Rap as Poetry - T Swizzle saves the day!

 This was tough, much more difficult than I anticipated. For some (crazy) reason I thought I would be able to find clean, current rap to share with my 4/5 classes while we discussed the age old question: is Rap Poetry? WRONG! Crazy wrong. Even the "clean" versions were full of actual bleeps or wildly inappropriate phrases.

After venting to my daughters (16 and 12) my oldest  looked at me and casually said "You should play that Taylor Swift rap." oh yeah, that Taylor Swift rap. I actually have heard that, looonggg ago. My younger daughter immediately backed up her sister and I knew without listening that it would be great.

And it is! Current, catchy, APPROPRIATE, funny and engaging. In the middle of a poetry month I can ask for nothing more.

There is a clip of JayZ discussing our exact question: is Rap Poetry? He makes valid points and is thoughtful in his presentation. The problem is that the song titles he discusses have titles such as "Pimping" and I don't want to discuss that with elementary kids. I would love to share this interview with my students and share JayZ's POV but that's more of a late middle school conversation.