Have you heard of people who could rap about a book?

A second appearance on this blog for the students of Chicago's Carver High School. Sharing their debut 12" featuring the Class of 1983 was half the reason I initially set this thing up, so I highly recommend checking it out if you missed it. By 1985, Carver's music teacher, John Harris, had picked up a Linn drum and was ready to drop another of Chicago's earliest hip-hop records with a new crew of Carver High MCs...

Carver High ‎– Boogie With A Book (Let's Read!)
Challenger Records ‎– CH7300
Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, US, 1985
Info

I can't tell you much more about Chicago's far South side rap pioneers than what I shared in that previous post. Two and a half years later and we get to see that these high school students (along with their music teacher and his Motherfox bandmates) were tracking some of the changes in hip-hop styles that were bubbling up. Again: this was 1985. The Midwest wasn't exactly overflowing with homegrown hip-hop records yet... But these CPS students put out their second rap single, this time including a verse rapped en Español! And check right around the 3:04 mark to hear them introduce the DJ (Loring "Kool Mixin' Magic" Moore) who delivers a nice stereo mixed scratch routine. Again, history fans- I think this had to be recorded only about a year and a half after anyone first heard the Grand Mixer D.St cutting it up on Rockit.

Bonus: the B side slow jam is a winner this time! Sure, both sides are still heavy on the afterschool special messages, but I'm feeling the production and hook on this one. (My wife is the real 80s R&B ballad connoisseur in the family and this track officially got her seal of approval.)

"This project was supported by a grant from the Chicago Council on Fine Arts." And they thank Mayor Harold Washington in the liner notes. Somehow I'm thinking Rahm wasn't handing out support like that for "10 Day" or whatever. Links to download or stream below.

Tracklist

A Boogie With A Book (Let's Read!)

B You Can Do It

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On a personal note: It's been nice hunting down some of these Chicago Public Schools gems of the past, especially during a time that could produce some real cynicism and despair for the most committed public school true believers among us... We lost Karen Lewis earlier this month, someone who embodied the opposite of that. She inspired, led and supported many of us who dream of breaking through that cynicism. She insisted that we could quit fighting for scraps and demand the schools that our communities actually deserve. It would be hard to overstate her role in giving us new hope that unions could be reborn from the bottom up and play a leading, militant role in broader movements for workers, against racism, and for our schools. She wasn't a saint- in fact, the ways that she was so fully human and contradictory made her her leadership and clarity mean even more to me.

There have been many moving tributes, including a few written by some of my favorite people. Presente! Rest in power.

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You should have stayed in school and learned how to MP3. (Download files or stream)

https://mega.nz/folder/sX5RVAZB#9FKcamsmkJxf-VCWCZ9tMA

Jack it up, jack it up, FLAC it up right! (Download zip of high quality FLAC files)

https://mega.nz/file/RfoEVCzS#xFBOTssgVjxOrfz58ExokRxvuJJD2c4LdI2_J3zuI9k