Chicago-based rapper Twista can spit rhymes faster than anyone — and his sign language interpreter, Amber Galloway Gallego, can move her hands just as quickly.
A video clip first posted on Twista’s Twitter account shows Galloway Gallego’s lightning-fast hands at work as she keeps pace with the rapper’s rapid-fire lyrics during a concert last weekend. The Guinness Book of Records declared Twista the fastest rapper in the world in 1992, when he rapped 598 syllables in 55 seconds.
“She’s the real MVP for keeping up wit (sic) me,” Twista wrote on Saturday in a tweet featuring the video of Galloway Gallego.
The 48-second clip has been watched more than one million times on Twista’s account, where many users marvelled at Galloway Gallego’s incredible ability to keep up.
“You are a boss to give her credit and realize the work that she’s done,” one user wrote.
“She’s a genius and got a lot of patience for the fastest rapper alive,” another person said. “I would’ve had a meltdown on stage.”
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Galloway Gallego is a professional American sign language interpreter who specializes in translating concerts and music festivals for the deaf. The 42-year-old has performed with some of the top names in music, including Snoop Dogg, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Eminem.
She’s also tasted viral fame before, after a video of her interpreting one of A$AP Rocky‘s songs at Lollapalooza in 2013 catapulted her to internet stardom.
Galloway Gallego explained why she wants to bring music to the deaf in a 2018 TED Talk.
“Music has always been my refuge, and I can’t imagine a life without music,” she says in the TED Talk. “I’m passionate about bringing that experience to everyone.”
Galloway Gallego adds that deaf people can still feel the reverberations of a concert, and she wants to help them enjoy the experience more fully by interpreting lyrics at live shows.
“Hearing people tell me all the time that deaf people don’t like music and that they have nothing to do with music, I adamantly disagree, and I tell them music is for all humanity,” Galloway Gallego said.
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