Content area
Full Text
Decoding Teacher and Student Identity with Jay-Z
If you're havin' girl problems i feel bad for you son
I got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one
-Jay-Z
So begins "99 Problems" by Jay- Z, arguably the most famous rap song in the genre's relatively short history. Were you to gather a group of high school English teachers to start listing the potential problems with teaching this song, or the corresponding video, you may well list 99 problems before the four-minute track was over. While such a discussion may grow to include teachers and students who would champion the song, it would likely not be possible- or at least practical-to hear from the artist himself. This has changed. Here is a part of Jay-Z's commentary on his famous lyrics: "'99 Problems' is a good song to use to talk about the difference between the art of rap and the artlessness of some of its critics. It's a song that takes real events and reimagines them. It's a narrative with a purposeful ambiguous ending. And the hook itself-99 problems but a bitch ain't one-is a joke, bait for lazy critics. At no point in the song am I talking about a girl" (Decoded 56).
Sean Carter-otherwise known as Jay-Z-is one of the most acclaimed rap artists in the world today, and he has written a book, Decoded, that is part autobiography, part history lesson and a passionate tribute to his chosen profession. I believe that it also offers secondary English teachers a space to enter for exploring identity discourse that will benefit our students and our profession.
Decoded offers not only the often missing retort to those who may question the artistic merit of hiphop but also a rejoinder to every student who has ever presented only stony silence and a longing glance at an iPod when confronted with a challenging poem in an English classroom. If these two ends would seem to be at odds, consider Jay-Z's words about the depth of rap music:
The music is meant to be provocative- which doesn't mean it's necessarily obnoxious, but it is (mostly) confrontational, and more than that, it's dense with multiple meanings. Great rap should have all kinds of unresolved layers that you don't necessarily figure...