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Transcription: [00:22:55]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
Type of raps we've done so far on the stage, are ones defined by tempo, raps are also defined within the community by their content.

[00:23:03]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
How many of you all are familiar with the song done by Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five, a New York rap team about two years back, called the Message?

[00:23:14]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
The theme was "don't push me I'm close to the edge", and does that strike...there we go, got a few more hands on that one.

[00:23:21]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
That song, that rap I should say, gave the title to an entire form of rap, which was becoming popular at that time and now, has become very much a part of the rapping tradition, that being "The Message" rap.

[00:23:37]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
MC Cesaer could you pass the mic on down to the, to the, International Playgirls at the end.

[00:23:43]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
We'll give you an example here of what exactly a "Message" rap is. Lady Ice Tea, could you explain what a "Message" rap is, and how you put one together?

[00:23:52]
{SPEAKER name="Lady Ice Tea"}
[the mic is quiet] A Message rap is a rap to let you know what's going on in the world.

[00:23:58]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
[to the sound techs] Could we have a little more volume on that?
[00:24:00]


{SPEAKER name="Lady Ice Tea"}
Volume.
[00:24:01]

{SPEAKER name="Lady Ice Tea"}
A "Message" rap is a rap that talks about or, how the way I feel about, what's going on in the world.
[00:24:10]
{SPEAKER name="Lady Ice Tea"}
War, life around me, stuff I see in the streets, things that are going on. That's, pretty much...
[00:24:20]


[00:24:21]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
What is the name of one of the ones you all do?

[00:24:25]
{SPEAKER name="Lady Ice Tea"}
Well the one we do, is called "Living in a City".

[00:24:28]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
And how did you come to write that, or put that together?

[00:24:32]
{SPEAKER name="Lady Ice Tea"}
I just sat down-- we both of us, we sat down, we thought about a lot of things that's happened to us,
[00:24:37]
{SPEAKER name="Lady Ice Tea"}
things we've been through, and things we see, and things that happen to us so we put that together and it's becoming it.
[00:24:47]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
Okay. Could you give us an example then, of the "Message" rap, Life in the City.
[00:24:49]


[00:24:52]
{SPEAKER name="Lady Ice Tea"}

[[rapping]] Hey listen, lis..lis..listen up!
[00:24:54]


{SPEAKER name="Accompanying Voice"}

Just listen, lis..lis..listen up!
[00:24:56]


{SPEAKER name="Lady Ice Tea"}
A yeah listen, lis..lis..listen up!

[00:24:59]

{SPEAKER name="Both"}

Everybody lis..lis..lis..listen up! A life in the city is very hard.
[00:25:04]
{SPEAKER name="Both"}
You gotta watch your kids they might get hit by a car.
[00:25:06]
{SPEAKER name="Both"}
Your next door neighbor might be a crook. You say hi to a cop, and get a dirty look.
[00:25:11]
{SPEAKER name="Both"}
You took your life in your hands, just walking the streets. Cuz everybody's trying to hustle to make end's meet.
[00:25:16]
{SPEAKER name="Both"}
You see jobs are scarce and the pay ain't good, and it affects all cities and neighborhoods.

[00:25:21]
{SPEAKER name="Both"}

A city life you got to stay on your toes. A city life they'll take your gazelles and Joes.
[00:25:27]
{SPEAKER name="Both"}
City life is so bad, you can say it's a pity. City life life's tough a livin' in the city.
[00:25:31]
{SPEAKER name="Both"}
Grown men on the corner with nothing to do they just brag 'cause it hassle you.
[00:25:36]
{SPEAKER name="Both"}
Instead of taking care of Junior they're buying beer, it's a sad thing to see a child shed a tear.
[00:25:41]
{SPEAKER name="Both"}

Your children aren't hip to what's going on. Some don't even know how they were born but you make them suffer for your mistakes and they grow up thinking their life is fake.
[00:25:51]
{SPEAKER name="Both"}
A city life, our streets are filled with grime. City life, silly crimes time after time.
[00:25:56]
{SPEAKER name="Both"}
City life, it's so bad you can say it's a pity. City life, life's tough livin' in the city.
[00:26:01]
{SPEAKER name="Both"}
Hey everybody just listen up. Listen to our DJ cut the city cut, uh, Slice it up

Transcription Notes:
There are a few words that were hard to make out in the song. They are denoted with [[?]] I think I resolved the words that the first poster misunderstood