A new challenge has emerged on social media that boasts the age old phrase “knowledge is power.”
The #bookphonechallenge started by rapper and actor Lord Jamar of Brand Nubian, encourages people to hold a stack of books up to their ear to mimic a phone. It all started when Lord Jamar posted a picture on Instagram last Saturday with the caption “On my BOOK PHONE…the KNOWLEDGE is callin!!!”
This was followed by a video of him pretending to talk to a friend through a stack of books propped on his shoulder.
The challenge immediately went viral with submissions from people of all ages including 12-year old Marley Dias, founder of #1000BlackGirlBooks. In November 2015, Dias launched a campaign to collect and donate 1,000 books that have black girls as the protagonist.
The “book phone” is a stark contrast to the popular “money phone” photos on Instagram that show users and celebs like Drake holding a wad of cash to their ears.
Jay Z recently criticized the “money phone” on his latest single “The Story of O.J” from the “4:44” album.
“Y’all on the ‘Gram holding money to your ears/ There’s a disconnect, we don’t call that money over here.”
Check out some of our favorite #phonebookchallenge photos!
With countless book phone pictures over the past week, Lord Jamar took to Instagram to reflect.
Accompanying a picture of a little girl holding a stack of children’s books to her ear, Jamar wrote, “I can’t tell u how humbled I am by the response of the #bookphonechallenge but this pic right here brought tears to my eyes."
