Friday, April 6, 2007

Child star

My last post reminded me of something I hadn't thought about in ages. When I was a little kid, maybe second or third grade, we put on an anti-drug play at our school. Part of the program was this "Just Say No" rap. There were eight kids in the rap, and we were split into two groups that stood on the stage behind two microphones. Each pair of kids took turns rapping to each other, and then you'd go to the back of the line and the next two rappers would come up.

At first I was super-nervous because I was paired with this boy named Tamon who was freakishly tall (though now that I think about it, what IS "freakishly tall" when you are a second-grader? 5-1?) but I had a crush on him anyway, and I was afraid he would think I was a bad rapper. But then at the last minute they switched me so that I was rapping with a girl, which I thought kind of sucked. I also remember that I wore my best sunday school dress the day of the performance, which doesn't seem very rappy at all.

Anyway, I can remember some of the lyrics. This was my part, which I had to rap into the pinky-and-thumb-extended hand "phone" held up to my face:

"Hey, Pam! Yo! This is Sue!
I got some pretty hot news for you!
Did you hear what happened at the prom last night?
Some kids, they got into an awful fight!
I heard they were drinking, and using drugs,"
(And then something that rhymes with drugs)
(And then something else I can't remember)
"I guess they didn't know that you can JUST! SAY! NO!"

That last part, the JUST! SAY! NO!, we were all supposed to yell really loud. Also, you were supposed to get into the rap physically, by snapping your fingers or swinging your hips. Way cool. But seriously, what is that missing part? What the hell rhymes with "drugs" that could possibly make sense here? I guess I could think of some possibilities for the missing lyrics, though very few of them would be appropriate for little children to rap.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

You are so doing this - especially the snapping-and-swinging-hips bit - the next time I get you drunk.

That may sound bad. But, for once, it should.

JUST. SAY. NO!

Robyn said...

It was probably "thugs," but I'm hoping for something better about eating bugs or stealing Persian rugs or drinking chamomile tea from dainty mugs.