Rapping for Shelly E-Book

Paul Davenport

• Herausgeber: Ernst Klett Sprachen GmbH
• Kategorie: Fremdsprachen
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Seitenzahl: 73

Beschreibung

Sal ist ein junger Rapper. Er rappt - wenn er darf - in der Schule, er rappt in Clubs in Downtown San Francisco. Aber er ist nicht der einzige Rapper an seiner Schule. Sein Rivale heißt Alonzo: der robuste, aggressive, eifersüchtige Freund von Shelly. Und als Shelly anfängt, Interesse an Sals Raptalent zu zeigen, sind die Probleme vorprogrammiert. Vor einem Hintergrund von spannenden "rap battles", in denen harte (und nicht so harte) Musik-Texte den Zuschauern präsentiert werden, kämpfen Sal und Alonzo um ihren musikalischen Ruf - und um die Aufmerksamkeit der schönen Shelly. Klett English Readers / Sek. I / Niveau A2 / Lektüre mit Annotationen Hinweis: Das Hörbuch zu Rapping for Shelly, das mit manchen Readern gehört werden kann, wurde stellenweise vereinfacht und ist daher nicht durchgehend identisch mit dem gedruckten Text.

Leseprobe

Rapping for Shelly

Paul Davenport

Rappingfor Shelly

Paul Davenport

Rapping for Shelly

1. Auflage

Das Werk und seine Teile sind urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Nutzung in anderen als den gesetzlich zugelassenen Fällen bedarf der vorherigen schriftlichen Einwilligung des Verlags. Hinweis zu § 52 a UrhG: Weder das Werk noch seine Teile dürfen ohne eine solche Einwilligung in das Internet oder ein Netzwerk eingestellt werden. Dies gilt auch für Intranets von Schulen und sonstigen Bildungseinrichtungen. Ein weiterer kommerzieller Gebrauch oder die Weiterleitung an Dritte sind nicht gestattet.

© Ernst Klett Sprachen GmbH, Rotebühlstraße 77, 70178 Stuttgart, 2009. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Internetadresse: www.klett.de / www.lektueren.com

Autor: Dr. Paul Davenport

Redaktion: Paul NewcombLayoutkonzeption: Elmar FeuerbachGestaltung und Satz: Satzkasten, StuttgartUmschlaggestaltung: Elmar FeuerbachTitelbild: Shutterstock © UltraViolet, New YorkBild vom Autor (S. 6): Photo by Herman Arens

ISBN 978-3-12-542642-9eISBN 978-3-12-909002-2

Contents

About the book

About the author

Abbreviations used in annotations

Rapping for Shelly

1 THE DREAM

2 A ROUGH SCENE

3 RAPPING FOR THE ENGLISH TEACHER

4 ALONZO’S ANGER

5 CONFRONTATION

6 BODYGUARDS

7 UNDER CONTRACT

8 AN UNUSUAL CONVERSATION

9 TESTING SHELLY

10 ALICIA’S PARTY

11 RAP BATTLE

12 PEACE?

13 HEAVY TALK

14 FOR SHELLY

15 THE WINNER

Paul Davenport

About the book

16 year-old Sal D’Angelo dreams of becoming a rap superstar. He’s got the talent and the determination but he’s facing big obstacles. As a Latino, he’s definitely an outsider in the mainly Afro-American Frisco rap scene. And the fact that he prefers to rap about life in a middle-class American town rather than the classic theme of life in the ghetto makes him even more of an outsider. Still, with his brilliant style he makes a name for himself, even winning rap battles against some famous rappers. He seems to be on his way to achieving his dream, but then he falls in love with the girlfriend of his biggest rival and worst enemy…

About the author

Music is an important part of several of Paul Davenport’s readers. Paul comes from a musical family. One of the happiest memories of his youth is the regular ‘jam sessions’ with his father, with Paul on alto sax and his father on the piano. (His grandmother actually played background music for silent films!). Paul enjoys a wide range of music styles including pop, rap, country, disco and rock and roll, including songs by German artists.

After completing his postgraduate studies, he moved to Germany, where he’s been living with his wife and family ever since.

The roots of his writing career go back to the stage plays he wrote for his English classes to perform. One of them, The Royal Choice, became his first publication, in 1996. Four years later, he wrote the first of his many school readers.

A highlight in his writing career was when his story Crossroads to Love became a finalist in the Extensive Reading Foundation’s contest for reader of the year 2007. The second highlight came a year later, 2008, when another of his stories, Horror Trip on the Pecos River was named the winner of that same contest.

Paul’s hobbies include reading, table tennis and fly fishing. He sometimes misses the trout fishing in Maine, where he grew up. He still has his alto sax and, from time to time, takes it out and plays a tune or two.

Abbreviations used in annotations:

abb

abbreviation

derog

derogatory

inf

informal

off

offensive

sb

somebody

sl

slang

sth

something

vulg

vulgar

1THE DREAM

‘I’m proud to be Latino,

my father from Mexico,

my mother from Puerto Rico,

born in San Francisco,

I want the world to know

where my rap is coming from,

where it’s gonna go.’

Sal paused and let his words echo in his ear. He loved the way the words ‘rolled’, as he liked to say. He loved the sounds of words. He enjoyed putting them together and watching them interact, the way they did in the sentences he had just spoken. The way the words ‘Latino’, ‘Mexico’, ‘Puerto Rico’, ‘San Francisco’, ‘know’ and ‘go’ all echoed each other. It was like he’d made a necklace with words, linking the words together, like pearls.

Sal D’Angelo, or Sal D, as he called himself, had a dream. It was a crazy dream. He wanted – no, he yearned – to become a famous rapper, a rap superstar. He had the talent – a lot of people had told him that – and he was willing to work hard to develop it.

But, he realized, there were huge obstacles in his way. The main one, of course, was the fact that he was a Latino. To most people, the world of rap music was a black world. They didn’t expect to see a Latino there. Some didn’t want to see a Latino there. If a guy like Sal tried to get in, they would try to keep him out.

Another obstacle was his subject matter. Mainstream rap was about life in the ghetto, a world Sal had no first-hand knowledge of. His world was strictly middle-class: large, comfortable homes complete with two-car garages, in clean and orderly neighborhoods, with little or no crime. He lived near the top of Albany Hill, in the little town of Albany, ten miles from San Francisco, on the opposite side of the bay. On clear days – smogfree days – he could look out his bedroom window and see San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge! On very clear days, he could see much more, a breathtaking panorama including Angel Island, Treasure Island, Alcatraz Island and the bridge that made the Golden Gate Bridge look small: Oakland Bay Bridge.

How can you rap about a place with a milliondollar view?

Tough question – but no tougher than the question, how can you rap about a place you know little or nothing about? Sal was facing a rock-and-a-hard-place choice. If he rapped about the ghetto, people would realize that he didn’t know what he was talking about and turn away. If he rapped about his middle-class world, people would also turn away. Or would they?

He thought about it long and hard. And the longer and harder he thought about it, the more he realized that what he really wanted to rap about – what he had to rap about – was his life, not a fantasy life he knew nothing about. He wanted his rap to be real, not fake. That’s why the Albany he would rap about wouldn’t be the ‘Welcome-to-Awesome-Albany’ for tourists. His rap would be about the dark side of Albany, the side tourists didn’t get to see. Where there was just as much struggle as there was in the ghetto, only different.

At first glance, it seemed that kids like him from a typical Albany neighborhood had a wonderful life. Sure, they were well taken care of. They lived in nice houses, went to good schools, wore the latest styles. But – and it was a huge but – there was a price for all these privileges. And the price was high – high pressure. Albany was a high-pressure zone. As a kid from Albany, you were under pressure to be an achiever. Sure, your parents did a lot for you, supporting your busy self-improvement program (fitness center, weight loss camps, private tutoring, tennis lessons, riding lessons, and all the rest), but they expected a lot in return. They wanted you to be good, or preferably, excellent. To shine – like a star, get high marks in school, go on to the best colleges, and in the end, land a high-paying job.

No wonder a lot of the kids from Albany had alcohol and drug problems.

Latino!lx*ti:noU? person who comes from Central America or Puerto Rico (i.e. has the dark looks of a Spanish/Indian person)

necklace!*neklEs? a piece of jewelry a woman wears around her neck

to yearn!jE:n? (for sth): to want sth very much

obstacle!*A:bstEkEl? problem, sth is in the way of sth else

subject matter the ideas or information contained in a book, film, speech, etc.

tough!t0f?here: difficult

rock-and-a-hard-place If you find yourself between a rock and a hard place, you are in a no-win situation

fake not genuine, appearing to be something it is not

struggle a hard fight

stylehere: fashion

achiever someone who is able to reach their goals

weight loss camp a type of summer program to help overweight young people lose weight

private tutoring being taught by your own personal teacher

to landhere: to get

2A ROUGH SCENE