Rhythm Rhyme Results has tracked actual results with test groups; there’s one at Epiphany School in Dorchester where seventh-graders are especially feeling the Nate Dogg–esque “How Do I (Work With Fractions)?” But to Kabir, who tests his material with his eighth-grade elective students, his work melting cheese over broccoli-flavored curricula — as well as his seminars, lectures, and other for-profit endeavors — is about more than just simplifying state-mandated lessons on everything from Earth Day to US history and lab safety. “A lot of what I do with kids truly helps me develop as an artist. Kids see rappers on television and think that everybody has to rap about certain things and make party music, but I’m trying to dispel those notions. The authenticity in hip-hop is almost lost because the media makes it like everyone should strive to be a star whom people shower praise on. You need to give kids a reason to see that there’s something wrong with that, because they’re not going to otherwise.”
KABIR + ELEMENTAL ZAZEN + GNOTES + THE MACROTONES + BRIX & GEN STEELE + BURNT MD | Middle East upstairs, 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge | August 29 at 9 pm | $10-$13 | 617.864.EAST or www.mideastclub.com
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From ’Ye to mixtapes, Chairmen of the boards, War of the words, More 
- From ’Ye to mixtapes
To get the full taste of where hip-hop is at, you also have to seek out the unofficial releases, the mixtapes, which often have a bigger impact than the official albums.
- Chairmen of the boards
Not unlike Swedish, Tagalog, and Esperanto, music is a language, with its own conjugations and (lewdly) dangling participles.
- War of the words
50 Cent has a long history of initiating beefs before he releases a new album.
- Top 10 Hyphy Videos of all time
With Warner Bros. snapping up the cream of the Yay Area rap scene , TVT capitalizing on Hyphy Hitz , and even indie-rock geeks learning how to ghost ride the whip , we figured it's high time to take a quick look back at how we got here. So get your stunna shades on and get ready to go dumb: it's the top 10 hyphy videos of all time!
- Bay Area beats
Although Oakland’s hyphy movement got its name from a bastardization of the word “hyper,” at this point that could just as easily stand for “hype.”
- Dead, or immortal?
When Chuck D challenges the status quo, a bunch of fortysomethings nod their heads, but Nas can put the young rappers on the defensive.
- Diversified incoming
It’s a testament to the strength of hip-hop, as the medium enters its third decade, that 2006 would see such a wide range of sounds so well represented, from commercial anthems to abstract beat tapes.
- Larger than life
Although predictions that Jay-Z, in his comeback, would pull in the biggest sales numbers of the year were proved wrong (at 680,000, his Def Jam release Kingdom Come ranks third behind Rascal Flatts and Justin Timberlake in 2006), that’s hardly the story worth telling.
- Birth of the DVDJ
Much of the hype swirling around the show was that Peanut Butter Wolf was going to "scratch" DVDs, thereby inventing a whole new style of performance. Slideshow: Stones Throw Anniversary Tour at the Paradise Rock Club, November 1, 2006
- JeknowwotI’msayin?
“People have this kind of problem with me,” says Lady Sovereign over the phone from her London home. “They think they know me, and they don’t know me — and it’s dis gustin ’.” Lady Sovereign, "Gatheration" (mp3)
- No success like failure
The wild, idle guessing game over the Roots’ Game Theory and OutKast’s Idlewild is finished.
- Less
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Music Features
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, Entertainment, Hip-Hop and Rap, Music, Tupac Shakur, Education, Elementary and High School Education, Harvard University, Mr. Lif, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Elementary Education, Less
