Something about your comment got me to thinking how fun it would be if you had a blog, You should start one.

I really need to get into the Roots. I like everything I’ve ever heard from them, but I don’t actually own anything. Really need to remedy that.

I’ll be interested to hear what you think of Teddy Thompson. He’s very country for a Brit, and I don’t normally go in for country. But boy he can sing and he’s got a great sense of humor (check out the lyrics for the song “A Piece of What You Need” or “Turning the Gun on Myself”). I don’t know if we’ve ever talked about his dad, Richard Thompson. But god, go check him out if you haven’t Dylan-level writing. Hendrix-level guitar. And he can sing. His most recent album “Electric” is fantastic.

I plan to check out some Teddy Thompson this evening. I’m not much of a blues guy, never could get into it, but I do dig the classic rock and need to check to see if I have the Allman Brothers and Springsteen albums.

I have always been a hip-hop aficionado. There’s something about good hip-hop music that really appeals to me. The poetry of it, the interplay of the music and the words… There’s a lot of really bad hip-hop out there (I’d say it’s a 3:1 ratio of bad to good).

So, to that end…here ya’ go:

1. Public Enemy
Their first four albums were definitely a grand slam of creativity and poetry. They managed to combine their philosophical and political ideas with excellent musicianship and outrageous personalities (Flava Flav…everybody knows Flava Flav). I would say that arguably the best hip-hop album of all time is It Takes a Nation of Millions, although there are a dozen others that make a good case for themselves.

2. The Roots
Ok, every album they have EVER put out has been a home run. Nearly every song they have ever done has been a work of art. I will go with the four albums beginning with Illadelph Halflife and ending with The Tipping Point. Black Thought and the band were at the top of their game, before they sort of sold out to be on late night television (it wouldn’t be so bad but they most key element of the group, Black Thought’s voice, is seldom heard from what I can tell from the few times I’ve watched whatever show it is they’re on). No hip-hop group with live instruments has ever even come close to these guys and likely never will.

3. Nas
Every album has been a huge home run for Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones. I honestly can’t pick four. His best albums are probably Illmatic and It Was Written. If you don’t count the lackluster album he did with The Firm, you could conceivably choose his first four as a grand slam, ending with Nastradamus. Illmatic is another contender for best hip-hop album of all time. Everything Nas does is a work of art. His inflection, wordplay, and themes blow any competition away. Nas is simply the G.O.A.T.

4. Eric B & Rakim
The duo only did four albums together, beginning with 1987′s Paid in Full, but each was hugely influential to hip-hop (just listen for all of the samples you hear artists doing today that came from these albums). Rakim possesses what might be the best instrument in the history of hip-hop: his voice. Roll some butter around in the gravel and you have a good description of Rakim’s instrument. Eric B was also as talented as any MC who has ever stood behind a turntable. Rakim’s first solo album, The 18th Letter, also has a few excellent songs and is worth a listen.

5. Outkast
A trend…their first four albums are, by far, their best. In thinking about those four albums I am unable to separate which song is on which album without looking up track lists, there are simply too many excellent songs and, in spacing the albums every two years, new jams filled the spaces when the old jams started to tire a little from thousands of listens (that’s thousands in a week, of course). It says a lot about these guys that you can throw on Southernplayalistic and it still sounds as fresh and fun as it did when we blasted it in the football locker room my junior year of college. Big Boi has also put out some decent music as a solo artist the last few years, but Andrei seems to enjoy his modeling work and just being a strange dude in general more than he is interested in making music that anyone could listen to anymore.

I started with 28 students in my AP class. Over the course of the year it’s shrunk to 15. I don’t think they were expecting to work this hard, but the ones who’ve stuck with it… it’s like you said, even if they don’t pass the test, they’ll be ready for college.

Something is very wrong there. Last year 75% of my kids passed the AP test. One (ONE!) student passed a test in the other eight classes. UGH. I know the other teachers are whispering that the Language test must be really easy. They’ll be whispering that the Lit test must be easy, too, next year when they see the results from that one.

I am not surprised that you feel as if you’re the right teacher with the right students. I’ve always felt that way with the “top” kids, too. I don’t understand how a teacher wouldn’t want the best kids in the school in each of their classes, but a lot of them don’t. You have to be able to show them that you are smarter than they are! Unfortunately, a lot of teachers can’t do that.

Even the ones who might not pass (hoping they all do) will tell you in a year or two that they were fully prepared for college writing, thanks to you and your class. That’s another one of those “proud and shining moments” that make teaching worthwhile.

Grades are such a hairy thing to me. I see the benefit on certain levels, but, in the end, they don’t really do what they are supposed to do. The important thing is just to engage with the material. If students do that, I don’t care about grades.

you seem like an excellent teacher.

I don’t even feel that I own my dog. I certainly won’t feel like I own my children.

There’s a big difference between caregiver and owner.