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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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Then just call it Snoop. Anyone who knows anything about hiphop will get the reference, and in isolation it's just a word like any other. And people in the UK (and the US) generally (and inexplicably) love their dogs, and often name them after something or someone else they love.
 
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maz said:
Then just call it Snoop. Anyone who knows anything about hiphop will get the reference, and in isolation it's just a word like any other. And people in the UK (and the US) generally (and inexplicably) love their dogs, and often name them after something or someone else they love.
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Yes, they love them... as pets. So if I name a dog Snoop, I actually say that Snoop Dog is a pet.

Considering the fact that Snoop Dog (or any other famous person) may be against having his name mentioned in some movies, he may be even more offended having himself referred as a dog.

If I had a dog, I would name it however I want, because my dog is not meant to be seen by the entire world. But movie is something commercial, made for many people.

It reminds me of an iPhone App named "Flying Cyrus". The developers of the game were asked by Miley Cyrus’s legal team to remove the game. So they just changed its name of the game, to avoid lawsuit. It's a good example of how famous people may be offended, and I don't want to repeat that mistake.
 
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Inarius said:
It reminds me of an iPhone App named "Flying Cyrus". The developers of the game were asked by Miley Cyrus’s legal team to remove the game. So they just changed its name of the game, to avoid lawsuit. It's a good example of how famous people may be offended, and I don't want to repeat that mistake.
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..You may get a letter from Charlie Brown's attorney with the same request for "Snoop".

-Birdman
 
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Inarius said:
Yes, they love them... as pets. So if I name a dog Snoop, I actually say that Snoop Dog is a pet.

Considering the fact that Snoop Dog (or any other famous person) may be against having his name mentioned in some movies, he may be even more offended having himself referred as a dog.

If I had a dog, I would name it however I want, because my dog is not meant to be seen by the entire world. But movie is something commercial, made for many people.

It reminds me of an iPhone App named "Flying Cyrus". The developers of the game were asked by Miley Cyrus’s legal team to remove the game. So they just changed its name of the game, to avoid lawsuit. It's a good example of how famous people may be offended, and I don't want to repeat that mistake.
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Is your story going to be set in the USA? If so, naming the dog after something that the owner loves is perfectly natural. Calling a dog Snoop has nothing whatsoever to do with Snoop Dogg unless someone makes that implication. The owner could just as easily be a fan of The Wire.

More to the point, if Snoop Dogg is offended at the idea of his name being associated with dogs, he probably should have chosen his name better, you know?

EDIT: just discovered one of the most famous men in the world owns a dog named Snoop, named after his musical hero Snoop Dogg, so the joke's not so original after all.
 
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Well, it's ok if the name isn't original, because the part of the dog in the story is very minor - only one scene. But original is better of course.

I've just found out that Snoop is actually a dog name in US, so it must be commonly used by dog owners.
 
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Inarius said:
Well, it's ok if the name isn't original, because the part of the dog in the story is very minor - only one scene. But original is better of course.

I've just found out that Snoop is actually a dog name in US, so it must be commonly used by dog owners.
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Hey, you can EASILY name the dog "Snoop". Anyone telling you otherwise is WAY over-thinking it. There isn't a judge in the world who would rule against you for having a dog named "Snoop" in your screenplay.

-Birdman
 
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Ok, so it's named Snoop :)

Birdman, I'm not afraid that someone's gonna judge me. Snoop Dogg will never prove me trying to offend him by that Snoop name. But as I've learned from my Israeli experience, all court processes - even the smaller ones - are SOOOO damn annoying, no matter who wins at the end.
 
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Inarius said:
Ok, so it's named Snoop :)

Birdman, I'm not afraid that someone's gonna judge me. Snoop Dogg will never prove me trying to offend him by that Snoop name. But as I've learned from my Israeli experience, all court processes - even the smaller ones - are SOOOO damn annoying, no matter who wins at the end.
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Seriously though, do you really think Snoop Dogg would take a screenwriter to court because a character who's a hiphop fan affectionately named a dog after him? If he tried, the resulting storm on Twitter would harm his reputation far more than the name or the animal ever could.

So far you've named your protagonist and his dog after my suggestions. I'll be after a credit soon... :D
 
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