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- Session 15, Participation Activity: Using Story Models
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How to write a rap:
Some say you write when you feel like it, or when inspiration hits you. That is a sack of bull feces, you write everyday when you feel like it or when you don’t feel like it. You can stand or sit. Your mother is making a lot of noise in the background so when you sit you can’t focus so you stand to concentrate more. When you stand you can either use a pad and have the pad laying on something for you to write on when you are standing and have something to write. Or you can stand and have a phone for you to type in when you think of something. You can use your pad or you can use your phone, you can use a pen or pencil or you can use your fingers for typing. Now that you have your equipment for making the rap, here comes the actual doing. This is where everything is in your power, it is up to you to think what you want to think. You can think of anything, nothing is wrong here. You can think of unicorns, you can think of the word abomination, you can think of flying across the fifty states and landing in Africa. There is really no wrong in this part, when you think of something and you have a thought you can ask yourself is this going to be a song about something in particular or is it going to be a song with a lot of clever thoughts with no particular subject matter just a lot of witty ideas. If the song has a subject matter and has a topic in particular then you begin thinking what you want to say about that topic. You want to write about a car, start thinking to yourself. Gather thoughts, do you like the car? What kind of cars do you like? What color cars do you prefer? What particular sounds from a car do you like? Maybe you can add a actual sound of you trying to mimic how the car sounds. You have a thought and now you begin forming a line, “I live in the city and I like cars”.
Stop there, you think of rhymes first. But when you think of rhymes you are rhyming more than one syllable in the line, so you could rhyme “and I like cars” but you could also just rhyme “like cars”. You are rhyming more than one syllable every time you write a rap period. There is no shortcuts or easy way out, you want to be a advanced rapper and do the most advanced things you can do in this art form. You want Joe or Jack to say “that sounded good” even though Joe or Jack don’t know about the advanced rhyming you are doing. Joe and Jack just hear “car” and “harm”, but to their ears they hear “like cars” and “might harm”. So you say “I live in the city and I like cars”, you think a few things that rhyme with like cars are “fight stars”, “might harm”, “mice guard”. You are the creator, you think of what you want to say next but since it is about cars you make it all connect to cars since it is about cars. You say “I live in the city and I like cars, want to drive something that make them might harm”. You go on and on and have fun, you can either continue rhyming with “like cars” or you can think of other words for you to rhyme with when you think of a thought. If your song doesn’t have a subject matter, then you can think of whatever you want to think of without having to keep to a subject matter. You write at least sixteen lines, or you write more. You should know that at least sixteen lines is the standard amount for one rap. You finish and you can walk out to the kitchen where your mom is cooking and hug her because you’re proud you finished a rap, or you can begin the next process; you can record what you wrote to a beat.
“The Conversation”
I can still hear the voice of my grandma as she always used to say; “Young girls must be seen and not heard.” Don’t walk the streets talking loud, loud, ah young girl must be seen and not heard. Say good morning or good evening to everyone you meet, don’t call them by the first name, add mister or miss to it. Remember to pass by your Nen-Nen and Paren,(*godparents) they getting ole you know. Check on dem, see how they doing; make sure they have food and water in the house you know Mary gets home late every evening. Listen to your grandma, God go bless you, you will see, when you’re kind to others God will always be kind to you.
Go to school and learn well, make something of yourself; don’t go playing around with those little boys they have nothing good in them. Listen to your teachers and don’t go be rude to them, they are making a sacrifice for you, so you must respect them. Don’t eat your lunch before lunchtime and go begging other children, always keep your bus fare in your skirt pocket and don’t go spending it on foolish things, and you don’t want to lose it. Don’t go begging nobody for anything, be satisfied with what you have, okay then?
Come here child and let me tell you something never leave the house with dirty or tear panties. Always, separate them you hear, Church ones here, school ones there and the old, old ones use them at home, and your socks too, separate them you hear, girls must always walk the road clean, clean, and tidy, you don’t want anyone to run their mouth on you and me. my dear. Every evening when you come from school do your homework then put water in the kitchen before you go outside to play. Don’t leave your bag on the table, put your schoolbooks away, if the cat gets them, it’s me and you today. Ah giving you what Polly give the drum and you know after that you can’t sit down. Always put your school clothes in the washtub, I’ll wash dem in the morning, you know all your uniforms must stay nice and clean.
Always say your prayers before you go to sleep, kneel down by the bed and thank God for the day, for food, clothes and shelter and ask Him to give your old grandma strength to live to see you all grown up. Don’t take God’s name in vain and pray for others you hear. Always ask God to forgive you, because we always sinning, God loves us, but He don’t like the sins we do. Remember always do to others as you will have them do to you, that is the golden rule of the Bible, and it is a good thing to do.
Do you understand what I am trying to teach you my dear child, or do you think it is just an old woman’s foolish talk to you?*(I wrote in our Dialect)
How to take public transportation in New York.
I remember when I came to the USA, I got lost in the subway for hours. The first thing you need to know about public transportation is that it’s never on time. You need to add 10 minutes more to the time it says on the GPS. It’s better to purchase the rides beforehand so you don’t miss your train because the station’s booth can have technical problems. Then you have to go to an agent and there might be a line. You read the signs on the pillars of the train station, there might be changes in the route of the train. When the train arrives, give space to the people to get off the train first and then get on, or else they might push you and you may fall down. While riding the train, always listen to the announcement cause there might be changes to the route and it may not even show on the screen of the train. For busses, always sit in the front so you can talk to the bus operator about anything you need to know. They always help.
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