The month of March has been a busy one for Kyle Rapps. The hip-hop artist took a break from the 15 shows he has booked this month alone (!) to be the sole host and to perform songs from his debut EP, Re-Edutainment, at SXSW for Audible Treats’ annual showcase. Now, just a week and half later, Kyle Rapps releases Re-Edutainment, his revisit of the Boogie Down Productions classic. Clocking in at eight tracks, the EP features the Edutainment originator himself, KRS-One, as well as Joell Ortiz and U-N-I and producer Kev Brown, who pays homage by incorporating some of the same loops, chops, and breaks found in the original.
Also out today is the new music video for “Me,” a single off Re-Edutainment that was first previewed last week. The funky track serves as an ample introduction to the world of Kyle Rapps, including set-backs, realizations, and accomplishments, “I got a Bill Gates grant and a Today show feature.” Rapps also explained that on the track there was some heavy influence from his slam poetry group, Mayhem Poets, formed in college days, and the visual direction of Alex F. Ghassan reflects this well. The video throws a rhyming, edutaining Rapps in front of likely backdrops, a classroom, a library, a schoolyard, etc., complete with a visual filter reminiscent of crumpled notepaper. Throughout the video one thing is made clear, this is Kyle Rapps’ assembly and he’s announcing his debut to hip-hop on the auditorium stage, “I’m in the building chillen’/ trying to make a killin’/ Doin’ what I’m feelin’/ If you got a hand go and lift it to the ceiling.”
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