Rap stars help you learn English

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

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• come to fruition
• go another way
• conviction
• deep

• stand out
• #1 hit
• path
• make up your mind

• afterlife
• locked up

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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Few artists have such a recognizable sound as Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. The combination of fast rapping and melody makes this hip-hop group stand out. Of course, their most recognizable song is the 1996 number 1 hit, “Tha Crossroads.”

A crossroads is when two roads meet and you can choose if you want to continue on the path you are on, or go down a new one. You have to make up your mind about where you want to get to.

After a recently concert, we spoke with founding Bone Thugs Layzie Bone and Flesh-n-Bone about crossroads in life and after.

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Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Jason

Layzie

Flesh

Jason:  Welcome to English, baby! I am Jason here with Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. We’ve got Flesh-n-Bone and Layzie Bone. You guys have a really big song called “Crossroads.” So, can you guys give me an example of a time in your life when you were at a crossroads?

Layzie:  Oh yeah, I was at a crossroads August 23rd, 1989, when I got locked up for the first time. When I got locked up, that’s when all my ideas of trying to be a rapper really came to fruition.

Jason:  You feel like right then you could have gone one way or another way…

Layzie:  I could have definitely went another way, you know what I mean. But my conviction to be something good and be something positive was like…it over-weighed everything else.

Flesh:  You don’t wanna go too deep, but you can look at the details of the song. In essence, we’re saying we’ll meet you there because it’s talking about the afterlife, the judgment that we’re talking about that you can’t hide from. You gonna meet it, you gonna see it, and we gonna be there together, is what we mean.

Jason:  It sounds like a crossroads can be in the afterlife and it can also be in life when you don’t know where to go.

Layzie:  There’s the crossroads in the afterlife. We’ll meet you there because we all have to be judged and also it’s the crossroads in life when you’re at the point in life that you need to understand things and you’ve got to pay attention and get on your business.

Jason:  You guys have a new album out too. It’s called “Uni5.” Do you want to talk about that?

Flesh:  Uni5: The World’s Enemy is out there right now. It’s in stores. It’s on the internet right now. It’s a very special album because it’s the first album that has all five Bone Thugs on it. There hasn’t been a record done in over 10 years like that.

Jason:  Can I get you guys to give me a high five and say, “English, baby!”?

Layzie:  English, baby!

Flesh:  English, baby!

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