"Day Shift" and "Night Shift" - E-40

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

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• Mickey D's
• hustla
• cakewalk
• graveyard shift

• night shift
• day shift
• jump off
• day job

• paper route

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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For most people, a day at work doesn’t involve hanging out with Too Short, Snoop Dogg, and Björk. But as one of the most well-known rappers on the west coast, that’s exactly what E-40 got to do when he recorded his latest albums, Revenue Retrievin’: Day Shift and Revenue Retrievin’: Night Shift.

Rappers and fans alike love E-40’s creative use of language. In his nearly 20 years of recording, he has invented many slang terms that have been picked up by other artists and the general public. He has even talked about publishing a slang dictionary at some point!

We recently met up with the rapper at one of his concerts to talk about the work theme of his recent recordings. See if you can catch some of the slang he uses in this interview.

3. Watch - Watch the video without reading the dialog.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Jason

E-40

Jason:  If you work the night shift, you work at night. If you work the day shift, you work in the daytime. Before he was a famous rapper, entertaining his fans at night, E-40 worked both the day shift and the night shift at different jobs. We talked about how this affects his music.

Jason:  Welcome to English, baby! I’m Jason, here with E-40. You released two albums earlier this year. What is the day shift and the night shift?

E-40:  First of all, revenue retrieving means chasing money. Going to get it. You know what I mean? Revenue retrievin’ day shift are those things that jump off in the daytime, revenue retrievin’ night shift are things that jump off at nighttime.

Jason:  You’ve been in the rap game a long time. Did you have a day job before your music career got started?

E-40:  My mama was a single parent. My daddy and my mama divorced when I was eight years old. And so I had to be, like, the daddy of the house. I had a paper route, I worked at Mickey D’s. You know, when I was young I was just a little hustla, rap was always my thing. As soon as I heard the Sugarhill Gang in 1979.

Jason:  Did you work the day shift and the night shift at your different jobs then?

E-40:  Yeah, I did. My mama used to work at Maggie’s Hamburgers and I’d be back there moppin’, mopping the floor, you know. Wiping down cabinets and what have you, you know, so. Washing walls there and everything. My life ain’t been no cakewalk. I could tell you a whole bunch of stuff. But that’s where we’re at right now.

Jason:  Well, sometimes they call the night shift “the graveyard shift,” and I was wondering if you could talk about why they call it that.

E-40:  I think it’s from twelve to eight? Anytime after twelve a.m? You see what I’m sayin’? So, that’s what it is, up all night, tryin’ to get my money orders right.

Jason:  Thanks so much, man! Can I get you to give me a high five and say “English, baby!”

E-40:  English, baby!

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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