Yeah, what's up, what's goin on? Before we start this next record
I gotta put my shades on
So I can feel cool
Remember that law
When you have to put your shades on to feel cool?
Well it's still a law, you gotta put your shades on so you can feel cool You know what I'm sayin?
I'mma put my shades on so I can see what you ain't doin'
And you ain't doin' nothin, you ain't doin' nothin
That I don't see
Now let's get on with this shit anyway

"Signifying Rapper” - “Smoke Some Kill” by SchoollyD

The title of this project refers to the track Signifying Rapper, by SchoollyD (1988), a reworking of the story The Signifying Monkey and the cheating figure Eshu, from Yoruba mythology.
Signifying is double-talk, a tease, a feature of Afro-American culture involving a verbal strategy which exploits the difference between the denotative and figurative meaning of words, mostly making use of irony and ambiguity to express ideas and opinions.
 
I have decided to convey the performance in this space with the aid of a text and a brief video mash-up, using some elements of the project that offer a sense of immediacy through dance and also through the words of the rappers. Projected onto a wall, these words acquire a dynamism and become a choreographic score, fragmenting and bringing together the quality of the movements, opening fissures between what we are hearing and what we expect to see.

For the video I have used an excerpt of the original audio from the performance created by composer Francesco Casciaro, who developed the entire audio project by de-structuring a series of lyrics from the history of rap, referring to the linguistic manipulation which is peculiar to this cultural phenomenon and rhythmically stratifying a multitude of overlapping references in order to create something new.
 
The text, on the other hand, was obtained by rewriting all the rhymes used in the audio structure, where they run fast, fragmenting themselves and continuously transforming their meaning.
 
The viewer is not required to comprehend. Viewers are required only to stay within the flux of the present, to distance themselves from the quadrature of the beat and to fix their gaze on the elusiveness of the movement.

“Rap’s here-and-now is always here-and-now: a music without a future tense can’t but be immortal.” David Foster Wallace
 
 

 
 
Take the tape out NOW!
This is not a Pop album
And by the way; Suck my motherfucking Dick!!

May I have your attention please?
Hi! My name is ...
now what you hear is not a test
i'm rappin to the beat
and me, the groove, and my friends are gonna try to move your feet
I'm alone but my tone is a sharp tune
Developing pictures in your brain like a darkroom

Listen to me now
I'm lastin' twenty rounds
And if you want me
(people)
Then come and get me now
(bounce)
Is you with me now
(bounce)
The biggie biggie bounce
(bounce)
I know you dig the way
I sw... sw... switched ma style

Now it's time for me to make my impression felt
So sit back, relax, and strap on your seatbelt
You never been on a ride like this befo'
It's like this and like that and like this and uh
It's like that and like this and like that and uh It's like this,
and we ain't got no love for those So jus' chill, 'til the next episode
Now let's get it all in perspective
For all y'all enjoyment, a song y'all can step with
I come correct, perfect, in full effect Disconnect, dissect, eject as I wreck shop
Stand in command with the clan
Caravan or van, we go man for man and Without further ado or any dela
What more can I say?

Top billin
That's what we get, got it good
And since you understood, would you Do a dance, dance the Two
If, you can dance it's easy to do
This dance is on and on and on
Dance until your breath is gone!!

Go, go, go, go, go, go
One and then the two Two and then the three Three and then the four Then you gotta BREATHE
One and then the two Two and then the three Three and then the four Then you gotta BREATHE

Follow me into a solo
Get in the flow and you can picture like a photo
Don't push me cause I'm close to the edge
I'm trying not to lose my head
It's like a jungle sometimes
It makes me wonder how I keep from goin' under

What the hell are you waiting forrrr?
After me, there shall be no more

I'm gonna knock you out
Mama said knock you out
Don't u call this a regular jam
I'm gonna rock this land
I'm gonna take this itty bitty world by storm
And I'm just gettin warm
Just like Muhummad Ali they called him Cassius
Watch me bash this beat like a skull

I came to get down
I came to get down
So get out your seats and jump around
Jump around
Jump around
Jump around
Jump up Jump up and get down!
Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump Jump

it's bigger than hip-hop, hip-hop, hip-hop, hip
It's bigger than hip-hop, hip-hop, hip-hop, hip-hop

When I move, you move (just like that?)
When I move, you move (just like that?)
When I move, you move (just like that?)

Hell yeah, hey DJ bring that back

(When I move, you move) just like that?
(When I move, you move) just like that?
(When I move, you move) just like that?
(Hell yeah, hey DJ bring that back)
Stand Up!

Let's get it on!!
We don't give a what what!! We don't give a what what!! Get it on the floor
Get it get it on the floor
(WHAT?!)
Get it on the floor
Get it get it on the floor
(WHAT?!)
You don't wanna party then your ass gotta go (WHAT?!) You don't wanna party then your ass gotta go (C'MON!) Now you can ride to this motherfucker (uh)
Bounce to this motherfucker (uh)
Freak to this motherfucker
(let's get it on)
Get it on the floor
(WHAT?!)
Get it get it on the floor
(WHAT?!)

Get it on the floor
(WHAT?!)
Get it get it on the floor
(that's right)
There's gon' be some stuff you gon' see
that's gon' make it hard to smile in the future.
But through whatever you see,
through all the rain and the pain,
you gotta keep your sense of humor.
You gotta be able to smile through all this bullshit. Remember that. Mmm, yeah.

Keep ya head up. Yeah.
 
 

ICE-T Warning (1993)
EMINEM The Real Slim Shady (2000) My name Is (1999)
SUGARHILL GANG Rappers’ Delight (1979)
KOOL G RAP Man at Work (1989)
MISSY ELLIOT Get your Freak On (2001)
DR DRE feat SNOOP DOOGY DOGG Nuthin' but a G Thang (1992)
NAS Made you Look (2002)
BIG DADDY KANE Set It Off (1988)
AUDIO TWO Top Billin’ (1988)
50 CENTS In Da Club (2003)
FABOULOUS Breathe (2004)
ERIC B. & RAKIM Follow the Leader (1988)
GRANDMASTER FLASH The Message (1982)
JAY-Z Encore (2003)
LL COOL J Mama Said Knock You Out (1990)
HOUSE OF PAIN Jump Around (1992)
DEAD PREZ Hip Hop (2000)
LUDACRIS Stand Up (2003)
DMX Get it on the floor (2003)
TUPAC SHAKUR Smile (1997)