Thug Notes Explained

Genre:Educational, Comedy
Creator:Jared Bauer[1]
Presenter:Greg Edwards
Country:United States
Language:English
Producer:Jacob Salamon
Runtime:3-6 minutes
Company:Wisecrack
Channel:YouTube

Thug Notes is an American educational web series that summarizes and analyzes various literary works in a comedic manner. Thug Notes first aired on June 3, 2013, on YouTube, with the pilot episode centered on Crime and Punishment.[2] [3] The host of the series is Sparky Sweets, Ph.D., portrayed by actor and comedian Greg Edwards.[4] [5] In 2015, a book of essays based on episodes from the series entitled Thug Notes: A Street-Smart Guide to Classic Literature was published by Vintage Books.[6]

Style

The series is presented by Sparky Sweets, Ph.D., in the character's "original gangster" style.[7]

The following is an example of Sweets' style from his analysis of To Kill a Mockingbird, one of his most popular:[7] "Only a jive-ass fool would bother capping a mockingbird, 'cause all them bitches do is just drop next-level beats for your enjoyment. So what my girl Harper trying to say is ratting on Boo Radley wouldn't do no good. It would only rid the hood of one more true-blue player."[8]

Explaining the usage of African-American Vernacular English within the series, Edwards stated, "but the truth is, the gift of literature is universal in meaning and should be made accessible to everyone on every plane. So, Thug Notes is my way of trivializing academia's attempt at making literature exclusionary by showing that even high-brow academic concepts can be communicated in a clear and open fashion."[9] The style used by Edwards' character was a result of "frustration with the world of academia".[7]

Episodes

BookAuthorNote
1 Crime and Punishment
2 The Great Gatsby
3 To Kill a Mockingbird
4 Nineteen Eighty-Four
5 Pride and Prejudice
6 Lord of the Flies
7 Great Expectations
8 The Catcher in the Rye
9 Jane Eyre
10 Hamlet
11 The Hobbit
12 Of Mice and Men
13 Fahrenheit 451
14 Brave New World
15 Beowulf Unknown
16 Animal Farm
17 Moby-Dick
18 Odyssey
19 The Scarlet Letter
20 Frankenstein Halloween Special
21 Heart of Darkness
22 Macbeth
23 The Crucible
24 Inferno
25 The Sun Also Rises
26 Invisible Man
27 Notes from Underground
28 Romeo and Juliet
29 Wuthering Heights
30 The Picture of Dorian Gray
31 Lolita
32 All Quiet on the Western Front
33 Oedipus the King Valentine's Day Special
34 A Separate Peace
35 Slaughterhouse-Five
36 Things Fall Apart
37 Grendel
38 Catch-22
39 Ethan Frome
40 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
41 The Sound and the Fury
42 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
43 The Stranger
44 The Old Man and the Sea
45 The Count of Monte Cristo
46 The Grapes of Wrath
47 The Brothers Karamazov
48 The Grand Inquisitor
49 Dune
50 At the Mountains of Madness
51 The Giver
52 The Hunger Games
53 The Metamorphosis
54 One Hundred Years of Solitude
55 Dracula Halloween Special
56 Julius Caesar
57 A Clockwork Orange
58 Death of a Salesman
59 Othello
60 A Christmas Carol Christmas Special
61 The Raven
62 A Tale of Two Cities
63 A Raisin in the Sun Black History Month Special
64 Beloved Black History Month Special
65 The Color Purple Black History Month Special
66 The Tell-Tale Heart
67 Fifty Shades of Grey BET Short Episode
68 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
69 Siddhartha
70 The Handmaid's Tale
71 Gone Girl
72 The Cat in the Hat Mother's Day Special
73 Watchmen
74 King Lear
75 A Game of Thrones Part 1 of the A Song of Ice and Fire series
76 A Midsummer Night's Dream
77 The Goldfinch
78 The Outsiders
79 Go Set a Watchman
80 Doctor Faustus
81 Ender's Game
82 The Fellowship of the Ring Part 1 of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy
83 V for Vendetta
84 Don Quixote
85 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
86 No Country for Old Men
87 Les Misérables
88 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
89 Life of Pi
90 Where the Red Fern Grows
91 The Fountainhead
92 American Psycho
93 The Cask of Amontillado
94 Fight Club
95 A Wrinkle in Time
96 The Fall of the House of Usher
97 The Epic of Gilgamesh
98 Madame Bovary
99 The Trial
100 The Merchant of Venice
101 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
102 Where the Wild Things Are
103 Horton Hears a Who!
104 Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
105 Ready Player One
106 No Country for Old Men
The Great Gatsby
The Hobbit
This episode promoted the new podcast Thug Notes: Get Lit
107 It
108 Emma

Reception

Thug Notes has been met with a cumulative view total of over 160 million (as of June 2017)[10] and critical acclaim.[4] Thug Notess virality has been documented by mainstream news publications such as The New York Times and HuffPost.[11] [12] The Tampa Bay Times has noted that the series can be used as an educational tool.[9] However, The New York Times criticized the increase in the frequency of things in this style, stating "We have to put a stop to inappropriate hip-hop appropriation before we get the Fox News 'Rap the Headlines Hour' or 'Gangsta 60 Minutes'."

In 2014, Wisecrack/Thug Notes was listed on NewMediaRockstars Top 100 Channels, ranked at #94.[13]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: We are the team behind Thug Notes, yo' main hookup for classic literature summary and analysis. AUA!. Reddit. February 11, 2014. June 15, 2014.
  2. Crime and Punishment - Book Summary & Analysis by Thug Notes. YouTube. Thug Notes. June 3, 2013. June 11, 2014.
  3. News: Thug Notes: Sparky Sweets, PhD Looks At 'Crime And Punishment' (VIDEO). Huffington Post. June 4, 2013. June 11, 2014.
  4. Web site: Comedian-actor-writer Greg Edwards. PBS. March 20, 2014. June 11, 2014.
  5. Web site: 'Thug Notes': The Hardcore Way To Learn About Books [VIDEO]]. https://web.archive.org/web/20130624075322/http://guycodeblog.mtv.com/2013/06/21/thug-notes. dead. June 24, 2013. MTV. Guy Code Blog. June 21, 2013. June 11, 2014.
  6. Web site: Gutelle. Sam. 2015-08-18. 'Thug Notes' Brings Its Brand Of Literary Humor To A New Book. 2021-12-27. Tubefilter. en-US.
  7. News: Dobson. Miranda. Thug Notes: YouTube comic brings literary Classics to the masses hip-hop style. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220507/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/thug-notes-youtube-comic-brings-literary-classics-to-the-masses-hiphop-style-8761535.html . 2022-05-07 . subscription . live. The Independent. August 14, 2013. June 11, 2014.
  8. News: Thug Notes: 'To Kill A Mockingbird' (VIDEO). Huffington Post. June 25, 2013. June 11, 2014.
  9. News: Hooper. Ernest. 'Thug Notes' delivers the innovation needed in education. Tampa Bay Times. September 4, 2013. June 11, 2014.
  10. Web site: Thug Notes About. YouTube. June 11, 2014.
  11. News: Genzlinger. Neil. Homies in Verona, Gangstas in Elsinore. The New York Times. January 24, 2014. June 11, 2014.
  12. News: Hartsell. Carol. The Latest Episode Of 'Thug Notes' Gave Sparky Sweets The Giggles. Huffington Post. January 28, 2014. June 11, 2014.
  13. Web site: The NMR Top 100 YouTube Channels: 100 – 76!. New Media Rockstars. 6 January 2015.