ESL Hip Hop

Learn English with hip-hop and rap.

Reduced Relative Clauses with The Roots

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Things Fall Apart is the fourth studio album by American hip hop band The Roots, released February 23, 1999 on Geffen Records. According to Spin magazine, the album is a landmark moment for The Roots and the collective, as it “swelled the Roots clique into a movement-style posse.” The album has also been considered by music writers as The Roots’s breakthrough album, earning praise from major […]

Comparative and Superlative Adjectives with KRS-One

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Hip Hop Lives is the collaborative album from MC KRS-One and producer Marley Marl. This is a historical album in the sense that 20 years prior, KRS and Marley were bitter rivals involved in the legendary Bridge Wars. In an interview with Unkut.com, KRS-One spoke on how the album came together and as it was released 20 years after his debut album Criminal […]

Beginning Hip-Hop with Biz Markie: Vocabulary and How to Use ‘Ever’

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Biz Markie is a rapper, beatboxer, DJ,comedian, singer, reality television personality, and commercial spokesperson. He is best known for his single “Just a Friend“, an American Top 10 hit in 1989. In 2008, “Just a Friend” made #100 on VH1‘s list of the 100 greatest hip hop songs of all time (taken Verbatim from Wikipedia). You, you got what I need, but you say he’s […]

Reported Speech and Vocabulary with Eve

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Eve is an American Grammy Award winning rapper-songwriter, record producer and actress. Her first three albums have sold over 8 million copies worldwide. Her debut album, Let There Be Eve€¦Ruff Ryders’ First Lady, was released September 14, 1999 on Ruff Ryders Entertainment and Interscope Records. It sold 213,000 copies in the first week and is now certified Double Platinum. The album features singles such […]

Like: Speak English LIKE a Native

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Das EFX is an American hip hop duo consisting of emcees Dray and Skoob. They named themselves “Das” standing for “Drayz and Skoob” and “EFX” meaning “effects”. They rose to popularity in the early 1990s due to their affiliation with EPMD‘s Hit Squad and the duo’s stream of consciousness lyrical delivery, which became one of the most influential lyrical styles in hip hop music during the early 1990s. Their […]

Learn English Grammar: Negative Questions with Gang Starr

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Hard to Earn is the fourth album from the hip hop duo Gang Starr. It was released in March 1994 and featured the singles “Mass Appeal”, “DWYCK” and “Code of the Streets”. Musically, the album is constructed around a harder, more stripped-down sound that is distinctively less melodic than the duo’s previous work. Guest appearances on the album come from Group […]

Learn English Grammar: Possessive Pronouns with Nas

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“The World Is Yours” is the third single from Nas‘s debut album Illmatic, released a month after the album. It is considered by some music critics one of the greatest hip-hop songs ever recorded. The song was produced by Pete Rock€”who also sings the song’s chorus€”and samples “I Love Music” by Ahmad Jamal and “It’s Yours” by T La Rock. A remix of […]

The Verb ‘Think’ with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg

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“Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang” is a song by gangsta rapper Dr. Dre from his debut solo album, The Chronic. It features rapper Snoop Dogg and is the first single from the album. This track reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, outperforming The Chronic’s other singles, “Fuck wit Dre Day (and Everybody’s Celebratin’)“, which peaked at #8, and “Let Me Ride“, which peaked […]

Learn Grammar with Common

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“I Used to Love H.E.R.” is a hip hop song by the Chicago-born rapper Common. Released on the 1994 album Resurrection, “I Used to Love H.E.R.” has since become one of Common’s best known songs. The song speaks on the direction that hip hop music was taking during the late 1980s and early 1990s. It specifically refers to the fall ofconscious […]

Learn English Grammar with Mobb Deep: by & until

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“Survival of the Fittest” is the second single from Mobb Deep‘s The Infamous album. The song was the duo’s second hit single from the album, following “Shook Ones Pt. II“. The track peaked at #69 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and hit the Top 10 on the Hot Rap Singles chart. The song is similar to “Shook Ones Pt. II” in […]

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