"Stagolee was a bad man, Everybody knows,
Spent a hundred dollars, For just one suit of clothes;
He was a bad man, That mean old Stagolee."

In this text, I reflect on several years' worth of composition classes centered around rap music. Along with my reflections, I include student writing from the courses. The purpose is to show other writing teachers the benefits from such a course (along with providing a heads-up about some of the problems).

Sections include . . .

the intro
an overview of the racial reality of such a course
several sections (Take 1, Take 2, & Take 3) on a variety of white student responses
some thoughts on black students' work in the courses
a bit on rap as literacy education
the outro
works cited

To talk more about this topic, please hit me up (sirc@umn.edu).