rhymes, the Life”. For nearly three decades, rap artists had been ___________ their trade being recognized only by the millions of fans who purchased their records and attended their concerts. Officials predict it will take five years to amass enough material that will ___________ hip-hop’s true roots.

The Smithsonian plans to work with a ___________ of hip-hop artists and the music channel MTV. Museum spokeswoman 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. It’s part of the ___________ we tell at the museum.” Pioneering rappers and DJs, such as Grandmaster Flash, DJ Kool and Afrika Bambaataa have promised to donate ___________, such as records, turntables, posters and a “___________” to the collection. Gangsta rap legend Ice-T expressed his ___________ for the project, saying: “When somebody comes and asks me about my music and about hip-hop, I can say, ‘Take your ___________ to the museum, all right?’”

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:

genre greats embark plying fans amass

myriad born narrative memorabilia legend hindquarters

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 define hip-hop?
5. Why does hip-hop sometimes have a bad image?
6. What do you think about hip-hop being showcased in a prestigious 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. Will you “take your……hindquarters” 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 eventually 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 and innovative 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.	genre	category
b.	venerable	respected
c.	definitive	exhaustive
d.	plying their trade	working
e.	showcase	display
f.	myriad	multitude
g.	phenomenon	sensation
h.	narrative	chronicle
i.	memorabilia	historical objects
j.	hindquarters	legs

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	made it into the venerable	halls of…
b.	take their place	alongside the greats
c.	traces hip-hop's inner-city	subculture origins
d.	rap artists had been plying	their trade
e.	it will take five years to	amass enough material
f.	work with a myriad	of hip-hop artists
g.	….It’s here	to stay
h.	It’s part of the narrative	we tell at the museum
i.	promised to donate	memorabilia
j.	expressed his	enthusiasm for the project

GAP FILL:

Hip-hop is history at American museum

A new musical genre has made it into the venerable halls of America’s prestigious Smithsonian Institute. Hip-hop artists will now take their place alongside the greats from classical, jazz and folk music. The museum has announced plans to embark on a definitive collection of artifacts that traces hip-hop's inner-city subculture origins in the Bronx in the 1970s to the present day. The exhibition is to be called “Hip-Hop Won't Stop: the Beat, the Rhymes, the Life”. For nearly three decades, rap artists had been plying their trade being recognized only by the millions of fans who purchased their records and attended their concerts. Officials predict it will take five years to amass enough material that will showcase hip-hop’s true roots.

The Smithsonian plans to work with a myriad of hip-hop artists and the music channel MTV. Museum 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. It’s part of the narrative we tell at the museum.” Pioneering rappers and DJs, such as Grandmaster Flash, DJ Kool and Afrika Bambaataa have promised to donate memorabilia, such as records, turntables, posters and a “boom box” to the collection. Gangsta rap legend Ice-T expressed his enthusiasm for the project, saying: “When somebody comes and asks me about my music and about hip-hop, I can say, ‘Take your …hindquarters to the museum, all right?’”

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