Word: rapping
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Leslie White is a prime example of a shady fixture in American justice: the jailhouse snitch. Over the past decade White -- whose rap sheet lists crimes ranging from purse snatching to kidnaping -- has testified against at least a dozen California inmates who he claimed confessed their guilt to him. With information he provided, authorities have unearthed the bodies of murder victims and prosecuted a prison gang leader for murder. In exchange, lawmen accorded him special privileges, including early release, during his frequent returns to the slammer. "Every time I come in here," White boasts, "I inform and get back...
McFerrin counts classical music and '60s rock as his two major influences, but his vocal acrobatics and his undeniable soulfulness moved one member of the rap group Run-D.M.C. to call him the "beat box of all time." In Germany, where he found his first wide audience, his nickname is the Stimmwunder (Wondervoice). What McFerrin does ranges so widely, from scat to rock to jazz and off into the twilight zone, that any number of names can suit him. The "Body Electric" is what he calls himself, with some bemusement. Plain "terrific" will do very nicely...
When the National Football League rushed to show interest in Johnson, the wicked smiles widened. In that industry, street drugs represent only a 30-day rap and steroids remain a private matter. Throughout the big leagues of athletic excellence, just the natural excesses have become awesome. The mammoth Washington Redskins tackle Dave Butz was once asked if the pain ahead, the accumulated remnants of 16 seasons, chilled him. No, but the reports of short life expectancy were worrying. "You can live with a lot of pain," he said sagely, "but you've got to be alive...
...host of issues that might sway Downie, for both personal and professional reasons--such as which candidate will appoint a Supreme Court that is less restrictive of press freedoms, or who is more likely to raise taxes--the Managing Editor will not be lured so easily. With the bad rap special interest groups have received in recent years, one can understand his reticence...
...military service and other matters was wobbly and defensive, like a fifth-grader trying to explain his missing arithmetic homework. When reporters accosted him at his Virginia home while he was emptying garbage, Quayle reacted with evident anger ("I'm getting a little bit indignant about one bum rap after another . . .") but sounded petulant rather than persuasive. His self-confidence has grown since then, though his overeager, puppet-like demeanor still reminds some critics of Howdy Doody...