In my African American Experince class we are teaching a unit on teh African American oral tradition. One aspect of oral tradition that I will be presenting will be on the history of rap music and the roles that it has played and the purposes that it serves for African Americans. Once again I am not the most technologically incluined but I felt that it would be best to let rap tell its own story through lyrics of integral records over teh course of its 25 year history. I was fortunate enough to have a fraternity brother who had a huge library of hip hip music from the birth up to more recent tracks of today. He showed my how to loop the music, fade in and out from song to song so I could get the portion of each song that I wanted to help best tell the story. Being able to mix the songs in chronological order, cutting the lyrics and picking up with another song that completes sentences, allowed students to show the interconnectedness of hip hip music and its ability to tell teh story of a people. Presenting various eras of hip hop will allow the students to better understand how rap music serves as a form entertainmentas well as a vehicle for social political consciousness. Because the studnets are immersed in hip hop culture daily in tehis age of technology, using this type of technology to burn, and stream music to use as a teaching tool will have the students feelt that they are learning culturally relevant material in through a meaningful instructional method. I'm looking forward to presenting this information because I can show off my music "cutting" skills and teach the students something they will be highly intriugued by.