Adam Bradley, author of "The Anthology of Rap" and co-author of Common's memoir "One Day It'll All Make Sense", discusses the elements and poetics of Hip-Hop rhyme and style Tuesday night at Alderson Auditorium. Bradley's lecture and books delve into why rap and hip-hop artists are just as eloquent of poets as Shakespeare or Poe.
JAIN TRIMBLE/KANSAN
IAN CUMMINGS
icummings@kansan.com
Jay-Z and Sylvia Plath, Shakespeare and Big Daddy Kane, Ralph Ellison and Kanye West. On Thursday night, the names mixed together indiscriminately.
Adam Bradley, an associate professor of English at the University of Colorado-Boulder, delivered the message that rap is pounding on the door of the literary establishment as part of what he called a "State of the Union of Hip Hop 2011." He was joined in Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union by a panel of guest speakers that included University faculty and staff as he discussed rap, writing a book with Common and the structure of hip-hop.
Bradley, the author of "The Anthology of Rap" and co-author of Common's memoir, "One Day It'll All Make Sense", presented his
view that traditional poetry could no longer afford to ignore rap.
"KRS-One said it best," Bradley said. "Rap is something that you do, and hip-hop is something that you live."
rhyme and wordplay. Rap is an extension of the classical rhetorical tradition, he said, of poetic storytelling.
And rap and hip-hop, he said,
are not synonymous.
The arguments for why rap is not poetry, according to Bradley, depend on notions that rap is profane and trapped in a suspended adolescence. Also, it is music.
Bradley broke down the parts of hip-hop for the audience which included disc jockeying, emceeing and graffiti. Rap, he said, was composed of three parts: rhythm,
"The poetry of hip-hop is a political statement." he said. "The people making rap don't necessarily look like those that judge poetry."
But just as Homer told stories through song, Bradley said, so does Jay-Z. For thousands of years, poetry and music went hand
Bradley also pointed to a declining interest in literary poems among the general public.
in hand. He questioned why they could not go together again, even if traditional poetry has gone a different direction. As to profanity, Bradley said rap reflected the world that real people live in.
Some people are reluctant to include rap in the canon of literature, Bradley said, because intellectual elites cannot control it. Rap exists outside of the systems of patronage that have traditionally supported the fine arts.
"Each one of you in this room knows someone, somewhere, who is writing a bad poem," he said.
SEE RAP PAGE 8A
CAMPUS
University reviews reporting policies
IAN CUMMINGS icummings@kansan.com
Allegations of child abuse at Penn State have moved the University to review its own policies and consider changes.
Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little announced the review in a statement Thursday. State law requiring suspicions of child abuse to be reported to authorities does not apply to university institutions, according to the chancellor.
"We are examining changes to KU's own policies which would codify that responsibility for our employees," the statement read in part.
University policies already
Kansas' mandatory reporting law requires several classes of professionals to notify law enforcement of suspicions of child abuse or neglect. The law covers physicians, dentists, nurses, hospital administrators, psychologists, social workers, alcohol and drug abuse counselors, teachers, school administrators, firefighters, police and several other professions that involve the care
require internal reporting of criminal offenses, according to Jack Martin, a spokesman for the University. These, as well as state and federal laws, apply to some categories of University employees.
ADMINISTRATION
SEE POLICY PAGE 8A
School of Medicine dean to step down
IAN CUMMINGS icummings@kansan.com
Dr. Barbara Atkinson announced Thursday plans to step down from her position as dean of the School of Medicine and executive vice chancellor of the University of Kansas Medical Center.
However, Atkinson will remain as executive vice chancellor of KUMC for another two years, when she plans to retire from that position. Atkinson wrote that she will finish work on the University of Kansas Cancer Center's application for National Cancer Institute designation and the opening of the
The search for a new dean will begin immediately, according to a statement from Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little.
School of Public Health. She will continue with efforts to increase class sizes at KUMC's campus in Kansas City, Kan., and build partnerships with health organizations in Wyandotte County.
Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little released a statement accepting Atkinson's decision and praising her work. Atkinson has served as dean since 2002 and as executive vice chancellor since 2005.
Gray-Little wrote that KUMC's National Institutes of Health ranking rose 15 places since 2006. It is now ranked 15 nationally and the faculty has doubled in size since the expansion of campuses in Wichita and Salina.
Edited by Mike Lavieri
LEOTARDS IN THE LIED
CHRIS BRONSON/KANSAN
The Lied Center hosted the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, on Saturday. For more on the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, read the story on page 4A and check out the photo gallery on Kansan.com
CRYPTOQUIPS 6A SPORTS 1B
OPINION 7A SUDOKU 6A
contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2011 The University Daily Kansan
Don't Student Union Activities' Toys for Tots campaign starts today. Toys can be dropped off at the Kansas Union.
Today's weather
Forcasts done by University students. For a more detailed forecast see page 2A.
HI: 62
L0: 37