Rap is a foreign language

[Steve Munslow]

(I think this may be of interest to those with a penchant for modern slang: Steve Munslow)

The Times
June 06, 2003

Rap is a foreign language, rules rueful judge
By Alan Hamilton.

A HIGH COURT judge as good as admitted yesterday that the wilder shores of the English language were utterly beyond his comprehension.
Faced with making a reasoned judgment on the true meaning of the phrase "shizzle my nizzle", Mr Justice Lewison was forced to conclude that the lyrics of rap records were, for all practical purposes, a foreign language. He dismissed the case.

In a hearing that may have some resonance on the streets of Brixton but which will produce only mystification in Bournemouth, Buxton and Berwick, Andrew Alcee, a writer of garage music, claimed that his original composition had been mixed on a record with rap lyrics containing references to violence and drugs, an act which amounted to derogatory treatment of his copyright and caused damage to his honour and reputation.

At least the judge was sensitive to the yawning chasm between the majesty of the law and the mysteries of hip-hop. The hearing, he said, had "led to the faintly surreal experience of three gentlemen in horsehair wigs examining the meaning of such phrases as 'mish mish man'."

But at the end of the day, all efforts to bridge the linguistic divide between Queen's Counsel English and the patois of young black England essentially ended in dreadlock.

Mr Alcee had lodged his complaint under the Copyright Act. He had been the writer of a number entitled Burnin, which had been released as a single in 2001 by the concept group Ant'ill, and had become a No 1 UK garage hit. The court was already in difficulty with the concept of "concept group", not to mention "garage hit".

According to Mr Alcee, the original record was remixed and reissued by a band named Heartless Crew, a rap record allegedly containing references to drugs and violence which used Mr Alcee's original composition as its background.

He had claimed damages against EastWest Records, a division of Warner Music UK, which had used Burnin on Heartless Crew's album Crisp Biscuit. The judge dismissed the claim, and also rejected a claim by Confetti Records and Fundamantal Records, owners of the copyright of Burnin, that their track had been used without permission.

The case turned on whether Mr Alcee's original work had been distorted or mutilated by the addition of the rap lyrics. The court did its best to understand the lyrics, first by playing the record at half speed, then by watching a video of Ant'ill Mob, including Mr Alcee, in performance dressed as 1930s gangsters.

Mr Justice Lewison, 51, a barrister for 28 years, is a newcomer to the High Court bench and was keen to prove himself in this most testing of cases. A spokesman said: "He is a very young judge; he knows all about music. After all, he has teenage children and no doubt they keep him in touch."

Faced with such domestic pressure, the judge used spare moments in the case to conduct his own research. He trawled the internet and discovered a site, Urban Dictionary, which claims to be up to speed with all current slang.

It offered no explanation at all for "mish mish man". For "shizzle my nizzle", he told the court, it suggested "for sure". Although he did not say so, it also offers the fuller translation: "I concur, my African-American friend".

Other suggested translations, the judge said, had sexual connotations, but none referred to drugs.

Mr Alcee had also complained that the rap lyrics added to his original work had gone on to call for someone to "string dem up one by one", and that this was an invitation to lynching.

The judge disagreed. That was not the only possible meaning, he ruled; a proponent of capital punishment who said that murderers should be "strung up" would usually be taken to be advocating the return of the hangman rather than lynching.

Moreover, the court had already heard that Elephant Man, the rapper who added the offending phrases to the remixed record, often made up words simply for their rhyming effect.

One of the problems of such a case, the judge admitted, was a lack of expert witnesses. He briefly pondered on the need for expert drug dealers to be called into court in similar cases to explain rap lyrics.

Mr Justice Lewison was resting last night after such a testing trial, and reflecting on the fact that he had been plunged into far deeper waters than most of his colleagues on the bench who have in the past been accused of being out of touch with the mainstream of real life.

His puzzlement at rap and garage will be seen as a minor misdemeanour when compared with Mr Justice Harman (1990) who thought Gazza was an opera, Judge Francis Aglionby (1999) who had to ask what a Teletubby was, and Mr Justice Popplewell (1998) who failed to grasp the underlying meaning of Linford Christie's “lunchbox”.

Saddest of all, however, was Judge Robin McEwan (1998) who had to ask who Noel Gallagher and the pop band Oasis were, and went on to confess with true judicial pathos: "All my favourite pop stars are dead."

Mr Justice Lewison, hero of yesterday's case, lists his recreations in Who's Who as "visiting France". He has been learning the wrong language.

Rapper's guide:

Bling, bling: Used to express admiration at excessive wealth and tastes. It comes from the sounds expensive jewellery makes while being worn.

Shortie: The generic term for a woman.

Yo bitch: An affectionate term for a female partner.

Boo: An expression of endearment to one's bitch.

Slamming: To express rapture at the appearance of an attractive woman.

That the shizzle: Superb, spiffing or jolly good show.

Big up: To show appreciation or applause at the end of a concert.

Blunt: A fine cigar filled with marijuana.

Blunted: Someone who has partaken.

The Chronic /Broccoli: Marijuana.

Bag up: To laugh in a raucous manner.

Stupid: To be creative.

Diss: To show disrespect.

Beef: The ensuing argument.

Squash: To end the argument or quarrel.

Boo-yaa: The sound of a shotgun, possibly occurring when attempts to "squash the beef" have failed dismally.

Bounce: To leave a vicinity at speed, possibly following the 'boo-yaa' sound.

Wacked out cracka' is a rich white person who pretends to act like a black gangsta

[timtheint]

Disagree about - Beef: The ensuing argument.
Beef значит вражда

Oh we got beef!
Hoody hooooooo!
Bring da gat where they at!