Flo Rida

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

• it hit home
• stage name
• gone with
• point of distinction

• the South
• pun
• club
• emo music

• booty
• Midwest

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

In the United States, the South does everything differently. Southerners speak in a special accent. Southern food is very distinct. And, yes, even rappers from the South are often especially proud of where they’re from. But few are more proud of being Southern than Flo Rida.

He named himself after a pun on the name of his home state, Florida. A “flow” is a improvised verse in rap music, and apparently Flo Rida “rides” them. Or maybe he rides the floor. Either way, it’s a pretty clever name.

Southern pronunciation also appears frequently in Flo Rida’s rhymes, like his song “Birthday” where he says “I don’t want no cake on my birrday, I want my cake erryday!” instead of “birthday” and “every day.”

Flo Rida may be from the South, but he’s making a name for himself all over the world. Beren just discovered his music.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Beren

Amanda

Beren:  The other night, I was out at the club dancing, and right before I got escorted out, I heard this song. Something “Low”?

Amanda:  “Low,” by Flo Rida?

Beren:  Ah, Flo Rida.

Amanda:  How cool is his name? Really?

Beren:  I thought it was Florida. I thought it was the new emo band from the Midwest.

Amanda:  Yeah, he’s from Florida and the culture of Florida and Miami just really, really hit home so he decided to change it to his stage name. Flo space Rida. Kinda cute?

Beren:  Yeah, it’s kinda cute.

Amanda:  Kinda cool. Kinda catchy. His real name is Tramar Dillard, so which one is a better stage name?

Beren:  T. Dill? He could have gone with T. Dill.

Amanda:  Yeah, he could have gone with T. Dill. I never really thought about it.

Beren:  I probably would have gone with T. Dill.

Amanda:  But he’s pretty cool. He’s only like 28 years old and he’s huge right now.

Beren:  Really? Is that the only song he has out right now? That “Low” song?

Amanda:  “Low”, and then there’s “Elevator” with Timbaland. I mean, he’s very club, radio-play…

Beren:  Rad, that top-40 dance.

Amanda:  ...but it seems to be doing very well.

Beren:  Good for him. Good for Flo Rida.

Amanda:  When people call him out as a rap artist, he’s like, “Oh, I just want to make sure they know I’m a southern rap artist,” so he makes that point of distinction there.

Beren:  Cool.

Amanda:  I’m a fan. I mean, the lyrics? Pretty creative. “She hit the flo’. And she got low.”

Beren:  It rhymes…

Amanda:  How hot is that?

Beren:  It’s a classic line.

Amanda:  “Sweat pants and the Reeboks and the plastic straps. Turned around gave her big booty a slap”? I mean…

Beren:  It’s like Shakespeare.

Amanda:  ...that’s like magic. Yeah.

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Lesson MP3

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