flickering pictures

The clip above is from Mr. T’s motivational teen video, awesomely entitled “Be Somebody or Be Somebody’s Fool,” and it’s about as painfully 1984 as it’s possible to be. This segment has Mr. T telling teens to express themselves, “table the label,” write their names on some duct tape, and stick it on their clothes.

I don’t want to publicly advocate drug use or anything, but if you watch this video without the help of a controlled substance, you’re really missing out.

All six parts are on YouTube, and the video covers topics like:

• Treating your mother right:
  Mr. T: “Remember, when you put down one mother, you’re putting down mothers all over the world!”
• Reading:
  Mr. T: “The real story is called “Romeo and Juliet, and it was written by this English guy named William Shakespeare.”
  Kid: “That English dude? I thought he only wrote old-time stories.”
  Mr. T: “No little brother, he wrote a lot of good stuff.”
• Rap:
  Mr. T: “Rapping is a way of saying ‘knock knock.’”
  Kids: “Who’s there?”
  Mr. T: “Me. Open the door and listen to what I got to say.”
• Being somebody
  Mr. T (rapping): “If you don’t wanna be a crazy fool, you better study real hard and stay in school. I pity the fool when there comes a day, when he finds out his only gua-ran-tee, is to make sure that he will be some-bo-dy.”

Incidentally, Mr. T is the worst rapper in the world:

“Say the message is real dude, it’s just like that.
But leaving me, and I’m Mr. T, that’s not where it’s at.”

You can’t blame him entirely though — the lyrics were all written by Ice T, who was 26 at the time and should have known better. (Does anyone else wonder if Ice T is related to Mr. T?)

Thanks, Jake!

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