Organization uses hip-hop to teach reading in NOLA
GAME CHANGERS VIDEO - Reading is truly fundamental ... for survival. After Hurricane Katrina, people from New Orleans may have had assistance delayed because they could not read...
Reading is truly fundamental … sometimes for survival. After Hurricane Katrina, some 100,000 people from New Orleans may have had assistance delayed or unreported because they could not read the documents, according to Rachel B. Nicolosi, executive director for the Literacy Alliance of Greater New Orleans. Brandan “Bmike” Odums, a New Orleans-based 2025 Game Changer Fellow enlisted the support of his organization, 2-cent Entertainment to address the issue of illiteracy in New Orleans by taking a different approach: hip hop.
“We understood early on that creating an appetite for literacy amongst youth would directly improve their opportunities in the future,” said Odums. “We needed to find a way to create this appetite for literacy in the youth and we understood the important role hip hop and rap played in the shaping of young minds.”
Odums created a video parody of the Lil’ Wayne song “Every Girl” to use rap as a form of literacy to make the idea of reading appealing to school children. With a donation of books from a major text book publisher, his organization was able to bring books to a school in New Orleans that had been affected by the storm. His video “Literacy and Rap” is one in a series of pieces he has directed for Forward Ever Media’s 2025 Game Changers Fellows Program.
To learn more about Odums and the program, please visit www.2025bmb.org/thegame
