Flocabulary is a Brooklyn-based company that creates educational hip hop songs, videos and additional materials for students in grades K-12. Founded in 2004 by Blake Harrison and Alex Rappaport, the company takes a nontraditional approach to teaching

vocabulary A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the la ...

, United States history, math, science and other subjects by integrating content into recorded raps. Flocabulary's website features videos, lesson plans, activities and assessment or with songs. The company's name is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words As of 2015, more than 35,000 schools use Flocabulary products in the classroom. Flocabulary has been praised by rapper

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, ...

, United Nations Secretary General

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...

, and historian

Howard Zinn Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922January 27, 2010) was an American historian, playwright, philosopher, socialist thinker and World War II veteran. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, and a political sc ...

, and the company's products have been generally well received by educators and the press. However, the project has been criticized for perceived cultural inauthenticity and politically charged material in some song lyrics.

History

Blake Harrison conceived of the idea that would become Flocabulary while in high school. Inspired by hip hop artists like Outkast and

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip

, Harrison wanted to combine the easy retainability of hip hop lyrics with educational content. Harrison graduated from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universit ...

with a degree in English. He then moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, where he met Alex Rappaport, a music graduate of

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learnin ...

. Harrison shared his idea with Rappaport, and in 2004 the two made a demo recording of two songs with a combined total of 80 SAT words. Within two months Sparknotes made the songs available for free streaming, and soon afterward Harrison and Rappaport set up a Flocabulary website. Cider Mill Press published Flocabulary books and distributed them through

Sterling Publishing Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. is a publisher of a broad range of subject areas, with multiple imprints and more than 5,000 titles in print. Founded in 1949 by David A. Boehm, Sterling also publishes books for a number of brands, including AA ...

to sell the book at Barnes & Noble and Borders stores. ''The Hip Hop Approach to SAT Vocabulary'' sold 10,000 copies in its first year of publication and was reprinted five times. In 2005, Flocabulary went on a promotional tour of concerts at schools. 9thWonderAtPaidDues-2008-resized

By early 2006, Flocabulary began self-publishing its products. Harrison and Rappaport raised $50,000 from family and friends and began visiting schools and education conferences to sell their products. Flocabulary entered into a contest for startup businesses at

Columbia Business School Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and is one of the oldest busin ...

and won a social value award. After participating in a collaborative business advice program with Columbia students, Harrison and Rappaport decided to stop self-publishing and returned to Cider Mill. Flocabulary raised $110,000 from investors and hired 30 sales representatives. In September 2007, a line of Flocabulary products was released called "Word Up" for teaching

standardized test A standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or "standard", manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored in a predete ...

vocabulary. Word Up! proved successful and helped to double their annual revenue in 2008 to $600,000. Flocabulary's 2007 release ''Shakespeare Is Hip-Hop'' featured musical and lyrical contributions from a number of hip hop artists, including

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

-winner

9th Wonder Patrick Denard Douthit (born January 15, 1975),
better known as 9th Wonder, is a In 2008, Harrison and Rappaport created The Week in Rap, a weekly series of songs that has covered current events including the 2008 United States presidential election, 2008 presidential election and the results of California Proposition 8. By 2009, Flocabulary made $900,000 in annual revenue. Rappaport says that Flocabulary has made access to its products a priority over profitability, saying, "We wanted to reach the kids who might never get to the SATs, whose families weren't buying books at Barnes & Noble." According to Rappaport, Flocabulary has made "social responsibility a core value f the companyand never etit get overshadowed by our revenue goals," and, "we're trying to make this as affordable as possible, because unfortunately the schools with money aren't necessarily the schools that need Flocabulary. So we're trying to work with some government organizations and other charities to really get these into the schools that need them." Flocabulary's non-profitable social projects have included charitable donations and outreach to underprivileged schools. In 2016, Flocabulary partnered with the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

to produce a video promoting the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals for improving the world by 2030. In September 2010, the use of Flocabulary was postponed in

Oklahoma City Public Schools The Oklahoma City Public Schools, abbreviated OKCPS, is a multicultural public school district serving most of the urban area of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It is the second largest primary and secondary education district in the state of Oklahoma ...

after several teachers voiced concern over some of the lyrics in the program. The lyrics to the song "Old Dead White Men" drew complaints about referring to the

Founding Fathers of the United States The Founding Fathers of the United States, known simply as the Founding Fathers or Founders, were a group of late-18th-century American revolutionary leaders who united the Thirteen Colonies, oversaw the war for independence from Great Britai ...

as dead white males, a term used to criticize perceived disproportionate emphasis on the contributions of historical European males. The lyrics to "O.D.W.M." also compare

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame a ...

's policy of Indian removal to

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

Final Solution The Final Solution (german: die Endlösung, ) or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question (german: Endlösung der Judenfrage, ) was a Nazi plan for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews during World War II. The "Final Solution t ...

. Rappaport responded that the materials were meant to keep the students engaged and promote discussion, but the company has since replaced the song on its site.

Tucker Carlson Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson (born May 16, 1969) is an American television host, Conservatism in the United States, conservative Pundit, political commentator and writer who has hosted the nightly political talk show ''Tucker Carlson Tonight ...

said Flocabulary was a "get-educated-quick cheme that disregards historical "context or accuracy", and said "there are still no independent studies that demonstrate rapping about social studies is any more educational than rapping about sex or gunfights." By June 2016, when Flocabulary raised a $1.5 million convertible note from Rethink Education, the company had produced more than 725 educational rap videos.

Atlanta Public Schools Atlanta Public Schools (APS) is a school district based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is run by the Atlanta Board of Education with superintendent Dr. Lisa Herring. The system has an active enrollment of 54,956 students, attending a ...

partnered with Flocabulary in 2016 for a series of history rap battles where students wrote and performed their own rhymes about historical figures inspired by Flocabulary and the Broadway musical '' Hamilton''.

Reception

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with ...

notes that, " locabulary'scatchy songs hook K-12 students in a way that textbooks can't." A reporter for ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' visited classrooms where Flocabulary was being used and remarked that, "When third-grade teachers asked questions about the videos and vocabulary, the problem wasn’t getting children to raise their hands, but to put them down." A reporter for '' FastCompany'' writes that "As a lesson supplement, it gets the job done —not every memory tool inspires comments like "JAMMIN" on YouTube."

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. ...

called a series of Flocabulary videos created for Black History Month, "the coolest way to teach." Academics

and Cornel West endorsed ''Hip-Hop U.S. History''. Menchville High reported that use of Flocabulary increased SAT scores from 420 to 477, though the principal said the school can't verify to what extent Flocabulary did or didn't have an influence. A study conducted across six US states by former International Reading Association president Roger Farr demonstrated improvement in reading and writing skills among middle schools students who studied with Flocabulary. Proficiency increased by more than 20 percent.

has expressed support for the company's products. When Flocabulary artists Ike Ramos and Nitty Scott performed at the United Nations for the International Day of Peace, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon praised the performance as "genius." Jack Rosenthal of ''The New York Times'' says that Flocabulary is "one example of how Web sites have latched onto

mnemonic A mnemonic ( ) device, or memory device, is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval (remembering) in the human memory for better understanding. Mnemonics make use of elaborative encoding, retrieval cues, and image ...

s as ways to teach SAT words to high-school students." In November 2014, Entrepreneur.com reporter Laura Entis called a video about credit cards in Flocabulary's financial literacy series “direct, clear and insanely catchy.”

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

notes that, "One of Flocabulary's best qualities is that the songs sound like real rap songs, not an embarrassing facsimile that's obviously for educational purposes. The backing beats and samples are catchy and memorable, and videos contain a fun combo of stock footage, original animation, and, for The Week in Rap, current news clips." In the book ''Slam School: Learning Through Conflict in the Hip-Hop and Spoken Word Classroom'' Bronwen Low, while praising Flocabulary and similar programs for incorporating hip hop into American schools, argues that Flocabulary is culturally inauthentic and refers to Flocabulary's methods as a gimmick. Similarly, while the book ''The Anthology of Rap'' supports ''Shakespeare Is Hip Hop'' as an "effective and entertaining ool, the author said Flocabulary failed to "illuminate rap's distinct poetic tradition."

Notes

External links

Flocabulary
* {{Good article 2004 establishments in New York City Educational publishing companies of the United States Test preparation companies Hip hop Companies established in 2004

History

Reception

Notes

Further reading

External links