I haven’t followed DMX’s career in a while nor have I listened to his music, but serendipitously, about a month ago, I brought up his name and his song for one of my assignments for my TESOL certification program. The class was called Teaching Listening and Speaking to English Learners and the assignment was about pronunciation. We were asked to give an example of a lesson we did with our students regarding sounds and tongue placement. Many people may or may not know this but in some Asian countries, such as Japan, there is no /r/ sound. Speakers of Mandarin, Japanese, and Korean often have difficulty making the distinction between the /r/ and the / l / sounds of English. Instead of pronouncing the word ‘arrive’, for example, we may think that a Japanese speaker is pronouncing ‘alive’, substituting the / l / for the /r/. One way of helping students to make the distinction between these two sounds is to tell them that the / l / sound is made with the tip of the tongue touching the tooth ridge while the /r / sound is made with the tip of the tongue touching no part of the mouth. In my lesson I explained how I would use DMX’s 2000 song “Rough Riders’ Anthem”. Musically, it’s a mesh between rock and roll and rap. The unique sounds, lyrics and chorus are about being powerful, who I liked to equate it to learning English. In the lyrics, it states “Rough riders roll”, so the /r/ and / l / sound are pretty close together, so it was pretty neat to see the students attempt to do this in a fast pace. They loved it and also loved DMX. You never know how music will influence life. I don’t think when DMX wrote that song that it would a model for a group of Japanese learning English, especially the /r/ and /l / sounds. But it did. And in their demeanor and their swag, in their posture and tongue, they definitely embodied DMX’s anthem. Ruff ryders roll !!!!
LYRICS
DMX: UH
DMX: Sumtin’ new
Stop,Drop
Shut ’em down open up shop
OOOOHHHHH! NNNNNNNOOOOO!
That’s how Ruff Ryders Roll
(2x)
~1 DMX~
Snitches wana try (what)
Snitches wana lie (what)
Snitches wonder why (what)
Snitches wana die (what)
All I know is pain (what)
All I feel is rain (what)
I cannot maintain (what)
With maddness on my brain (what)
I resort to violence (what)
My killers move in silence (what)
Like you don’t know what our style is (what)
New York killers the wildest (what)
My dogz is wit’ it (what)
You want it come and get it (what)
Took it then we split it (what)
Damn right we did it (what)
What the F you gon’ do (what)
When we run up on you (what)
You messin’ wit’ da wrong crew (what)
You don’t know what we gon’ through (what)
I’m gon’ have to show (what)
How easily we blow (what)
When you gon’ find out there’s some mo’ (what)
That’s runnin’ with yo (what)
There’s nuthin’ we can’t handle (what)
Break it up and dismantle (what)
Light it up like a candle (what)
Just cuz I can’t stand you (what)
Put my ish on tapes (what)
Like you bustin’ grapes (what)
Think you holdin weight? (what)
Hey you haven’t met the apes (what)
Stop,Drop
Shut ’em down open up shop
OOOOHHHHH! NNNNNNNOOOOO!
That’s how Ruff Ryders Roll
(2x)
~2 DMX~
Yo is ya’ll people crazy (what)
I’ll bust you and be swazy (what)
Stop actin’ like a baby (what)
Mind yo’ bizness lady (what)
Nozey people get it too (what)
When you see my spit at you (what)
You know I’m tryin’ to get rid of you (what)
Yeah I know it’s pitaful (what)
That’s how killers get down (what)
Watch my killers spit rounds (what)
Make you suckas kiss ground (what)
That’s for talkin’ ish, clown (what)
Oh you think it’s funny (what)
Then you don’t know me money (what)
It’s about to get ugly (what)
Whateva dog, I’m hungry (what)
I guess you know what that means (what)
Come up off that green (what)
pry niggaz offa me (what)
Don’t make it a murder scene (what)
Give a dog a bone (what) GGGGGRRRRRR!
Leave a dog alone (what) GGGGGRRRRRR!
Let a dog roam (what) and he’ll find his way home (what)
GGGGGRRRRRR!
Home of the brave (what)
My home is a cave (what)
And yo I’m a slave (what) to my home is the grave (what)
I’m gon’ pull papers (what)
It’s all about the papers (what)
Chickens talkin’ the paper (what)
And now thay wana rape us (what)
Stop,Drop
Shut ’em down open up shop
OOOOHHHHH! NNNNNNNOOOOO!
That’s how Ruff Ryders Roll
(2x)
~3 DMX~
MAN! Look what you done started (what)
Ask for it and you got it (what)
Had it should of shot it (what)
Now yo’ dearly’ departed (what)
Get at me dog that I rip ish (what)
With this one here I flip ish (what)
ziggas know when I kick ish (what)
Gon’ be some slick ish (what)
What was that look for (what)
When I walked in the door (what)
Oh you thought you was raw (what)
BOOOM! not any more (what)
Cuz now you on the floor (what)
Wishin’ you never saw (what)
Me walk through that door (what)
With that 4 4 (what)
Now it’s time for bed (what)
2 mo’ to da head (what)
Got the floor red (what)
Yeah that magget’s dead (what)
Another unsolved mystery (what)
It’s gon’ down in history (what)
n***** ain’t ever did ish to me (what)
b**** @$$ ziggans can’t get to me (what)
Gots to make a move (what)
Gotta point to prove (what)
Gotta make ’em groove (what)
Got ’em all like oooo (what)
So ’til the next time (what)
You hear this dog ryme (what)
Try to keep yo mind (what)
On gettin’ (uhhh) and crime (what)
Stop,Drop
Shut ’em down open up shop
OOOOHHHHH! NNNNNNNOOOOO!
That’s how Ruff Ryders Roll
(GUNFIRE!!)
TALK IS CHEAP MUTHAuffcka
Sheila E. Navarro 