While we await the arrival of Wu-Tang mainstay GZA's new album Dark Matter, the rapper is planning to explore dark matter in a more literal sense, as he's announced plans to launch a new physics education program throughout New York.
According to the New York Times [via FACT], GZA has joined forces with Columbia University professor Christopher Emdin and rap lyric site Rap Genius to test out a new science program in ten schools across New York.
The idea is to use rap rhymes and cyphers to explain scientific principles to students. Rather than write tests, the students will write rhymes, and the best of those will be placed on the Rap Genius site.
"You never know. This could turn into something in the future as big as the spelling bee," GZA said.
"A hip-hop cypher is the perfect pedagogical moment, where someone's at the helm of a conversation, and then one person stops and another picks up. There's equal turns at talking," Emdin added. "When somebody has a great line, the whole audience makes a 'whoo,' which is positive reinforcement."
According to the New York Times [via FACT], GZA has joined forces with Columbia University professor Christopher Emdin and rap lyric site Rap Genius to test out a new science program in ten schools across New York.
The idea is to use rap rhymes and cyphers to explain scientific principles to students. Rather than write tests, the students will write rhymes, and the best of those will be placed on the Rap Genius site.
"You never know. This could turn into something in the future as big as the spelling bee," GZA said.
"A hip-hop cypher is the perfect pedagogical moment, where someone's at the helm of a conversation, and then one person stops and another picks up. There's equal turns at talking," Emdin added. "When somebody has a great line, the whole audience makes a 'whoo,' which is positive reinforcement."