Mindi R. Englart
Days 1-4:
In “Looking for Richard,” his documentary about Shakespeare’s “Richard III,” Al Pacino talks about how hard it is to understand Shakespeare’s lines. “They’re like poetry. It’s hard to grab hold of some rap slang, too. It’s hard to get hold of it until your ear gets tuned. You have to tune up.” Anthony DeCurtis says in
The Vibe History of Hip Hop
, “The process of cracking the ever-shifting code of hip hop lingo is a huge part of the fun of listening to the music.”
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1. Exercise: Work alone or in pairs. Take a rap poem (or use Jabberwocky) and replace slang with standard English. Then take a standard English poem and substitute slang words to make it rap. Share the results with the class. An example of replacing slang (or in this case made-up words) with standard English is as follows:
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JABBERWOCKY (use the whole poem)
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Lewis Carroll
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`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
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Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
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All mimsy were the borogoves,
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And the mome raths outgrabe.
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One possible translation:
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It was brilliant and the slippery toads
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Gyrated and tumbled in the waves;
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The animals were all crazy,
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And the small rats were outside.
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2. Bouts Rimés game: Bouts Rimés (pronounced boo ree-MAY) is French for rhyming ends. This type of poem is created when one person gives a list of rhyming words to another person, who writes poetic lines ending with those rhyming words, in the same order in which they were given. For example, a person gives another person the words: dog, old, fog, and fold. The second person writes: I pity my dog/He’s weak and old/His mind’s like fog/His legs, they fold. Have each student contribute a pair of rhymes. All students (alone or in pairs/teams) must come up with a poem using all the rhymes in order. Share with class.
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3. Discuss battle rapping: Battle rapping is often compared to a long standing ghetto game known as “the dozens,” in which two people go back and forth telling jokes about the other, seeing who can last the longest and remain the wittiest. Some people feel that battling may have caused the deaths of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. Biggie. Read the following poem about battle rapping written by a student, who has changed his ways:
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“Not about that”
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A message in the most polite way
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By Theo Coleman, Co-op senior
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Let’s get one thing straight
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Battling was great
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But the words are hate.
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Then, no longer fake
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Becomes serious
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Other’s furious
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Nobody can win
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Death caused by a pen
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Biggie and Tupac
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Both of them got shot
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For the words “Hip-Hop.”
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It escalated
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More and more hatred
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Cannot erase it.
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Just got to face it
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Battling is wack
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I’m “not about that.”
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4. Watch a video of MTV battle rapping or a selective battle rap scene from the movie “8 Mile” with Eminem.
Day 5:
Have a positive battle rap. Two people start. Each participant must creatively compliment (in rhyme if possible) the person opposing them. (Students will likely find this more difficult than criticizing their opponent!) The winner takes on the next contestant. The class claps for the best. Have refreshments and a prize for the winner(s) if you like.