To Be or Not To Be: Hamlet Rap

Hamlet Rap for Mr. Gillespie's AP English Lit. Class

The song used was Aruarian Dance by Nujabes
Lyrics:
Young Hamlet's the name
Crown prince of the Danes
Some say I'm insane
But that's all a game
My mom has no shame
Husband or brother it's all the same
His lustful gaze set her passion aflame
He came at her like a beast of lust
Then she fell victim to his pelvic thrust

My dad was the king
But he was robbed of his bling
So now I can only think

To be, or not to be,
That is the question
To live, to sleep
Perchance to dream
For in that sleep of death
What dreams may come
When we have shuffled
Off this mortal coil
To live, or die
And take this life
With a bare bodkin
And end my strife
With dreams

They call me Young Hamlet
But my rhymes are kosher
About my father's death
I'm not too sure
Nature or man
Whichever it be
Is fillin my head
With possibilities
Theres nothing I can do
Til I know what's true
His brother, King Claud
Or an act of God
It's got my head spinnin
From the very beginnin
And now everyone's sinnin
While I'm standin here grinnin
An antic disposition
Is what I'm workin with
Polonius said brevity's the soul of wit
I'll trap King Claud til he has to admit
The dirty deed that he did commit
I'm a hunter and the fake king's my prey
I'll hunt him down til theres nothing left to say

My dad was the king
But then he lost everything
So now I can only look back and think

To be, or not to be,
That is the question
To live, to sleep
Perchance to dream
For in that sleep of death
What dreams may come
When we have shuffled
Off this mortal coil
To live, or die
And take this life
With a bare bodkin
And end my strife
With dreams

Young Hamlet
Goin so hard off the Richter
But at the end of this story
There wont be no victor
King Claud, the lord of the Danskers
Is lookin to be more and more like a cancer
But I'm a surgeon with my faithful scalpel
I'll make my incision and his hopes Ill trample

Uncle Claud was the king
But hell soon feel the sting
Of a brother betrayed and the death of a king

With my mother, I caught old Polo spyin
I had no choice but to send him off to Zion
It was my regret to see Ophelia cryin
My love for her, there was no denyin
But the deed was done, and the halls were filled with sighin
The kings next move almost had me dyin
"We can all agree to ship him overseas,
That's my decree to fix insanity"

So off I went across the great blue yonder
When on the sea, what better time to ponder
There I schemed and let my mind wander
When in dire straits, time's best not squandered
Abruptly I saw our ship torn asunder
The roar of cannons made it go under
"Avast ye maties, we're here for the ladies"
"Take me back to Denmark and you'll be paid like crazy"

Ferried back on the ships of pirates
I met Laertes, one of Claud's advocates
From dust to dust seems to be man's fate
Of that notion Laertes could relate
Until he was met at the Pearly Gates
Only my blood could his anger sate
"A duel to the death
And the very last breath
A life for a life there will be no less"

Poisoned cup and envenomed tip
The blood red wine lethal with one sip
One hit, two hit, then twice more
Laertes and Gertrude were on the floor
Dead at the hands of that treacherous fiend
The rotten state of Denmark was convened
"Alas I die, but with my head held high
Sweet, sweet Horatio do not cry"

And fin.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Hamlet
• Rap
• Gillespie
• North
• Penn

[Garribean2341]

Can I use this?

[tc12892]

@Garribean2341 what exactly do you mean by use?

[iheartductape]

were reading hamlet in my 8th grade advanced english class and this is super good!! im supposed to do something like this for a project but idk how to starttt..

[tc12892]

@iheartductape well I started by finding a beat to make my rap to. In my opinion, that's the most important part. Find a beat where you are comfortable with the tempo and rhythm, from there determine what you want to rap about. I decided to just do a short summary of the whole play

[wagsdrummer92]

DUDE! did you go to Pepperell? i have a few friends in Mr. Gillespie's AP Brit Lit right now

[tc12892]

@wagsdrummer92 no, this was for AP English Literature and Composition

[ekybadgirl]

love it! :D

can i get the download link?

[chrisclown00]

Wish I could download this lol

[AllenClarkFilms]

i made a hamlet rap too haha watch?v=eHjwvfB20GY&feature=re­lated

[volacious]

nujabes <3

[krisxtenx]

i loveeeeeeeeeee it and i love you  wooooooooow amazing

[cmbeats]

I first I thought this going to be corny, but right when nujabes went off instead of some whack white guy beat, and he started to rap with his own lyrics, it was Hella tight, he actually rapped good, thumbs up bro

[InsanityOnABunFilms]

nice!

[michelleissick]

Pretty much made my day when I was reading hamlet :)