Shadowing Practice: Does Travis Scott Know His Lyrics? - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Wait, this might be wrong.
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They fucked that up.
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I spent years mixing this shit, and you don't understand what I'm saying?
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It's lit.
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I think it's like an ad lib, man.
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Maybe antidote?
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I feel like it might have been antidote.
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I was so turnt this day and excited.
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It's the first thing that came to my mind.
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And I think I screamed it so loud, it sounded like I was yelling in a high -pitched voice.
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And yeah, I haven't let it go since.
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Wow.
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Butterfly effect.
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Song special.
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I made this song about a special someone.
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And yeah, they lived off in the hills.
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in LA, or Calabasas, or where the fuck?
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Pulled out of the hood Toyota, drove back to the hood Lambo.
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Beeps in a trap.
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That Toyota is what got me through a couple months, because I didn't really even have a car like that.
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It was a shitbox, but I drove it, I wrecked it, spare tire, no tire, ride no rims,
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putting water in the whatever the fuck that shit is.
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And then after that I was like, you know what, my friends drove me around everywhere.
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And also my only Dozie had a Toyota Corolla that he used to pick me up, and thank you, Dozie.
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And now, yes, we're going back in Lamborghinis, which is cool.
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We fuck by his cars and just like look at him and shit.
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Don't touch it.
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Man, you gotta drive that shit.
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To me, the beginning of the song is like psychedelic and supposed to be euphoric.
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It takes you through some sort of form of ecstasy.
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Not the drug, but just the feeling of seeing what you're trying to do and then life hits you.
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This is the first song on Astero, and writing that lyric is like the second half of the song,
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like when it drops, and I really wanted to create this feeling of high energy
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and the travels that I've taken to get to where I was at, and meeting people along the way,
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you're like, man, if you just knew what I've seen or the struggles I went through, you'll probably like oh my god you know what I'm saying like this is
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so crazy how are you even here today
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to now seeing you know at shows you know thousands you
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know hundreds of thousands of people you know I'm doing stadiums
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and stuff now like that are there to actually like you know rage
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and have the best time ever
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so you know it was good to see like the travels
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I took are inspiring someone I feel like everyone can relate to you know coming from somewhere
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that might not been the the best situation, or what maybe you thought wasn't the best situation, and you always wanted to inspire to do something greater for yourself or for your family.
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So I think, in general, people can relate with that.
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Cuddy was like that artist for me, where I was listening to his music, I was like, man, I feel like he's living in the same type of house as me, like, are we standing in the same crib, bro?
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It's crazy, I feel like our lives are similar.
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And so, I was just listening through that, that was getting me through every day, and it's like, okay, if he can make it to the other side, so can I.
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And so it's important for me to at least have something that people can relate to.
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So given that sort of insight, hopefully they can come out the other side of the spire.
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Fiend.
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Went on tour for two and a half years and people got an understanding of what I meant by Fiend.
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And just the energy.
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But yeah, that was like a beat I made, and my whole intentions behind even just when I made the beat
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and made the song was to see it come alive like that.
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So to even see it like actually connecting my love was just fucking exciting.
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Kicking the cameraman off my stage is like, I snapped my ankles.
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Yeah.
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Antidote.
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I had the song done, and I had two verses on it.
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It's like, oh, I actually need a rap verse.
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Then I actually did this Hot 97, I think it was, when they had me performing, you know, outside the stadium, you know, beginner artist stages.
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And I think people don't understand, like, I don't like cameras.
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And especially I don't like cameras on stage while I'm performing, and it's more so like an artistic thing.
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It's like, this stage is meant to be set up a certain way, and obviously when you go to these like, radio shows, it's a bunch of like, everyone's trying to get content, you got people all on the stages, but...
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I've always wanted to set a tone of performance
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and my performance of what I expect on any stage that I want to be on.
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Maybe how I did it to the guy might have been the right way, and I fuck with him, I know he's just doing his job.
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When I'm in that mode on stage, I'm just like all adrenaline.
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Yeah, you know, I fuck with that guy, no harm.
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She fought through plenty, her and her guineas, we're at the top floor right there off the knees.
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Wow.
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Ah, Goosebumps.
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Yeah, this is the apartment I had in LA on Doheny.
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It's actually the apartment that I recorded Goosebumps in.
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You know, I was going through something and I literally just made that album.
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And it was like a therapy session for myself.
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So yeah, I literally went in the room and I did the song and I was like, yeah, but yeah, that apartment, you know, is how the Goosebumps came alive.
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I used to live up in the Seven, now I bought Two Streets.
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It's from a song called Father, my brother Ye.
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I'm from the 713, Houston, Texas.
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Now I have a couple of streets there, which is a blessing.
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Which is cool about this song is that we did this in Japan.
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We cooked this song on the spot, like random, just right there, and Ye just had this verse in his brain.
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Like, oh, I gotta get this off.
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And, you know, in our careers, it's interesting to see, like, you know, all the things he taught me from a mentor, from a music standpoint.
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So now, like, bringing that and sharing it together on the record is, you know, it's fucking ill.
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A trick to break the walls of Troy.
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Yes.
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Yeah, this is the sixth line in the movie The Odyssey.
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Also, part of the original song, which I'm so happy that I am a part of.
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And especially for a film like this, even to be in the movie is amazing.
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I'm pretty sure all these people are straight thespians, something I aspired to be when I was a kid.
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To go through that zone and process to see how they work
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and things come to life and
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and how they treat waking up at 5 a .m and leaving at 5 p .m or 3 p .m., whatever it is, every day,
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even just the things that they went through, shooting that movie, everything's so real.
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I praise what they do.
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It actually took me to another place like, okay, wow, yeah, this isn't the studio.
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Chris called me, he was like, yo, you think you wanna be in a movie?
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I'm like, yeah, you know what I'm saying?
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I said, man, I'm about to start shooting.
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You know, this movie called The Odyssey, like I got this idea, you know, it's telling me about, you know, the bard role and, you know, how the connection between, even just being an artist and,
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you know, through rap, it's like a form of like, in some sense, like poetry and I'm like, okay, but what's the idea?
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He's like, well, I want you to open it.
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I'm like, all right, bro.
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He's like, well, just come pull up on me, like, you know, you come see if you're down to do it.
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I'm like, of course I'm down to do it.
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I don't give a fuck what it is, and I was just a little bit thrown off by it.
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And I showed up the first day, and I'm thinking, it's just going to be me, him, a couple extras, maybe a couple castmates.
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Nah, it was everybody.
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And I was like, fuck.
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When I saw the film in IMAX for the first time, I mean, it was wild.
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Me and my guy David was kicking me, he was like, what the fuck?
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I'm like, bro, shut up.
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Me in a movie, he's like, this is crazy, but even me, I'm like, oh, this is insane.
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All of these hoes I made records I produce, all of these hoes, they fucked that up.
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All of these hoes, like zeros, like dollars, dollar amounts, I made off of these records I produce, which is also like a play on hoes.
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I might take all my exes and put them all in the group.
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You know, The Sickle Mode is like another one of those songs where like from a beat standpoint, you know, shout out my boy OZ, man, and my boy Tay Keef.
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Yeah, you know, that song was always like in a sense like special, you know what I'm saying?
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Just from a beat standpoint.
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I always felt like it's kind of like Fee and I had that song on the album.
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It's just like one of my faves, you know, it was just one of my faves, you know.
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Whether it connected or not, I just thought it was going to be real.
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i think i'm shitting on you but i barely farted um this is houston fornication i believe right
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Oh, not Hooch.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Yeah, it's one of those Grails that had an Apple Music radio show that I was dropping music on.
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It's one of those songs.
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This is one of those times where I do a song and I'm like, yo, I gotta put it out tomorrow.
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And that was one of them.
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So last day to the radio, last night had me down in the back, comatose.
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Wait, this might be wrong.
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It's the last days to the rodeo, last night had me down in the back on my toast.
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This is Mamacita.
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It's the last days to the rodeo, last night had me down in the back on my toast.
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Oh, it's not in the back.
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See this is why I like, by the way too, a lot of my lyrics are wrong on Genius
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and I used to like call them all the time, like after my albums come out, they used to be like, yo bro, it's like totally wrong.
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I don't get how y 'all get other people's lyrics right
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that like I'm fans of them
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but I know off rip you can't understand them like you
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got to really know the lingo to catch these lyrics like how are y 'all getting this shit
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and I know I'm speaking clear as day like I spent years mixing this shit
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and you don't understand what I'm saying no but I said last night had me down in a bad
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comatose then like part of this is not even proper like English like last night down in the back, comatose, like no, yeah, so yeah.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Does Travis Scott Know His Lyrics?”. This video has 146 sentences and 1935 words to shadow. The speech runs for 11:18. The speaker talks at a natural 171 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| lyrics noun | /ˈlɪɹ.ɪks/ | The words to a song (or other vocal music). |
| relate verb | /ɹɪˈleɪt/ | To tell in a descriptive way. |
| verse noun | /ˈvɝs/ | A poetic form with regular meter and a fixed rhyme scheme. |
| standpoint noun | /ˈstændpɔɪnt/ | A point of view; a perspective. |
| connect verb | /kəˈnɛkt/ | To join (to another object): to attach, or to be intended to attach or capable of attaching, to another object. |
| tire verb | /ˈtaɪ̯ɚ/ | To become sleepy or weary. |
| inspire verb | /ɪnˈspaɪə(ɹ)/ | To infuse into the mind; to communicate to the spirit; to convey, as by a divine or supernatural influence; to disclose preternaturally; to produce in, as by… |
| toast noun | /toʊst/ | Bread that has been toasted (cooked lightly by browning). |
| tone noun | /ˈtəʊn/ | A specific pitch. |
| trick noun | /ˈtɹɪk/ | Something designed to fool, dupe, outsmart, mislead or swindle. |
| harm noun | /hɑːm/ | Physical injury; hurt; damage. |
| pitch noun | /pɪt͡ʃ/ | A throw; a toss; a cast, as of something from the hand. |
| insane adjective | /ɪnˈseɪn/ | Exhibiting unsoundness or disorder of mind; not sane; utterly mad. |
| poetry noun | /ˈpoʊ.ə.tɹi/ | Literature composed in verse or language exhibiting conscious attention to patterns and rhythm. |
| sixth adjective | /sɪksθ/ | The ordinal form of the number six. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. | |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| set up verb | /ˌsɛt ˈʌp/ | To make ready for use. |
| show up verb | To appear, arrive, or attend, especially suddenly or erratically. | |
| shut up | /ʃʌt ʌp/ | Stop talking (usually in the form of making annoying, irrelevant, or false comments, during a period of peace and quiet, or when one is not allowed to talk)… |
| throw off verb | To confuse; especially, to lose a pursuer. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I think it's like an ad lib, man.
- It's the first thing that came to my mind.
- It's crazy, I feel like our lives are similar.
- It's like, oh, I actually need a rap verse.
- I'm like, yeah, you know what I'm saying?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| “Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true | used to pick · used to live · used to like |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | haven't let · I've taken · I've seen |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | Lamborghinis, which is · there, which is · produce, which is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 51 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, gotta. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: sixth /sɪksθ/, thespian /ˈθɛzbi.ən/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: intentions /ɪnˈtɛnʃənz/, shout /ʃaʊt/
- Long words — get the stress right: adrenaline /əˈdɹɛnəlɪn/, cameraman /ˈkæm(ə)ɹəˌmæn/, psychedelic /ˈsaɪ.kəˌdɛl.ɪk/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like lyrics, relate, verse.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.