Hip-hop, through its wordplay, wit and ingenuity, has helped to transform language over the past 50 years, bringing the Black vernacular’s vibrancy to the world.

In “How Hip-Hop Changed the English Language Forever,” Miles Marshall Lewis unpacks five words to demonstrate rap’s unique linguistic influence. Here, using songs by Spoonie Gee, Lil Wayne and others, Mr. Marshall Lewis traces the way a new meaning for “dope” moved from rap records to common lexicon:

Consider “dope,” which apparently originated in the 19th century from the Dutch doop, which means “dipping sauce.” In 1909, “dope” was employed to describe the “thick treacle-like preparation used in opium smoking,” per the Oxford English Dictionary. But “dope” also had another meaning: a stupid person. In the wider culture, stereotypes of Black people as being unintelligent still endured, so it was an act of radical reclamation when, in the 1980s, rappers began to use “dope” to refer to superlative music, lyrics, fashion or anything else considered praiseworthy.

Hip-hop made “dope” — and also the genre at large — the arbiter of cool. And unlike similar inversions like “sick” or “bomb,” its pop-cultural usage as a synonym for “outstanding” persists into the present day.

Have students read Mr. Marshall Lewis’s interactive and ask them to reflect on the many ways hip-hop has shaped how they communicate: How has it affected how you and your peers speak? Are there words and slang you regularly use that come from rap and hip-hop culture?

Then, invite students to analyze a word or phrase popularized through rap and hip-hop, using Mr. Marshall Lewis’s piece as a model.

Source: New York Times Learning Network

Students to try their own hand at D.J.ing, beatmaking and M.C.ing.

A good place for students to start the fun (but perhaps daunting) task might be to choose a favorite rap song and analyze it as a model: What makes it so memorable, catchy, danceable or moving? What do they notice about the beat, the rhymes, the hook or the chorus?

For inspiration and practical tips, students can watch The Times’s Diary of a Song episode “‘No Pen, No Pad’: The Unlikely Way Rap Is Written Today,” or check out these YouTube videos on how Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Eminem, and J. Cole write their raps. They can also view these videos with Dr. Dre on making beats and Grandmaster Flash on D.J.ing.

Students are invited to create their own original rap and share it with the class.

Source: New York Times Learning Network