On August 27, 2013 CBS News covered a story about two Chicago area rappers that performed Othello for inmates at the Cook County Jail. The rappers, Gregory and Jeffrey Qaiyam, are brothers. The two spent eight months writing their version of the play. It took forty drafts before they had the version of the play that they eventually performed as a seventy minute adaptation.
I found it pretty interesting that this hiphop Othello remix that was performed for 450 inmates made such an impact. When you go through the picture slideshow you come across a quote from inmate Montgomery who said that she came away with an important message "be careful of who you affiliate yourself with because they might not actually be your friends. They might be somebody who wants to bring you down." Most importantly one of the inmates points out that he finally knows what Shakespeare is. I find it to be one of the most important points about Shakespeare-- it can be adapted to be understood by multitudes of people while addressing themes from centuries ago that are understood today. All it took was a modern day setting and situation for these inmates to understand the basis of the play. I also believe that it has great artistic merit because it causes audience members to look within themselves and it answer the question: Why this play now?
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