Do you dig Kendrick Lamar, love Led Zeppelin, and adore Duke Ellington? Then Rap, Rock, and Jazz is the class for you. Rap, Rock and Jazz is a history class taught by history teacher Jim Lake. 

“It was kind of my idea. The district wanted to do another elective and I taught the class in summer. I taught it years ago so we put that class as an elective,” he said. 

Lake elaborated on what topics this new class covered.

“It is looking at essentially changes in history. How life reflects art and how art reflects life, cultural and political changes. How art reflects life culturally and how we can change it,” Lake said. “The first unit is Jazz and Blues. Unit 2 is Rock and Roll. Unit 3 is the transformation of Rock and Roll which takes us to the 70s until with 80s birth of Punk, Hip Hop, and New Wave bands. Then 90’s to present day.”

When asked to describe the class and if students listen to music in class Lake responded with “[it’s] definitely a multimedia class. There are two histories going on at the same time: music and world history. [For example] in the Vietnam war and how it’s being affected by music. And how music is being affected by the Vietnam war. It goes both ways.”  

Lake said music can’t exactly be categorized as cleanly as some people assume.

“As much as we like to categorize music, Jazz, Rock, and Hip Hop, there are parallels between different music. Hip Hop got some things from Rock and Roll. They all cross-pollinate each other. All of them are reflective of the culture then,” Lake said. 

Senior Courtney Brown is a student in Lake’s new class during 2nd block. 

“We do fun stuff such as creating our own band in the sixties,” she said.

Senior Alex Marshall, another one of Lake’s students, gives some insight on why he took the class. 

“It’s very interesting. There’s a lot I didn’t know. If you’re into music you will like the class,” Marshall said. 

However, Brown said she took the class for a different reason. 

“I’m a musician and I don’t know a lot about music history and I wanted to learn about it,” she said.  

Brown said she always enjoys going to class. 

“I like listening to songs in class and learning about different people,” she said.  

Marshall said he recommends the class to others.  

“Just to learn what life is like before they were born. Music is entertainment but it was also life was like. Seeing all the different generations throughout their evolution,” he said. 

Marshall also said what he thinks is the best take away from this class. 

“Listening to these songs is the closest thing to a time machine. [I also enjoy] note-taking about different generations before me,” he said.

This year Lake has one section of the class each semester, and he is offering the course again next year. The class will be available to juniors and seniors only.  

“It gives a different perspective on history,” Lake said. “If you’re a music fan definitely something to look into. See how things happened. If you want to understand the political climate today or how people are today. Understand how music is today.”