[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat) ~ Digable Planets
You have no idea the debt of gratitude I owe Digable Planets.
I was a sleepless teacher of Jr. High urban Cleveland remedial readers, with a cranky six month old baby at home.
Those kids called me Mrs. Corny instead of Mrs. Kearney.
Until I busted out my secret weapon: music.
Digable Planets, Coltrane, Sam Cooke, A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots. From that day on, I had them.
The highest achiever in the group read at a 3rd grade level. So I read their required reading list aloud to them.
There would be none of those damned book reports or lame dioramas for this crowd. That crap was for the AP kids. Our culminating project at the end of each novel was a soundtrack — set this book to MUSIC.
Damn. The results made me weep. And got me called onto the carpet by my principal more than once.
Music revealed more about their comprehension than they were capable of writing on paper. Soon there were elaborately illustrated liner notes cradling those precious soundtracks. And soon, those brilliant kids began a small business making custom t-shirts to accompany each book/soundtrack.
It was the most emotionally wrenching and satisfying school year I ever had. And it was my last.
Digable Planets, thanks for showing up this morning.
