In a TED talk video we watched earlier in this module, a man named Akala, who founded the Hip Hop Shakespeare company, eloquently highlights verses by hip hop artists and those by Shakespeare to demonstrate the things both poetic and dramatic modes have in common.
In order to participate in this discussion, you will need to rewatch Akala’s TED Talk video below.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS & INSTRUCTIONS
A) What does Akala claim hip hop and Shakespeare share in common? Answer in 3-4 complete sentences.
B) Akala raps the following Shakespeare sonnet. What is Akala trying to prove by rapping this sonnet? Explain in 3-4 sentences.
Sonnet 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
C) According to Akala, hip hop and Shakespeare share one great power. What is that power? Explain in 3-4 sentences.
Clearly label your answers A, B, C. If you number them, you will lose some points.
