Klassy

Where culture meets curriculum. Cinematic learning built for the next generation. Join the Klassy waitlist.

[Klassy @KlassyLearning]

Klassy brings together people from education, film, design, culture, technology and community. We're all approaching at the same question from different angles:

What could learning feel like if we built it around the student first?

[Klassy @KlassyLearning]

Before we show you more of what we’re building, we want you to meet who’s building it...

[Klassy @KlassyLearning]

An NFL quarterback normally scrambles at 18 miles per hour.

After pulling his hamstring, his top scrambling speed drops to 13.5 miles per hour.

By what percent did his top speed decrease?😬🧠

[Klassy @KlassyLearning]

Lamar Jackson has been clocked throwing a football at 49 MPH.

That’s nearly 72 feet per second.

At that speed, a football could travel 20 yards in roughly 0.84 seconds.

Now remember:
The receiver is moving.
The defender is moving.
Lamar is moving.

And the ball still has to arrive in a window sometimes only a few feet wide.

Quarterbacking isn't just arm strength.

It's geometry happening at 49 MPH.

[Klassy @KlassyLearning]

When Dilla worked on The Pharcyde’s “Runnin’,” his drums didn’t land perfectly where people expected them to.

The kick could race ahead.

The snare could feel late.

The whole beat felt slightly off.

But that was the point.

Music is math happening in time.

A beat can be divided into halves, quarters, eighths and sixteenths.

Drum machines can place sounds onto a precise timing grid built from those subdivisions.

Dilla chose not to let the machine make everything perfect.

On “Runnin’,” he programmed the drums freehand without quantization — meaning the machine wasn’t snapping every hit perfectly onto the grid.

And his kick pattern didn’t simply repeat every 2 or 4 bars.

It reportedly didn’t repeat until the 20th bar.

So instead of:

perfect pattern → repeat
perfect pattern → repeat

the rhythm kept changing.

A kick slightly ahead.

A snare sitting back.

The sample moving between them.

Tiny differences in timing created the feel.

While mixing “Runnin’,” Fatlip reportedly thought Dilla’s kick didn’t sound right and replaced it with a straighter, more predictable one.

Tre Hardson heard the new version and wanted Dilla’s kick back.

Problem:

The original had already been erased from the tape.

An argument followed.

Then an actual fight.

Afterward, Dilla recreated the kick, and the track stayed the way he intended it.

That thing that sounded “wrong” became part of Dilla’s signature.

His approach would go on to influence how producers and live musicians thought about rhythm and timing.

Years later, Dilla became closely associated with the MPC3000, where he pushed rhythmic manipulation even further.

One of his actual MPC3000s now sits in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

The grid told Dilla where the beat was “supposed” to go.

He knew the rules.

He just knew the feeling mattered more.

Sometimes understanding the math well enough to break the pattern is where the genius starts.

[Klassy @KlassyLearning]

Somebody once erased J Dilla’s kick drum because they thought it sounded wrong. It started a fight. Turns out, the thing that sounded “wrong” was part of what would make Dilla one of the most influential producers ever.

Here’s the math behind his genius:

[Klassy @KlassyLearning]

Most people who crease their sneakers on the first wear can’t solve this.

A sneaker store has 240 pairs of shoes.

It sells 3/8 of the 240 pairs.
Then it sells 60 more pairs.

How many pairs of shoes are left?

No calculator. No ChatGPT.

[Klassy @KlassyLearning]

Can you solve this without a calculator?

A bag has 48 Takis.
You eat 25% of them.
Your friend eats 1/3 of what’s left.

How many Takis are left?

[Klassy @KlassyLearning]

Most people don't get this right😬

[Klassy @KlassyLearning]

What's one thing that would've made school feel less stressful for you? We'll go first: HOMEWORK

[Klassy @KlassyLearning]

Who are some dope anime artists, animators, or character designers we should know about?

[Ryan McGinn @SaratogaRM]

@Lj_era8 @KlassyLearning Coolest thing I’ve ever seen any pro athlete collaborate with to date

[Klassy @KlassyLearning]

Ends [Dec. 1st/11:59p]*

[Klassy @KlassyLearning]

No purchase necessary. Open to eligible U.S. residents 18+ who are parents or legal guardians of a K-12 student. Ends [date/time]. Restrictions apply. See Official Contest Rules at https://t.co/DSKIkFmVRs