i dream in rhyming couplets

Ok not really, but this post is about rhyming couplets and dreams. First let's talk dreams.

I've been having crazy ones lately. Like the one where it was "Pretty Woman" set in Regency times. Or the amnesia one I mentioned. Or the tragic throat slitting one. I think my mind is under-stimulated without school. Last night the first one played out like some crazy foreign indie drama. I don't remember specifics but it involved a very strange looking foreign man who possibly worked for a priest running around doing things and had a bizarre message.

Then I dreamed that I was with some friends, or a cousin and her friends...I don't know. None of the people are actually real. But anyways, these chicks were bad news and I was stuck tagging along. Like, so bad they took grocery bags into a department store and just started filling them with stuff that they wanted to steal! Holy cow! So I was like "Yo, listen, you do whatever you want, that's cool, but I'm not going to do this." And then I turn around and there's the department store manager with a $7,000 gift certificate for me as a reward and as a way to promote business (?) So I get super excited thinking about what I'll buy, and the bad girls are all jealous. Why they aren't in jail, I'm not sure. But mostly I'm excited because they have an Aveda hair salon in the store (once again...what?) and I'm going to get my hair cut and dyed professionally and expensively. Awesome. That one I did not care to wake up from.

Moving along...did you know I wrote a rap about Colin Powell? Yeah, NBD, just threw down some rhymes. Well, when I worked at the Utah Neurological Clinic (UNC) we went to this motivational seminar, and he was one of the speakers. He talked about growing up in Harlem and overcoming obstacles, and also about how every member of a team is important. Example: the little migrant worker who cleaned his office in the white house made his job possible. I mean, he probably could have cleaned it himself or just not made a mess if we get right down to it, but for the sake of the take-home message we'll roll with it.

Anyways, afterward we had to do presentations at work on something we learned at the seminar. Some people made posters. Some of the posters had graphs or inspirational sayings. And then there's me and my friend Bri. We decide to rap, out of respect (and class stereotyping) of Colin's humble beginnings. Because we're ballin' like that. I write it and she comes over and we practice and practice and practice, much to the chagrin of my roommates. But we get the sucker down. And the day of we dress in black with sunglasses and yellow bandanas around our heads and we perform for the entire staff of the clinic. And they look at us with blank stares and clap half-heartedly. Whatev...you couldn't have done it! Just kidding, I love those people. But they really didn't know what to make of us. Anyways, I stumbled upon the lyrics as I cleaned out my gmail inbox for the first time in 2 years (and deleted 1600 emails. Yeah) and wanted to share. So that it would be preserved for posterity, you know?

so the rhythm (not the rhyming) is something liiiike a-b,a-b, c-c, c, c-c. At least the first line is, and then it sort of takes on a life of it's own after that. And the chorus is the tune of the chorus to Akon's Don't Matter. Enjoy!

Check this, up next is our man Colin

On the mean streets of Harlem he used to be rollin’

But now he flyin’ high, he’s up there on top

It’s all because the boy would not stop

Started off as a homeboy his outlook scary

But he dreamed big, was state secretary

The moral is kids – who cares where you start

It’s where you end up – just gotta have heart

Chorus:

You may have gotten off to a rough start

But it don’t matter, no

It’s where you end

The house was white, the flag stars and stripes

Col’ had the whole, he was doin’ a’right

But what would he do without the tight crew

That made his pad sparkle just like morning dew?

Straight up he’d crash cause we all need our peeps

From the bosses high up to the bros who push the sweeps

So watch yourself don’t be hatin’ a lot

You might find out you need what they got

Chorus:

You may have gotten off to a rough start

But it don’t matter, no

It’s where you end

So, let’s be friends and lift where you stand

We all important we need every hand

Remember this tale no way we can fail

And happy we’ll be at the U-N-C!!!