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
Topics:
Music Features
, Entertainment, Hip-Hop and Rap, Music, More 
, 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 
