Create Your Own:

Remember that music that is called rap and hip-hop isnt always profanity-filled and talking
about life in the hood. It is only a musical and lyrical representation of things that have happened
in life. Only within the last 15 years has rap come to mean something that adults seem to want to
censor. This wasnt always the case!!



THE HISTORY OF RAP MUSIC

More than a century before rap exploded onto the American music scene, West African musicians
were telling stories rhythmically, with just the beat of a drum for accompaniment. Meanwhile, folk
artists from the Caribbean Islands were also telling stories in rhyme. Indeed, these singing poets from
Africa and the Caribbean lay the foundation for modern-day American rap music.

Rapping essentially involves the speaking or chanting of rhyming lyrics, often set to a beat. The
rhyming created by rappers is considered by many to be one of the most sophisticated styles of poetry.
Whats more, these rhymes often address provocative subjects such as sex, violence and socio-political
issues.

Rapping first gained popularity in the U.S. in the 1970s as a kind of street art, especially among
African American teenagers. But it wasnt until 1979, when the Sugarhill Gang released their
breakaway hit Rappers Delight, that record producers took notice of this emerging musical genre.
Once they did, numerous rap acts, including Run-DMC and N.W.A., surfaced, and raps audience
began to swell. It wasnt just African-American male rappers getting in on the act, either: By the
1980s, white rap bands such as the Beastie Boys and female rap bands such as Salt-n-Pepa were
reaching the top of the charts.

Rap has stood the test of time and its popularity rages on with todays artists such as 50 Cent, Ludacris
and Jay-Z churning out hit after thought-provoking hit. The beat truly does go on.
The beat box, which is used in today's rap music, is a result of slave culture. The poor economic
conditions of slaves led them to "get by" with whatever they could for instruments. The combination
of these two facts undoubtedly accounts for the expressionistic nature of African-American music from
the 1600s to today.



Rap is a musical genre that has always had an amazing sense of language: rhythm and poetic devices.
Because of the lack of actual music (unlike most other musical styles) all rap had to go on was the
words. No matter the age of rap, rhyming is always the KEY!!


The Assignment

Using different poetic elements that you have in your poetry knowledge bank, you are
going to create a rap.

Just remember: a rap is a poem put to a beat. Thats it!!


Your composition must have the following criteria meet:
1) There must be at least 6 stanzas of 4 lines, for a total of 24 lines
2) The rap must include a minimum of 8 poetic devices
Only TWO of the devices can be either a simile or a metaphor
3) The rap must follow the A-A-B-B rhyme scheme
This means that you are creating a series of rhyming couplets
4) Your rap can be about any topic that youd like
It may NOT contain violence, swearing (although you can bleep it out), overt sexuality
or anything that is not school appropriate
Will Smith Men In Black (1997)

The good guys dress in black remember that
Just in case we ever face to face and make contact
The title held by me -- M.I.B.
Means what you think you saw, you did not see
So don't blink be what was there
is now gone, black suit with the black Ray Ban's on
Walk in shadow, move in silence
Guard against extra-terrestrial violence
But yo we ain't on no government list
We straight don't exist, no names and no fingerprints
Saw somethin strange, watch your back
Cause you never quite know where the M.I.B.'s is at
Uh and...

Here come the Men in Black (Men in Blaaaaack)
The galaxy defenders
Here come the Men in Black (Men in Blaaaaack)
They won't let you remember (ohhhh nooooo)

Uh uh, uh uh, now
from the deepest of the darkest of night
on the horizon, bright light enters sight tight
Cameras zoom, on the impending doom
But then like BOOM black suits fill the room up
With the quickness talk with the witnesses
Hypnotizer, neutralizer
Vivid memories turn to fantasies
Ain't no M.I.B.'s, can I please
do what we say that's the way we kick it
Yaknahmean? I see my noisy cricket get wicked on ya
We're your first, last and only line of defence
against the worst scum of the universe
So don't fear us, cheer us
If you ever get near us, don't jeer us, we're the fearless
M.I.B.'s, freezin up all the flack
(What's that stand for?) Men In Black
Let me see ya just bounce it with me, just bounce with
me
Just bounce it with me c'mon
Let me see ya just slide with me, just slide with me
Just slide with me c'mon
Let me see ya take a walk with me, just walk it with me
Take a walk with me c'mon
And make your neck work
Now freeze...

Here come the Men in Black (Men in Blaaaaack)
The galaxy defenders
Right on, right on
Here come the Men in Black (Men in Blaaaaack)
They won't let you remember (ohhhh nooooo)

Alright check it, let me tell you this in closin
I know we might seem imposin
But trust me if we ever show in your section
Believe me, it's for your own protection
Cause we see things that you need not see
And we be places that you need not be
So go witcha life, forget that Roswell crap
Show love to the black suit, cause that's the Men in
That's the Men in...

Here come the Men in Black (here they comeeeee)
The galaxy defenders (ga-la-xy de-fenders)
Here come the Men in Black (ohhhh here they come)
They won't let you remember (won't, let you,
rememberrrr)
Here come the Men in Black (ohhhh here they come)
Galaxy defenders (ohh ohh, ohh ohh, ohh ohh)
Here come the Men in Black
They won't let you remember














Young MC Bust A Move (1989)

This here's a jam for all the fellas
Tryin' to do what those ladies tell us
Get shot down 'cause ya over-zealous
Play hard to get females get jealous
Okay smarty go to a party
Girls are scantily clad and showin' body
A chick walks by you wish you could sex her
But you're standing on the wall like you was Poindexter

Next days function high class luncheon
Food they're serving, you're stone-cold munchin'
Music comes on people start to dance
But then you ate so much you nearly split your pants
A girl starts walking guys start gawking
Sits down next to you and starts talking
Says she wants to dance 'cause she likes to groove
So come on fatso and just bust a move

You're on a mission and your wishin'
Someone could cure your lonely condition
Lookin' for love in all the wrong places
No fine girls just ugly faces
Some frustration first inclination
Is to become a monk and leave the situation
But every dark tunnel has a light of hope
So don't hang yourself, with a celibate rope

Your movie's showin', so you're goin'
Could care less about the five you're blowin'
Theater gets dark just to start the show
Then ya spot a fine woman sittin' in your row
She's dressed in yellow, she says
?Hello, come sit next to me you fine fellow?
You run over there without a second to lose
And what comes next hey bust a move
In this city ladies look pretty
Guys tell jokes so they can seem witty
Tell a funny joke just to get some play
Then you try to make a move and she says, No way
Girls are fakin' goodness sakin'
They want the man who brings home the bacon
Got no money and you got no car
Then you got no women and there you are

Some girls are sadistic, materialistic
Lookin' for a man makes them opportunistic
They're lyin' on a beach perpetrating a tan
So a brother with the money can be their man
So on the beach you're strollin' real high rollin'
Everything you have is yours and not stolen
A girl runs up with somethin' to prove
So don't just stand there bust a move

Your best friend Harry has a brother Larry
In five days from now he's gonna marry
He's hopin' you can make it there if you can
'Cause in the ceremony you'll be the best man
You say neat-O, check your libido
And roll to the church in your new tuxedo
The bride walks down just to start the wedding
And there's one more girl you won't be getting

So you start thinkin' then you start blinking
The bridesmaid looks and thinks that you're winking
She thinks your kinda cute so she winks back
And now your feelin' really firm 'cause the girl is
stacked
Reception's jumpin' faces pumpin'
You look at the girl and your heart starts thumpin'
Says she wants to dance to a different groove
Now you know what to do just bust a move