I consider myself to be an avid reader. You can always find a book or two on the nightstand beside my bed. I utilize the library frequently and read everything from fiction to non-fiction to comic books to young adult novels to magazines and newspapers.

I’m an English major and I have read a lot of classics. Sadly though, Animal Farm by George Orwell wasn’t one of them. At least not until recently. You might be surprised by what got me to pick up this book.

A rap group.

That’s right! A rap group got me reading a classic.

Who woulda thunk it?

I first heard the rap group Animal Farm on Dope FM when my good friend Gamma Krush started spinning them on the show. If it wasn’t for him I might not have gotten into this group. DJs are awesome; having a best friend who is a DJ is even better. He hooked me up with the album and the rest they say is history.

Shortly after that, I got to interview the group. We had such a great time on the radio that night that it only made me more of a fan. Their album, The Unknown has been in heavy rotation ever since. Check out the podcast of the interview or read the transcript here.

I had read Orwell’s other seminal classic, 1984 and I really enjoyed it.

This isn’t the only time that rap has inspired me to pick up a classic. I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn because of all the references to it I had heard in songs. I also read Things Fall Apart because The Roots had titled one of their albums after the novel by Chinua Achebe.

I wonder if any one else has been inspired to pick up a book because of a rap artist. I wouldn’t be surprised.