Flocabulary on CNN
original air date 9/9/2006

But first --

Now that will wake you up, but hip hop in the classroom? Can it work? You may not see Kanye West singing to the tunes of the SATs but you may hear a similar rhythm in school. We'll have those details ahead.

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NGUYEN: Nice, fresh from your stereo speakers and right into the academic curriculum. Snappy verses over hip hop beats. Well they are helping students master the SAT. Using a style of rappers like Eminem and Kanye West, some classrooms are actually turning vocabulary into flocabulary. Can this nontraditional approach really work? Well, joining me now from New York, the creators of Flocabulary, that's Alex Rappaport and Blake Harrison. Good morning to you both.

Good morning.

NGUYEN: Flocabulary, I like the sound of it. Alex let me ask you first, how did two preppy guys in their mid 20s come up with a system like Flocabulary?

ALEX RAPPAPORT, CREATOR, FLOCABULARY: Well the basic idea is that we realize that hip hop can be a powerful and effective learning tool when it's creatively combined with academic content.

NGUYEN: Right.

RAPPAPORT: So we just wanted to have some fun and make a CD that defined 500 SAT words.

NGUYEN: How many?

RAPPAPORT: 500.

NGUYEN: That is terrific. We're showing some video right now of the kids and I guess that's you Blake rapping in the classroom there. Apparently the kids are really enjoying this. But Blake let me ask you, if you can, tell us how this works. Does it go along with -- the rap goes along with maybe a book that teaches kids exactly what these words mean and how to use them?

BLAKE HARRISON, CREATOR, FLOCABULARY: Yes, essentially we actually try to define the words in the lyrics of the songs themselves. The idea is you would memorize a song, the rhymes help you memorize it and learn it since they essentially work like mnemonic devices. And then you'd memorize what all these words mean. So we always try to define the words in the song itself. But the CD does come with a book that has lyrics, definitions, as well as exercises to help kids really cement their knowledge.

NGUYEN: But 500 words, that's a long song, ah?

HARRISON: Oh, not in one song.

NGUYEN: Especially if you're defining it.

HARRISON: It's about 40 words per song.

NGUYEN: I got you.

HARRISON: Five hundred is on the whole album.

NGUYEN: Alex, you know waxing poetic is one thing, especially in a rap. But when it comes to really making a difference in a classroom, is it working? Are you seeing results?

RAPPAPORT: Yes, it's actually amazing. I mean the response both from teachers and students has been fantastic. We have heard reports actually from one school in Virginia that in just one semester with Flocabulary in the curriculum the average score for the verbal SAT went up 50 points.

NGUYEN: Really?

RAPPAPORT: Yes, so we're happy. And the way teachers are embracing this in the classroom getting up on the mike and performing for their students it's just really fun.

NGUYEN: Yes, we showed a little video of that. And Blake I have to ask you, when these kids see you two walk in a classroom with these raps, are they a little surprised?

HARRISON: Oh, definitely. I think that you know we definitely catch people off guard. I think that's part of how -- why it's fun. Is that even when a teacher plays a rap song in the classroom the students are going to sit up in their chairs and say, oh, what is this.

As soon as you engage a student they're going to pay more attention and they're more likely to succeed. We really believe that when you can get a student, when you can bring the student's passions into the classrooms that's when they really have the opportunity to succeed.

NGUYEN: Oh absolutely, but you know what, it takes money. These courses -- your curriculum, this Flocabulary, it costs. And some school districts actually don't have the money for it, so Alex, what's being done to get it into those school districts that actually would need it and could benefit from it?

RAPPAPORT: Well for one thing you know 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. But it's a hard battle for sure.

NGUYEN: I imagine. OK, Blake, Mr. M.C. Escher as you like to call yourself. OK, your first album dealt with vocabulary words. The second deals with history. So I want you to flow now for us, give us a little history MC Escher style, if you would, all right?

HARRISON: OK. This is a little bit about the Boston Tea Party.

NGUYEN: OK. HARRISON: It was a late dark night in Boston Harbor, pitch black while the fog hung around the water. This was the winter, 1773 and the British had a monopoly on selling tea. Thanks to the Tea Act, but we're going to react, send a message, show George just where we at. So that's a little intro.

NGUYEN: Just a little taste of it. Where did you learn to flow?

HARRISON: Kind of taught myself. I've always been really into hip hop ever since I got into music. So, I just rapped with my friends in high school and in college at open mikes and at parties and stuff. Then I met Alex and we decided to try something new.

NGUYEN: So are you going to include in the history in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

HARRISON: You know that's exactly it. Because the reason that we remember that date is because there's a rhyme. So, rhymes are powerful pneumonic devices so that's really where the whole idea comes from.

NGUYEN: All right, well if you need some rhythm and rhyme just give me a call, all right?

HARRISON: All right, Betty.

NGUYEN: Alex Rappaport, Blake Harrison, and thank you so much, Flocabulary. We appreciate your time today.

Cool guys, ah Rick?