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Commitments

Playing drums is my forte, but I started on piano,
It would be a while till I changed my musical channel
Sartre claims other people are hell
For me, hell was piano. Not exactly, well,

Each day I had to practice for half an hour,
It was my parent’s decision, I had no power,
Sometimes I hated it. I was kicking, screaming, slamming the door,
I played the keys while my friends played N-64

But all of a sudden, in grade five,
My musical passion was brought to life,
Playin piano for hella years, like five or six
Never gave me the feeling that I got with sticks

So I struck a deal with my pop,
I could play the drums as long as I’ll never stop
Playing the piano, but after a while that fizzled
And now all I play are my paradiddles

I still sit on my set for hours at times,
I work on rhythms more intricate than rhymes,
It’s my life mission to perfect my beat,
I have a burning passion so I pack the heat

“Jagula, bro, you’re hella raw, homie”
Thanks, my dude, but I don’t think you know me
Because I’m never satisfied, I have ways to go,
I’m always practicing for a different shows

When I drum it’s actually a sacrifice,
I could be chillin’ with my friends, wouldn’t that be nice?
Friends come and go, but drumming I’ll never quit
I didn’t have a choice, I just had to commit

Friday after school and I’m on my way home..
My friends are all together but I’m all alone
I’m the type of kid who goes home after school
It’s not my fault I’ve got things to do.

In my house hold there is only one chore
I don’t clean my room or scrub the doors
But every day I sit at perfect command
producing sounds through my fingers and my hands

when I was a kid I had to practice each day
I hated playing the piano, in every single way
I cried and yelled and shouted and screamed
But at the end of the day I was practicing

Now I can say that things have changed
Piano is a friend and not a pain
I can practice at my leisure, my own discretion
And actually enjoy my music lesson!

Besides practicing I also have to teach
Little kids like I used to be, hear me preach
Five six and seven years of age
The very first years of their music sstage

They hear me preach about the gift they are getting
Frustration speaks louder with the notes they’re forgetting
But just like me they’re in it to win it
Already learning the meaning of commitment

Big A? No way! Can you believe he’s a teacher
You cant see me on the surface, so look a little deeper!
Something worth having always means you should commit
So I’ll never regret the hang outs I missed

Don’t get me wrong, I love my friends
But I learned to value what pays off in the end.
It’s just the beginning and I’ve let you in a little,
On the first inner beat of my paradiddle.

The Jam

Momma ain’t home and my dad don’t care,
So I’mma sit my ass on the drumming chair!

I wanna jam! Yeah! I wanna jam!
If you wanna know who I am,
Come on over and hear me jam!

Creatures of the Night

I’m from a family of six, and I’m the fourth son,
Which that means my parents are officially done
You see, I’m the youngest child, my mommies little dear
But regarding kids, I’m her senior year

When it comes to choices, I get to make my own,
Whether I go out with friends, or I stay Home
I decide if I wanna work, or go out skating
My mom doesn’t even know what classes im taking!

With all this freedom comes responsibility,
I trust my very own sensibility
If I have work, then I know to get it done,
But if the work load is light, then I’m out having fun

I’ve got high expectations, and lots of ambition
The moral compass helps me make my own decisions
Jagula the same way, he knows what it’s about
We run the exact same moral route

We. Are. Creatures of the night,
We’ve got two options when the stars shine bright
Either we hit the books, and get ready for learning
Or we take a hard dive into Sunday morning

I got friends from the vale, I got my homies in Paly
I’ve got shit to do, no time to dilly dally
So every single weekend I gotta make a decision,
Shall I be red cup sippin’, or work on calc physics?

Well I take my options and I can always pick
Will I kick it with big A or read some lit?
To be honest they’ve both got great appeal
My friends are fun but let’s be real

I’ve got priorities but I do the yin yang,
Study hard party harder like it ain’t no thang
Work hard play hard you know what I mean?
The shallow and the deep that’s my theme.

I just have one rule: work before play
You’ll never catch me slippin’, cuz at the end of the day
I gotta prepare for tomorrow, I don’t know what’s in store
So where’s the harm if I study some more?

But I ain’t sayin I’m perfect,
I’m a procrastinator
I drum through the day’s hours,
It always gets later and later

Until I’m surrounded by darkness,
It appears to be night,
And like a creature I study, with all my might

I’ve got priorities but I do the yin yang,
Study hard party harder like it ain’t no thang
Work hard play hard you know what I mean?
The shallow and the deep that’s my theme.

I will be honest I prefer the latter,
But if I’ve got homework then my preference doesn’t matter
When people see me out in the AM
They think that they can judge me on who I am

But how about the times when they don’t see me?
When I’m home alone and invite the SAT
Or when I go out to dinner with biology
Or my all night dates with a million APs!

I study by choice because I want to succeed
That’s why I don’t need my parents to tell me
That I should do my homework, or study some more
Intrinsic motivation comes straight from the core

So if you haven’t guessed, there’s another inner beat
A little words contrary to words from the street
I’m a social workaholic who likes to do things right
Told you how it is by the creatures of the night

Literacy Test

Rachel shoulda left with underdowns.*1
couldn’t hester Prynne sew a wedding gown? *2
The Sun Also Rises, I set the novel down*3
I got tired of belligerent drunk clowns

By the way the minister was really pale,
He was fair skinned so he wore the black veil*4
unwanted babies, read The Bean Trees
I prefer teen mom on MTV*5

I’ll tell you about the awakening
Boy that novel sure puts me to sleep
Edna if you can’t swim,
Then why the hell did you dive so deep? *6

Consider me literate , A B C
I’ll take a gut wrenching poem and extract a theme
If you need the answer I’ll tell you what it means
I’m redefining literacy

The Poisonwood Bible, and twelfth night
remind me of the summer when I lost twelve nights*7
I did learn hubris from nathan price*8
And feste was my favorite archetype! *9

Romeo Romeo wherefore art thou?
I wanna read Shakespeare but I don’t know how
What is it Juliet? Stupid you feel?
That your vial was fake, and his was real? *10

All the pretty horses had a pretty ugly plot*11
in the movie Penelope was really really hot*12
Why is it called the invisible man
If the book if far from invisible man? *13

Gatsby really got me to think
That mature old men should never wear pink
So Gatsby go ahead, take off the colors
You and daisy never even loved eachother! *14
I don’t make monsters and I have no degree
How is Dr. Frankenstein a PhD? *15
Congratulations you killed everyone
You and Hamlet could be best buds. *16

You like poetry? So here it is.

Billy Collins be mad at me
I found meaning in your intro to poetry*17
Mr. Poe, we get it, the Raven’s at your door,
I’ll read your poetry NEVER MORE! *18

Whitman, we read the song of yourself
Next time keep the song to yourself*19
The learned astronomer should have stayed in class,
Staying in the lecture would have helped him pass*20

Because I did not stop for death
Holy crap now I’m depressed! *21
Emily sweetheart where are the smiles?
You’re beautiful train gets such great miles

To the gallon, in the economic crisis
Your train could really save life’s and
The idea can really go far,
Oh wait we have cars. *22

Tiger tiger burning bright
Im not afraid so I turn off the light*23
I turn it off and what do I see?
A dream deferred exploding at me*24

I have respect for the guy in English B
My teacher doesn’t hate me, and I still got a D*25
That’s my test, it went by fast,
Good luck to ya, I hope ya passed.

*1: Reference to the Poisionwood Bible
*2: Reference to Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne was punished for committing adultery, if she was married she would not have been punished. The joke is that she used her sewing ability to redeem herself.
*3: Play on words. The Sun Also Rises was arguably very boring.
*4: Making light of the short story “The Minister’s Black Veil”
*5: Paralleling the story of The Bean Trees, when Taylor receives a baby by surprise, and does not feel up to being a parent. Similar to the stories of the show “Teen Mom” on MTV.
*6: Play on words of the novel name. Also, making light of the ending, where Edna drowned.
*7: These two pieces of work were assigned for summer homework. The joke is in that all I remember from the novels is missing out on precious summer nights.
*8,*9: First characters discussed for those particular lit terms.
*10: Making light of Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet”
*11: Play on words because the novel was a treacherous heroes’ journey.
*12: Penelope Cruz was the actress in the movie for All The Pretty Horses.
*13: Play on the words. The Invisible Man is incredibly long.
*14: Making light of the superficiality and immaturity of the characters in The Great Gatsby.
*15: Making light of Dr. Frankenstein, who although a doctor, still made such a horrendous mistake of creating a monster
*16: Paralleling Hamlet and Frankenstein, both of who’s actions were the causes of many deaths.
*17: Billy Collins’ poem “Introduction to Poetry” is about how he wants his students to read poetry for pleasure, not pure analyzing. The irony is that I analyzed his poem… making it funny.
*18: Play on words with the raven from Edgar Poe’s poem, who continuously says, “NEVER MORE”
*19: Whitman’s “Song to Myself” is long, and confusing. The poem makes no sense to anybody else, and he should therefore, keep it to himself.
*20: Making light of the poem “The Learn’d Astronomer” where the narrator critiques the formal lecturing, and prefers discovering nature on his own.
*21: Making light of Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I Did Not Stop for Death”
*22: Making light of Emily Dickinson’s poem “I like to See it Lap the Miles”
*23: Making light of the poem “The Tiger” By William Blake, which talks about a monster. I claim to turn off the light because I am not afraid of this monster.
*24: Play on words from Langston Hughes’ poem “A Dream Deferred”. The poem ends with the line “Or does it explode?”
*25: Reference to the poem “Theme from English B”, makes light of the fact that AP English is a difficult class. The narrator struggles in his English class due to racial prejudice. I comment on the fact that although I am on good terms with my teacher, I still “got a D”, so he should be grateful.

OPERAPS

It’s the accents, not the taps, which you see
Like what you’re looking at right now is the surface truth of me
But let’s dig deeper, let’s get down to the taps
Beyond the surface that I’m white, tall, lanky, and that I rap

I believe in balance, I believe in the paradiddle,
And I believe that life is an insolvable riddle,
And I’ve got certain things and values that are important to me,
One of which is my Jewish people’s history,

This history, to me, is real,
I was born in Israel,
The way my heart feels, something I barely get to tell,
That when I land in Tel Aviv, I truly feel that I’m home,
I’m finally among my people, but I’m still so alone
Because I haven’t really been living here,
Just in the summer,
That I was faced with a choice to serve is more than a bummer
Even here in Cali, I know I’ll never connect,
Cuz everybody’s a different foreigner, what can I expect?
But all’s chill because my life is a balance,
Israeli born, American raised, that’s my talent. Now that’s a (w)rap!

Born in my home in northern Cali, right in the heart of the silicon valley
Raised in my home in Sunnyvale, it was like a mini Israel
See my family, is from two different places
Making me a hybrid of completely different nations
The Israeli Yankee the names’ Big A
Representin’ all the way from Jeru to the bay

Can you imagine having a home, where you’ve never lived
thinkin’ about a separate life, that you may have missed
But I know that I what I want because I know who I am
I’ll tell the IM it wasn’t easy as yam
But I will take you to the place that taught me more than a little
The same place I learned to play the paradiddle!

The idea was brought up before my freshman year
The thought of being a band nerd nearly gave me tears
Before I even started high school I would be a geek
So long to my dreams of being an athlete

My momma told me to shut up and listen
In my house band was a serious tradition
I would learn to march and play with perfect precision
Then I’d be able to make my own decision

Band camp started, wished I didn’t play brass
I couldn’t march or play to save my own ass
I knew the relationship would never last
So I switched to the drumline really fast

Practicing the paradiddle, broke that baby down
Turned on the met to achieve a perfect sound
You won’t believe all the work it took
Maybe it wasn’t as easy as it looked

But when the drums performed, they seemed so cool!
That’s because we practice every day after school
Every Monday, Wednesday, Saturday 9-9!!
Holy moly ,Jagula, that’s a lot of time!

Wait a minute, what the fuck?
We could’ve got a job and made some serious bucks!
If you mix passion hard work, and life time friends
The hours all pay off in the end

I guess drummers aren’t dumb and their brains aren’t little
Disagree? You try to play the paradiddle
As far as our lives, drums play a huge roll
But they are just a small part of our lives as a whole

Mom, I guess you know what you were doing
If I didn’t do band, then I wouldn’t be a bruin
As much as it hurts, I’ll say you were right
UCLA FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT

This year it all just clicked
Finally, I was playing shows without a tick
The deep truth of drumline is a bonding experience,
And the uniform is strictly for appearance.
I realized that on the surface we’re pure entertainment
It’s our role to perform, we just need to “play” it PUN
The game face is our accent,
Hours of practice are our taps,
DO YOU GET THE ANALOGY?
CUZ THIS. IS. * OPERAPS
*An allusion to the movie “300”