To the Class of 2015: ‘18 years in Rap’

If you’re still looking forward to an emotional rendition of Pomp and Circumstance or even if you’ve already taken off for beach week in the outermost banks of North Carolina, the hip-hop poets at Flocabulary want to confer upon graduating high school students a very special gift:  18 years in Rap.

From the debut of Harry Potter in 1997 to the launching of Facebook  in 2004 to the earthquake in Kathmandu earlier this year, the pictures inspire as the lyrics recall what it’s been like to grow up from one century to the next in a culture driven by the internet and a world diminished by hate:

“The world changed the hour,

The two planes hit the twin towers.

9/11 caused almost 3,000 coffins,

US invaded Afghanistan hunting bin Ladin.”

18 Years in Rap comes to you from the same guys who do the weekly current events project, The Week in Rap.  They also maintain an online library of hip-hop songs and videos for grades K-12, used by over 35,000 schools, on everything from vocabulary to life skills.  The Flocabulary team includes current and former educators, musicians, video artists, sound engineers and school administrators.

Flocabulary promises to be around all summer looking for more headlines and rhymes.  But in the meantime, they offer the following:

“Thanks for looking back at the last 18.

In the next 18, what’s going to come true?

The future headlines are up to you!”

And they most definitely are.