What happens when you replace a test with a piece of poetry? A master class with a mixing session with Harry Belafonte? A final paper with a final collective performance at the Nuyorican?
You get the most Gallatin-y course ever.
Professor Bryonn Bain and his “Microphone Fiends: Hip Hop and Spoken Word” students, known collectively as the Mic Fiends, presented their works and released their mix tape (“The Heater”) as rappers, poets, musicians, and artists.
“I’ve heard of hip hop courses at NYU and this is the first one that involved performing and background history…A lot of people came in with backgrounds as rappers, others as seasoned poets, some people with nothing but an interest in hip hop, and everyone has cultivated their skills,” Nick Callas, the night’s emcee, said.
The night’s performances included a few hilarious raps, some slam poetry, and even an on-the-spot groove machine rendition of “A’int No Sunshine When She’s Gone.” Despite the variety, they were all steeped in social and political themes.
“The class is about the diversity of learning and really about unlearning and defamiliarizing the familiar,” Meera al Sayegh said. The Gallatin student performed a song and a spoken word piece about the gentrification of the Lower East Side.
For some, the course was about cultivating creative skills. For others, it was about learning about hip hop’s history. For most, though, it seemed like a juncture between creative activism and their life’s passions.
“What’s more powerful than hip hop? It’s how I will affect kids as a future educator…I learned a deeper appreciation of hip hop and its history and its roots are much deeper than what media portrays it as. It’s not all flashing lights and diamond rings,” Nancy Tischler said.
Professor Bain’s story of racial profiling made waves when he wrote “Walking While Black” for the Village Voice and sat down with 60 Minutes to tell his story. He has taught at Rikers Island Prison, Columbia, The New Scool, LIU, and Harvard. He’s currently working with NYU to facilitate a prison education program.
“I think part of the power of verse is that it creates a space for folks who are not heard in other ways,” Bain said. “It’s like every gender class race at NYU…The students in this class are definitely highly informed about the power of hip hop and spoken word as a tool for more than just self glorification.”
Proceeds for “The Heater” went towards the “Abolish The Box” campaign, which seeks to remove criminal history screenings from college admissions processes in the hopes of educating formerly incarcerated individuals.
[Image via the author]
