Shakespeare is Hip-Hop, Filipino Style

If there were ever a day to ask yourself, “Why oh why did I not study Filipino?” today would be it.

We were wowed by this clip of the Philippine Educational Theater Association’s new Shakespeare rap musical, “William”–and we didn’t understand a word of it. The goal of the musical is to make Shakespeare accessible to young people by putting the Bard to a hip-hop beat. Sound familiar? As one young actress said in the clip, the group wants to promote “Shakespeare, not Shakes-fear.”

The group’s reasons for creating “William” were the same reasons we created Shakespeare is Hip-Hop. Teachers in the Philippines struggle to teach Shakespeare to kids, so they wanted to use rap to make the required texts more accessible to young people. They explained that even though the language of Hamlet and Macbeth sounds challenging and a little strange today, Shakespeare’s plays include modern slang from his lifetime. So the group thought that rap would be a good modern approximation for Shakespeare’s style.

We totally agree. Flocabulary has found a kindred spirit in the Philippines. Learn more about Flocabulary’s Shakespeare is Hip-Hop or the Filipino play “William.”

(And can any Filipino speakers out there explain to us why they keep saying “Nosebleed”?)