18 Years of Rap for the 2013 High School Grads

If a rousing rendition of Pomp and Circumstance is still in your future or even if you’ve already taken off for beach week in the outermost reaches of South Carolina, the hip-hop poets at Flocabulary want to remind you where you came from with a very special graduation gift:  18 years in Rap.


From the Oklahoma City bombing (1995) and the debut of Dolly the sheep (1996) to the Mars landing (1997) and the tears at Columbine (1999), the pictures inspire as the lyrics recall what it’s been like to grow up from one century to the next.

"But America changed the hour, when the two planes hit the two towers,” and “We invade Afghanistan, hunting Al Qaeda, But Bin Laden won’t get found ‘til later.”

18 Years in Rap comes to you from the same guys who do the weekly current events project, The Week in Rap. 

It’s meant for classrooms, and more than 15,000 schools use the digital subscription service to motivate students and teach language arts, math, social studies, and science.

The Flocabulary team promises to be around all summer looking for more headlines and rhymes.  But in the meantime, they offer a little advice:

“3.2 million high school graduates,

I hope you’re looking at the present, and you’re grabbing it,

‘Cause time passes in the blink of an eye,

When you look ahead, don't forget to look behind..."