ENGL 1101 - Fall 2020 - Hip-Hop Reader - PEASE

Liam Fox

Dr. Aron Pease

English 1101

11 September 2020  

Yonkers

     “Yonkers” by Tyler the Creator is a song that feels like a descent into madness. In the background of the song there is a sample that sounds like someone scratching on a chalkboard which is played almost nonstop. This sample is constantly pitched up and down as well as stretched out. This kind of sound mixing requires a firm grasp on technology. Without this sound the beat would be off which really illustrates the fact that "a rapper's delivery is dependent on the use and mastery of technology" (21). The whole song is shot in black and white, while Tyler is singing on a stool. The camera will occasionally go blurry or zoom out creating a silhouette effect. The whole video creates a sense of unease, from Tyler’s increasingly erratic movements as the video progresses to the scene where he bites into a live cockroach and proceeds to vomit. Tyler has stated that he actually ate the roach live for the video which, adding a whole new level of discomfort which was clearly trying to achieved.

 

 

     In the video, Tyler is fighting with his alter ego “Wolf Hayle”, who is signified by a deeper voice and Tyler creating a shadow over his face with the rim of his hat. This fight is what drives the video as lyrics will contradict each other back to back as Tyler becomes more unstable as a result. About halfway through the song, Tyler begins going off the deep end as he starts to strip his shirt off and his eyes turn pure black. The camera goes into focus only on his face at this point to show the black in his eyes and his erratic head movements. This signifies that Tyler has completely lost against whatever he was fighting in the first half of the song, whether that be Wolf Hayle, depression or some other mental problem.

 

 

     Tyler’s nose begins to bleed. This could be a result of stress or drug use as implied in the lyrics. He isn't even surprised at the blood at this point, he just stares blankly at it once wiping it off his face. At this point, there is almost no light shining on Tyler. This lack of light shows a complete loss of hope and/or will. Once a noose falls from the ceiling, Tyler quickly grabs it with no hesitance and wears it around his neck showing no emotion, showing that he has lost all hope in life. This is when the camera zooms out and shows Tyler completely shrouded in darkness as he successfully hangs himself.

 

    The tone of this video is completely and utterly dark. The constant feeling of dread the video makes amplifies the descent into madness that is being expressed. The camera work with shadows and light on Tyler’s face shows his fight with himself, a fight he does not win in the end. Now feeling completely empty, shown by his dull and direct movements near the end, he kills himself and the video ends.

Liam Fox

Dr. Aron Pease

English 1101

22 October 2020  

Lyrical Analysis of “Rings”

     Have you ever gotten into something? Like, really into something. This new project consumes your life for weeks and it makes you so happy. But then you take a day off; a day turns to a week, then into a month; and then you just stop. When you look back at your project, the only thought that can come to your mind is "What's the point? I was so bad at this." "Rings" by Aesop Rock is a cautionary tale of losing art and, more generally, passion projects. This song uses many different forms of figurative language, such as: metaphor, imagery, simile, symbols, and personification.

     Let’s go over the structure of the song itself first. This song is about Aesop Rock’s regret that he stopped drawing and painting due to a lack of commitment, but it can also be applied to any passion project or form of self-expression. The first half of the song is about his loss of drawing specifically; it uses imagery, personification and metaphors. The second half of the song is about Aesop’s loss of painting.This half uses a lot of personification with elements of similes. Finally the hook is about how he just keeps dwelling on the past and his achievements with art, it primarily relies on metaphors about passion and a lack of commitment. Now that we have a broad view of the song, let’s move onto more specific examples from the song itself.

     As was stated earlier, the first half of the song is about Aesop’s regret for giving up on drawing. “Portraiture and the human form, Doodle of a two-headed unicorn” is a prime example of imagery in this song. It puts an image in our head of the stuff Aesop would paint, and it's more impactful than just saying "I would draw all sorts of stuff." By saying that he drew things on a range from the human form and two-headed unicorns shows the range he had while putting vivid pictures in our heads. Another from this half that stands out is, "I left some will to spirit away,"in which "to spirit away" means to disappear without a trace. This is a mix of personification and metaphor. For personification, Aesop is saying his ability and love of drawing is an extension of his will and of himself. And for metaphors, him using the phrase "spirit away" is saying that a part of him disappeared without a trace, with his love of drawing.

     The second half of this song is similar to the first half in it’s message, but this time it’s referring to Aesop’s pain of giving up on painting. "Voice of the resin" is an example of personification as it's saying that the paint he used was so important to him that it was as if the paint had a voice like a person. Next let’s look at "Book like a tattooed pigskin". This line compares the ink in a book to a football ("pigskin"), and how it's design takes up a large part of it. Basically, it's saying he filled an art book with all his paintings. Finally let’s look at the final line of the second verse: “I let my person curl up and die.” Overall, this line and the verse it came from is showing how Aesop’s regret of giving up art makes him feel awful. "I let my person curl up and die" is an interesting line. It’s an example of personification of painting. By giving up on painting, he let it die in him, he is conveying that his love of painting is an integral part of him, and once he stopped, he had let it die.

     Lastly, we’re going to go over the hook of the song. The hook is where the song gets its namesake of “Rings”. The hook begins with the line “Shapes falling out of the fringe”; this is referring to abstract thoughts and shapes coming of what to make art of coming to Aesop’s mind, that he ultimately will never put to paper. Just letting it disappear with the rest of his regrets. The line “All heart, though we would've made cowardly kings,” is the perfect encapsulation of Aesop’s reasons for giving up on art despite his love for it. “All heart” translates to his love and passion for art, but saying that despite it he would’ve made a “cowardly king” is to say that he’ll never be a master of art. It doesn’t matter how much passion and love he has, if he can’t commit and keeps quitting, he will never be a king/master of art.The worst artist isn’t the one who draws poorly, it’s the one who refuses to draw period. Just as the worst king isn’t the one who leads poorly, it’s the one who cowards away and refuses to lead. Let’s move to the line that gives this song it’s namesake, “They will chop you down just to count your rings.” "They" can actually refer to Aesop himself, this is a metaphor for his shortcomings reflected onto imaginary people. “Rings” refers to the rings on the inside of a tree's trunk, which can be counted in a felled tree to figure out how old it was. In this case, the “rings” are a symbol for Aesop's artistic achievements and products. Instead of picking art back up, he just looks back at what he's done and "cuts himself down” while he counts his rings, which is why he can’t get back to art: he will never return to art as long as he keeps looking back and cutting himself down just to count his rings.

 

Liam Fox

Dr. Aron Pease

English 1101

4 December 2020  

Misogyny and Women in Hip-Hop

     One of hip-hop’s biggest criticisms since its inception has been the problem of misogyny and objectification of women. From the Wu-Tang Clan to Kanye West, women have been represented as trophies in rap and hip-hop. While this problem has not been erased, and may never be erased, this is changing thanks to the women in the industry. Female hip-hop artists have been demanding for equality and fair representation in and out of their music for years, and the tide is beginning to turn in terms of how women are treated in hip-hop. Women in hip-hop have been empowering women as a whole with their talent, showing that they are more than their bodies. One of the tactics these artists have been using is turning around the power dynamic when it comes to sex, showing power over men with their bodies; this is clearly shown with Nikki Minaj’s work. However, male artists still use the sexualization of women to objectify them in their music and make women seem like awards. Look no further than Kanye West's "Gold Digger." How music represents women is important, it helps form the minds and the opinions of the viewers of these videos, no matter their age. The tide is changing on how women are represented in hip-hop, and it won't stop changing until women stop being shown as awards for men.

     There are countless papers on the subject of the misogyny of women in hip-hop throughout the years. For example, Imani Perry’s essay “The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto” found in her book “Prophets of the Hood,” which goes into the commodification of black women in early and, to an extent, modern hip-hop. This problem has been around for decades and it shows no signs of slowing down with many prolific artists like Kanye West as seen in his 2016 album “Life of Pablo,” featuring lines such as "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex/ Why? I made that bitch famous" in the album’s song “Famous.” This line represents Taylor Swift as nothing more than a trophy to Kanye West. He’s not the only artist to make women out to be this way in their music, but he’s one of the most influential and well-known. Someone this influential using their music in such demeaning ways sends a message to other male artists, and that message is that it’s okay to devalue women and commodify them. This kind of rhetoric needs to be attacked and taken apart at the root. 

     Looking more into Perry’s essay “The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto,” she brings up how women are presented in music videos. She points specifically to their facial expressions as being almost exclusively seductive. No other emotion being shown, this kind of behavior hammers into the heads of impressionable people that women are nothing more than sex objects. The message being sent out by these people is simple: “I am rich, and these are my spoils” (Perry, 135). This attitude towards women feeds and nurtures hate and ignorance willingly. 

     The kind of language a person uses says a lot about them. In recent years curse words have been more accepted and commonplace, especially in the music industry. That being said, not all words are accepted. If anything, specific and more problematic words are being attacked more than ever in history. Specifically the word “bitch” is considered to be barbaric and incredibly offensive and demeaning towards women. However the word “bitch” has been on a nonstop rise in hip-hop ever since its conception. Yes, many women, such as Cardi B, use the word as an endearing term for themselves and others, but it’s still mainly used as a slang term for an unsavory and unlikeable woman. The constant use of it in derogatory terms only objectifies women further as it makes them seem unreasonable and therefore less than human. 

     When a problem emerges, people who go against that problem also emerge out of necessity. When hip-hop was reaching new heights in the 1980s, so did sexism in the industry and its songs. New artists in the genre led a feminist revolution in hip-hop. One of the pioneers of this was Roxanne Shanté, her most notable song being “Roxanne’s Revenge.” She and many other artists helped break the glass ceiling for women in hip-hop. With it broken, sexism and objectification didn't stop, but it helped set a new precedent and showed everyone that women were going to stay in hip-hop and people will have to be more inclusive. 

     This also brought about the introduction of one of hip-hop’s greatest and most influential female groups, Salt n’ Pepa. Their songs brought in a new era of empowerment and independence in hip-hop and their effects have even rippled into today. Their contributions to the cultural zeitgeist sparked the second round of women in hip-hop. Showing that feminism in hip-hop had no signs of slowing down. 

     Salt n’ Pepa’s influence on women in hip-hop cannot be understated. Look at one of their most famous songs “None of Your Business.” For context, this song was made to be a direct attack against the old way of thinking, which said that what women do with their bodies is somehow different from what men do and that other people should have control over their bodies. Sex has always been a big part of human culture, whether we like to talk about it or not. There’s a huge double standard when it comes to sex between men and women; usually, a man having casual sex is seen as “normal” if not something to be congratulated on. While women having casual sex is seen as “whorish” and is something only to be looked down on. Salt n’ Pepa makes it clear that these things shouldn’t mean anything to someone: “How many rules am I to break before you understand/ That your double-standards don't mean shit to me?” Telling people that things like this don’t matter to them is a form of empowerment, showing that the rules of old should be thrown out and people should be treated equally. The hook of the song is what gives it its namesake, “If I wanna take a guy home with me tonight/ It's none of your business.” The opening line of the hook makes it clear that whatever someone does with their body is strictly their business.

     Newer female hip-hop artists also endeavor to empower women by different means. In light of the most recent wave of feminism, third-wave feminism, artists have again brought women and women’s rights to the forefront. Artists like Nikki Minaj and Cardi B. take the objectification of women by sexualization in a new direction. These artists show that women are powerful because of their bodies.

     In this extremely sex-positive age, sex-positive icons emerge. As stated earlier, for most of hip-hop’s history, the showcase of a woman’s sexuality has been in an effort to objectify women and hold them as trophies. Why should they be held as trophies? Why should women live by this double standard that makes it so men can glorify sex without consequence while they are called whores for doing the same? Sex-positive artists go directly against this notion of sex-negativity. Artists like Nikki Minaj and Cardi B., their music, and the videos which accompany them showcase a very positive and dominant view on sex never before seen on such a large scale for women. This is a huge step for hip-hop; it shows a changing tide that tells people that whatever is left of the double standard between men and women is starting to be destroyed.

      Because of the world we live in, misogyny will never be completely eradicated. That being said, we have the power to change how misogyny is viewed and accepted. 30 years ago, men in hip-hop could say anything they wanted about women and get barely any, if any criticism at all. Now they are rightfully called out on sexism and sexual assault allegations. All while this happens, more women are entering the hip-hop industry and expanding the possibilities for the genre and all who listen to it. The future for women in hip-hop is bright, though it could be better than it is as of now, with feminist icons leading the industry.

 

Works Cited

Guzman, Adriana, and Gizem Bilen. “Women in Hip-Hop Navigate Objectification, Owning Their Sexual Power.” The Hoya, 5 Nov. 2020, thehoya.com/women-in-hip-hop-navigate-objectification-owning-their-sexual-power/.

Nazario, David. “Hip Hop’s New Narrative: Embracing A Culture Of Female Empowerment And Male Vulnerability.” Swaay, 19 May 2018, swaay.com/hip-hops-new-narrative-embracing-a-culture-of-female-empowerment-and-male-vulnerability.

Perry, Imani. “The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto.” Prophets of the Hood, 9 Nov. 2004, pp. 130–190., doi:10.1215/9780822386155-007. 

Salt n’ Pepa. “None of Your Business.” Very Necessary, Next Plateau Entertainment, 1993.

Shanté, Roxanne. “Roxanne's Revenge.” Roxanne’s Revenge. Pop Art Records, 1984

West, Kanye. “Famous.” Life of Pablo, BMG Chrysalis, 2016.

West, Kanye. “Gold Digger.” Late Registration, BMG Chrysalis, 2005.