Many children love hip hop but they may not understand Shakespeare but if you combine the two then their knowledge of the English poet and playwright will increase. Taking Hip Hop Shakespeare across England, UK rapper Akala is a true role model for young inner city kids.The idea of the class is to incorporate Shakespeare and Hip Hop together, to illustrate that the two still have similar concepts – such as themes, language and rhythm. To understand how it works: Akala would read a line from Shakespeare or from a Hip Hop song and ask the kids to guess its origin. This task even had me buffed.
Akala would then hand over a Shakespeare script and ask the kids to rap two line each, which was pulled of a as theatrical play. Throughout the class Akala stayed focused and ensured the kids did not mention anything negative and if they did, Akala was on their case. The workshop ended with the kids performing their own masterpiece they created themselves.
After attending my first Hip Hop Shakespeare workshop I was impressed with the participation from the young ones. With many of them having no experience of MC’ing, they would of had you fooled by the end of the workshop.
During the course of the workshop kids were interacting and talking to each other and really getting into character.
However, there was this particular kid that did not want to take part, but was happy to follow the cameraman round.
To find out when the next workshop is happening, click here
Words by Kat K