Friday, January 1st, 2021 DMV based MC Bromani Armah aka BabaGotBars and Hip Hop Non Profit Words, Beats & Life came together for two interactive and free performances to get students excited about literacy using Hip Hop. The shows kicked off WBL’s new Alternative Winter Break Series, which will feature a polished line up of creatives, professors, musicians and more with the shared goal of community engagement.   

Armah who is known for using Hip Hop, poetry and multi-media disciplines to promote education, professional development and black history to students, performed two sets live from ‘Babas Beat Box Basement’.  For the older kids, Baba used the foundations of rap and writing lyrics to take the students on a high energy, musical odyssey where they learned about the creative writing process. Younger students were able to dance and sing along to prerecorded and live performances that used rhythm and rhyme to explain basic reading and math concepts.  

Words Beats & Life .will continue pumping out various types of interactive programming and free performances this winter geared toward promoting arts and culture in the DC community. Stay tuned!

ABOUT WBL

The mission of Words, Beats & Life (WBL) is to transform individual lives and communities through Hip-Hop culture in all its forms. As a set of cultural practices and art forms with a global reach, Hip-Hop has demonstrated its power to transform the lives of young people around the world and right here in the nation's capital. Through Hip-Hop, WBL develops programs to support Arts Education and Creative Employment for young creatives throughout the District of Columbia with the human and material resources and opportunities to participate in the District’s creative economy as both creators and managers. We do this through a curriculum that involves instruction, research, and the hands-on application of lessons learned as performers and managers.  In the last year we have engaged more than 30,000 youth and young adults through in person and virtual programming designed to educate and inspire.  This includes just over 3,000 students in onetime and ongoing Arts Education and Creative Employment programming in schools, libraries and community spaces.

ABOUT  BabaGotBARS Armah 

Baba Bomani, aka the Watermelon Man, has been using hip-hop, poetry and multi-media disciplines to teach fun and informative workshops with all ages from kindergarteners to graduate students for well over 15 years. He is a Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Changing Education Through Arts Teaching Artist and has done assemblies, workshops, residencies and professional development for all grade levels, aptitudes and abilities.