Teach Figurative Language With Flocabulary
In the world of figurative language, the simile is king. Or rather, the simile is like the king. This rap simile activity will get you and your students creating their own similes, and then the class will have to guess whether similes were written by a famous rapper or their classmate. You’ll be surprised how hard it is to tell. This simile activity is a favorite in our trainings, and we think you’ll have fun with it, too.
Rap Simile Activity Steps
1. Define simile. A simile is a comparison of two things, almost always using the words like or as. Examples in rap and literature are as plentiful as _______(you tell us!) So for this activity we’re going to focus on two very specific types of similes…
2. Hot similes and Cold similes. Weather is a universal experience. Don’t know what to say to a person? Talk about the weather. Don’t know what to rap about? Rap about the weather. We’ve put together a list of rap similes that describe “hot” and “cold.”
Hot and Cold Rap Simile Examples
|“Hot like a sauna” – Ludacris||“Cool as ice” – Vanilla Ice|
|“Hot like a kettle” – Notorious B.I.G.||“Cool as water” – Ice T|
|“Hotter than a skillet” – Black Eyed Peas||“Cool as the shade” – Baby Bash|
|“Hot like a toaster” – Flo-Rida||“Cool like ACs” – Joe Budden|
|“Hot like the oven door” – J. Magic||“Cool like a fan in the summertime” – CKhid|
|“Hot like curry” – Big Daddy Kane||“Cool like the breeze” – Plies|
|“Hot like a potato” – Riddlore||“Cooler than the other side of the pillow” – Joe Budden|
|“Hot like Tabasco” – Kool G. Rap||“Cooler than a polar bear’s toenails” – Big Boi|
|“Hotter than soup” – Cassidy||“Cooler than Mick Jagger” – Drake|
|“Hotter than the Sunday after Saturday” – Lil Wayne|
|“Hot like a jail cell in the South” – Talib Kweli|
|“Hot like blocks down in Tampa” – Un Casa|
|“Hotter than Nevada” – Ludacris|
|“Hotter than a lot of lava from Barbados to Bahamas” – Pep Love|
3. After you’ve reviewed the definition of a simile with your students, share a few examples from the chart. IMPORTANT: Don’t show them the whole chart yet. After you share a few examples, ask students to write one simile to describe something hot and one simile to describe something cold. Tell them that the less obvious the comparison, the stronger it will be.
For example, “Cold as ice,” is pretty obvious. “Cooler than a polar bear’s toenails” is way more interesting because it’s surprising. So if a student starts with “Cold as ice,” ask them, “Where?” “When?” “What else cold is happening…” Have them get as specific as possible.
4. Ask students to write down their “cold” and “hot” similes on a small sheet of paper with their name on it. (This also works great as a group activity). When they have finished, put the similes in a hat. Print the list of similes found here, cut them up, and also place them in a hat. Once your students have finished, draw sheets from the hat. Have students guess whether or not the simile is from a classmate or a rapper. You’ll be surprised what your students will come up with!
These are two of our favorite student examples we’ve gotten from our trainings:
“I’m hot like a dog, but I’m all beef.”
“I’m cooler than Lebron James in a snow blizzard in Antarctica.”
5. To extend the activity, you can have your students insert their cool or hot line into a full rap, using our Writing Academic Rhymes lesson sequence.