Mad Rap Battles

The scene: A middle school library in an upper-middle class town.
The time: A Friday afternoon.
The cast: A group of 8th grade students.

Here's how it went down: my group of students were diligently working on research projects, quietly computing math problems, and filling out Spanish worksheets. One boy, however, was continually begging me- please, please, please let us have a rap battle! I quieted him down, set him back to work.

With one minute to the end of class he looked up at me, the unasked question written all over his face. I looked at my watch. "You have one minute. Go."

He jumped up, put his cap on sideways and walked like a gangsta over to the rest of the class. What followed can only be described as the worst freestyle rap I have ever heard in my life. I wasn't expecting there to be any 8-Mile, Eminem-style lyrics going down. All I can tell you is that the lyrics I did hear involved saying things like "H to the Hizzy" over and over again.

I informed this gentleman in no uncertain terms that there would be no further rap battles until he had put in some serious practice time. "Yes, ma'am", he mumbled, and shuffled off to his next class.

Lesson for the day: just because you've got the bling, it does not a rapper make.