Recess! Media

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That’s LL Cool J, backed up by a toy piano, with some words for young people about winning — and losing! — graciously. This book and CD combination is titled And the Winner Is. It’s part of a new series from Scholastic Publishers called Hip Kid Hop, which is providing contemporary rap and hip-hop recording artists with a way to reach younger audiences with positive messages that are tuned to the keys of their concerns. LL Cool J takes on the showboating, the taunting, and the other negative attitudes that have become such a presence on the sports scene, and that affect the self-esteem of children in powerful ways — no matter which side of the belittling victory dance they’re on.

In his book, Doug E. Fresh! is asking his readers and listeners to “Think Again” — about what really matters between people, especially people of different races, when they can break through those socially constructed barriers. He tells the story about Zack and John, who are feuding at school, but who find, when they have detention together, that the enforced truce of their punishment has really given them the space they’ve needed to create something far more important — a friendship. Now that’s something to rap about:

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