Name: ________________________________________ Date: __________________

1
Shakespeare is Hip-Hop - Lyrics
SAT Vocabulary Unit 2
The foundation of the English language is wordplay.
Quotidian, everyday people making it stay,
Inventing synonyms like magical and fey, happy and gay,
But the last example will show you that meanings can change.
Language is pervasive, spreading throughout, like perfume you doused
Or dripped on your blouse when you stepped in the house.
Language is pliable, bendable, and amendable.
Neologism is inventing new words, that's commendable,
Deserving of praise. We're more profuse than the rays,
More abundant than sunrays on the radiant days.
Language offers so many choices it's fertile and fecund,
Flipping freestyle flows for all my folks on the weekend.
To forestall and delay the approach of Monday, approaching.
We hunt illegally so we're poaching.
They can't fetter our words, chain them or restrain them,
We're liberating people, like Toussaint did the Haitians.
You'll find figurative language in rap and Shakespeare,
Symbolic meaning, similes and metaphors in there.
I love the English language, it has so many words,
Myriad words, a plethora of nouns and verbs.

Hip-hop is Shakespeare,
And Shakespeare is hip-hop . . .

A dictionary's not sacred, not sacrosanct,
No it's more like a bank, put stuff in and take it out again.
If I fabricate a word like hiphopperoperey,
In fifty years you might find that word on the SAT.
Wordplay is facile, every three-year-old does it,
Saying mo-mo for motorcycle, cuzy for cousin.
It's fatuous, silly, and foolish,
To think that if you say a word incorrectly then you are stupid.
Some people study vocab in a manner that's perfunctory,
Showing little enthusiasm like it was mandatory, not optional.
Me without a mic is like a plant without water.
2
It grows limp and flaccid, I get flabbergasted and astounded.
I forage through this language like I rummage for food.
I might find words that are rude, crude, licentious, or lewd,
Words that are vulgar, indecent, and profane,
But even those dirty words have a specific meaning.
Sometimes I'm fortuitous, lucky, and fortunate,
I find a word like fortuitous on my first pick.
That's serendipity, oddly good luck,
Like finding a buck, or a bullet coming at you when you duck.

Hip-hop is Shakespeare,
And Shakespeare is hip-hop . . .

Some cats try to abolish and abrogate
Fahrenheit, switch it over to centigrade,
But a cold flow by any other name would be
As chill, as algid, as frigid, as cold,
As brumal, as hiemal, as wintry as snow.
But hush, what wind from yonder window blows,
It's the sweet smell of synonyms, open your ears for them,
Yo, cause here they go:
A poor cat: an impecunious feline.
A hapless hiatus: an unlucky break in time.
A sociable questioner: a gregarious inquisitor,
The kind of man you'd invite to supper or dinner.
The seven deadly sins: seven lethal iniquities.
He urged the clever man fast: goaded the ingenious man quickly.
He lives in infamy: subsists in notoriety.
To coax with compliments: blandish with flattery.
The harmless baby: the innocuous neonate.
Tell a never-ending story: you incessantly narrate.
Don't ignore your teacher: don't flout your pedagogue.
Don't buffet your canine: don't beat your dog.
Name: ________________________________________ Date: __________________
3
Shakespeare is Hip-Hop - Fill in the Blanks
SAT Vocabulary Unit 2
The foundation of the English language is ________.
Quotidian, everyday people making it stay,
Inventing synonyms like magical and fey, happy and gay,
But the last example will show you that meanings can change.
Language is ________, spreading throughout, like perfume you doused
Or dripped on your blouse when you stepped in the house.
Language is pliable, bendable, and amendable.
Neologism is inventing new words, that's ________,
Deserving of praise. We're more profuse than the rays,
More abundant than sunrays on the radiant days.
Language offers so many choices it's fertile and ________,
Flipping freestyle flows for all my folks on the weekend.
To forestall and delay the approach of Monday, approaching.
We hunt illegally so we're poaching.
They can't fetter our words, chain them or restrain them,
We're liberating people, like Toussaint did the Haitians.
You'll find figurative language in rap and Shakespeare,
Symbolic meaning, ________ and metaphors in there.
I love the English language, it has so many words,
Myriad words, a plethora of nouns and verbs.

Hip-hop is Shakespeare,
And Shakespeare is hip-hop . . .

A dictionary's not sacred, not ________,
No it's more like a bank, put stuff in and take it out again.
If I fabricate a word like hiphopperoperey,
In fifty years you might find that word on the SAT.
Wordplay is facile, every three-year-old does it,
Saying mo-mo for motorcycle, cuzy for cousin.
It's ________, silly, and foolish,
To think that if you say a word incorrectly then you are stupid.
Some people study vocab in a manner that's perfunctory,
Showing little enthusiasm like it was mandatory, not optional.
Me without a mic is like a plant without water.
4
It grows limp and flaccid, I get ________ and astounded.
I forage through this language like I rummage for food.
I might find words that are rude, crude, licentious, or lewd,
Words that are vulgar, indecent, and profane,
But even those dirty words have a specific meaning.
Sometimes I'm fortuitous, lucky, and fortunate,
I find a word like fortuitous on my first pick.
That's ________, oddly good luck,
Like finding a buck, or a bullet coming at you when you duck.

Hip-hop is Shakespeare,
And Shakespeare is hip-hop . . .

Some cats try to abolish and abrogate
Fahrenheit, switch it over to centigrade,
But a cold flow by any other name would be
As chill, as algid, as frigid, as cold,
As ________, as hiemal, as wintry as snow.
But hush, what wind from yonder window blows,
It's the sweet smell of synonyms, open your ears for them,
Yo, cause here they go:
A poor cat: an ________ feline.
A hapless hiatus: an unlucky break in time.
A sociable questioner: a gregarious inquisitor,
The kind of man you'd invite to supper or dinner.
The seven deadly sins: seven lethal iniquities.
He urged the clever man fast: goaded the ingenious man quickly.
He lives in infamy: subsists in notoriety.
To coax with compliments: blandish with flattery.
The harmless baby: the innocuous ________.
Tell a never-ending story: you incessantly narrate.
Don't ignore your teacher: don't flout your ________.
Don't buffet your canine: don't beat your dog.