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Need Rap/street slang in screenplay

I

Inarius

It's kinda embarrassing question. Along with my Sci-Fi story, I'm writing a screenplay about a rap singer. I don't live in US, and I don't know people from there, so nobody can help me with the Afro-american slang. And that's important. I know a few things of course, but there's a black character who talks much, so I need him to be like a real guy from the hood. Where can I get slang idioms or something like that? I wanna make it real.
 
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Inarius said:
How would you write that?
Click to expand...

Code: 
                              CURTIS
		Man, I know whatcha sayin’, but 
		you're beatin' your head 'gainst a wall!
		Even Jessica hates your
		obsession with it.

That last change was mainly because I wasn't sure what you meant by Jessica taking it 'hard', as that's an adjective I'd normally use for a sudden shocking piece of bad news, not a constant obsession. Personal taste. With the original wording, I'd have it "Even Jessica takes your obsession with it hard."
 
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Inarius said:
Code: 
		             CURTIS
                You forget that it’s a business!
                Producers and record companies 
                wanna see you feed their wallets. 
                If they ain’t see you can do that, 
                you’re out.
and
Code: 
			     CURTIS
		Man, I know whatcha saying’, but 
		you beat your head against a wall!
		Even Jessica takes hard your
		obsession with it.
Click to expand...

I'm gonna offer a suggested rewriting of this dialog. There are a million ways you could say the same things, my following suggestion is but one. Anyway, to be honest, some of that dialog sounds like it's written by someone who is unfamiliar with the vernacular. Here's how I'd rephrase it.

Dude, it's a business! You only
exist to feed their wallets. If you
ain't doin' that, you're out!

"They ain't see" isn't really a thing that any American says.

Man, I hear ya. But you're
beating your head against a
wall. Even Jessica hates how
obsessed you are.

"Do you know what I'm saying?" was long ago replaced by "You know what I mean?", except the entire phrase is miraculously slurred into two syllables. Plus, nobody ever uses that phrase except to ask somebody for affirmation that they're on the same page. Nobody ever uses the phrase to tell someone that they're on the same page. If you're going to tell someone that you're on the same page, it'd be phrases like "I hear ya", "I gotcha", "Yeah, I know".

DISCLAIMER: I'M AN OLD WHITE GUY
 
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Inarius said:
Code: 
		             CURTIS
                You forget that it’s a business!
                Producers and record companies 
                wanna see you feed their wallets. 
                If they ain’t see you can do that, 
                you’re out.
Click to expand...

This is how I would phrase it:

You forget that it's a business!
Record execs are only gonna
sign you if you're making them ends.
If you can't do that, Shit, you're out.

hope that reads right.

I like maz's version of the response
 
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Returning to this topic. What do you think a good name for a white rapper? I have to give some spoilers - he can rap and speak in different voices. There is one voice he uses to rap, which is not his real voice. His real voice is too childish, not suitable for rap, so he raps in a strong low voice. The way he's doing that is considered cheating in the rap industry.

So I need a name for a white rapper, somehow related to this concept, which I really want it also to be the title of the screenplay. I could think of nothing better than VoiceCrafter, but that doesn't seem a rapper name. You ideas?
 
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ChimpPhobiaFilms said:
Hmm.. let's think of white rappers... trying to think of who comes to mind. Well... you could always name your rapper SKITTLES, or ƧKITTLES. ;)
Click to expand...

Could that be a title for a screenplay? :)

I need the name to fit 2 criteria:
1) - Relevant to the idea (a man who can alter his voice whenever and however he wants)
2) - I'll be glad if it would be the title for the screenplay.

P.S. it's better if the name is more than one word, and that one of those words is "voice".
 
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VoiceCrafter sounds like a software package :)

If the key feature is lowering his voice, how about VoxDrop? Or VoiceChoice?

I like VoxDrop, as you can stylise it on the posters so you get the laughing face smiley in the middle: voXDrop.

It would mean his abbreviated name is VD, but as it's the music industry I guess it fits :D
 
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I like the name... 'Drop' has hiphop connotations of its own (dropping rhymes, dropping beats, releasing something like a track or an album etc.) And Vox is just a sexier way of saying Voice.

But would the rapper want to draw attention to his 'cheating' in this way?
 
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maz said:
But would the rapper want to draw attention to his 'cheating' in this way?
Click to expand...

Nobody can find out he's cheating, so he can allow it to himself. People will find out, eventually, but that's because someone who knows about the cheating exposes him. Seriously, if you hear "VoXDrop", you wouldn't immediately think of a rapper who's cheating.
 
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Is this a comedy?

A rapper named VoxDrop, often abbreviated to VD, who has numerous speaking/rapping voices, uses his talent to cheat his way into the rap industry...

Sounds like a comedy to me...
 
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It is a little bit comedy, yes. Only a little bit. But mostly it's about a guy who feels bad about getting so much admiration he could never earn without cheating. But he also can't expose himself, because he's afraid to hurt his fans.

I think if I define the genre, it would be Drama-Comedy

It's NOT his talent to speak/rap in different voices. If it was a talent, it wouldn't be considered cheating.
 
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Wow! I almost spit my coffee on the keyboard when I saw him running away in this costume. :D :D :D at 47-51 seconds

P.S. What do you think about "VD" as the guy's autograph?
 
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