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

As soon as the music video starts they show photos of newspaper slandering RUN D.M.C by stating that they are a danger to the youth. RUN D.M.C is considered a rap group but they like to incorporate rock themes and instrumentals into their music. The song illustrates how people do not appreciate their rock style music and will not accept them while still being considered a hip hop/rap group. Another topic found in the video is how “Mary” is always trying to frame the rap group for doing vulgar acts but in turn, it is just a coincidence that the actions seem vulgar when they are not at all vulgar or inappropriate. In the screenshot from the music video below the headline of the newspaper is “ U.S. YOUTH THREATENED BY RUN-DMC LYRICS”.

 

When people think of hip hop they usually associate it with rap but in the song “Mary Mary”  they combine the two to create a rap-rock cover of the song “Mary Mary” by The Monkees. Tricia Rose states in her book “Rap Music”  “ The bulk of the press coverage on RUN-DMC regarding their “forays into rock” suggested that by using rock music rap was maturing.” (17) This statement alone shows how RUN-DMC changed the culture of other genres of music being incorporated into music as a normality.  This scene shows how Run-DMC is still able to include turntables into their live shows even though they are incorporating rock music into their songs. The setting of the video has very fun and exciting vibes. The colors portrayed are mostly bright red and pink flashes and includes a lot of fireworks. They are surrounded by a lot of fans with fast pacing camera cuts and unique angles. Mary accuses people of having sex in a van and blames the influence on RUN-DMC (1:33 - 1:38). A lot of the shots in the music video are close up shots that really show the rap group’s emotions. The camera also specifically targets who is rapping at that point to show emphasis on their verse and differentiate between the two. Using the ⅓ rule throughout the video when the camera switches scenes back to the live stage a ⅓ of the screen was covered by their fans hand. Most of the music video takes place at night whether it be during the live stage or in the parking lot/ road.

This scene shows Mary approaching a car filled with smoke and she automatically assumes that they are smoking drugs. She immediately suspects the suspects to be RUN-DMC smoking an explicit drug. When she opens the door she sees monks in the car who told Mary that the group told them to keep a healthy mind and are spiritually in touch with themselves.

These two interactions between the group on the bus and the group on the car show how the group has positively impacted their community even though Mary wants to bash their name and show ways they are negatively affecting their community. When people think of a rap song they think of vulgar language and the sexualization of women and drugs. They never consider rock to be a stepping stone or even other genres to be a stepping stone for most rap songs created. RUN-DMC made this song to show how people always thought of their songs as a way to promote violence and drugs but rebuttal in the music video by showing ways that they promote good health and well being during the course of the four minutes. Their use of rock in this song really showed how they were different from most rap songs created during their times and put a big emphasis on sampling sounds and songs.

          As soon as the music video starts they show photos of newspaper slandering RUN D.M.C by stating that they are a danger to the youth. RUN D.M.C is considered a rap group but they like to incorporate rock themes and instrumentals into their music. The song illustrates how people do not appreciate their rock style music and will not accept them while still being considered a hip hop/rap group. Another topic found in the video is how “Mary” is always trying to frame the rap group for doing vulgar acts but in turn, it is just a coincidence that the actions seem vulgar when they are not at all vulgar or inappropriate. In the screenshot from the music video below the headline of the newspaper is “ U.S. YOUTH THREATENED BY RUN-DMC LYRICS”.

 

          When people think of hip hop they usually associate it with rap but in the song “Mary Mary”  they combine the two to create a rap-rock cover of the song “Mary Mary” by The Monkees. Tricia Rose states in her book “Rap Music”  “ The bulk of the press coverage on RUN-DMC regarding their “forays into rock” suggested that by using rock music rap was maturing.” (17) This statement alone shows how RUN-DMC changed the culture of other genres of music being incorporated into music as a normality.  This scene shows how Run-DMC is still able to include turntables into their live shows even though they are incorporating rock music into their songs. The setting of the video has very fun and exciting vibes. The colors portrayed are mostly bright red and pink flashes and includes a lot of fireworks. They are surrounded by a lot of fans with fast pacing camera cuts and unique angles. Mary accuses people of having sex in a van and blames the influence on RUN-DMC (1:33 - 1:38). A lot of the shots in the music video are close up shots that really show the rap group’s emotions. The camera also specifically targets who is rapping at that point to show emphasis on their verse and differentiate between the two. Using the ⅓ rule throughout the video when the camera switches scenes back to the live stage a ⅓ of the screen was covered by their fans hand. Most of the music video takes place at night whether it be during the live stage or in the parking lot/ road.

          This scene shows Mary approaching a car filled with smoke and she automatically assumes that they are smoking drugs. She immediately suspects the suspects to be RUN-DMC smoking an explicit drug. When she opens the door she sees monks in the car who told Mary that the group told them to keep a healthy mind and are spiritually in touch with themselves.

          These two interactions between the group on the bus and the group on the car show how the group has positively impacted their community even though Mary wants to bash their name and show ways they are negatively affecting their community. When people think of a rap song they think of vulgar language and the sexualization of women and drugs. They never consider rock to be a stepping stone or even other genres to be a stepping stone for most rap songs created. RUN-DMC made this song to show how people always thought of their songs as a way to promote violence and drugs but rebuttal in the music video by showing ways that they promote good health and well being during the course of the four minutes. Their use of rock in this song really showed how they were different from most rap songs created during their times and put a big emphasis on sampling sounds and songs.

WIlliam King

Eminem's Rap life

Eminem is considerably one of the best lyricists in rap history. His use of figurative language in almost every song he writes makes you think about each verse and line that he writes. The song “Real Slim Shady” by Eminem depicts his rap alter ego Slim Shady. He uses different forms of figurative language to exemplify the things he has to deal with throughout his career such as people who are trying to copy his style and steal his identity. The main chorus is “I'm Slim Shady, yes I'm the real Shady all you other Slim Shadys are just imitating So won't the real Slim Shady please stand up please stand up, please stand up?” This chorus makes it seem as though there are multiple fake Eminems' but he is just using a metaphor to say that the other rappers in society are copying his style of rap and fashion to try and perfectly imitate him. 

    Eminem likes to use very descriptive details when he writes his lyrics. Eminem says “Y'all act like you never seen a white person before, jaws all on the floor like Pam like Tommy just burst in the door”. He is using a metaphor to explain that everyone is astonished with the fact that he is a white rapper thriving in a mostly black dominated genre. Eminem uses a lot of metaphors in his songs to show how people would never expect someone like him to make it as far as he has in the rap industry since he is a white rapper and people weren’t really fond of white rappers in the 90’s.

    Although he may be the greatest lyricist in rap history he likes to poke fun at the fact that he may have some mental issues. While this may be true because of the things he went through in his life as a teen with his parents and having to basically survive on his own. “Slim shady” states “Yeah, I probably got a couple of screws up in my head loose” which is a metaphor saying that he is probably mentally unstable then continues the line with “But no worse than what's goin' on in your parents' bedrooms” which could arguably be considered as imagery insinuating that their parents are having sex. Growing up eminem never really had a parent to teach him things or show him how to be a responsible person. He had to figure out a lot of things in life on his own.

    Eminem is known to say a lot of vulgar things in his music that would to some make them very uncomfortable to the point where they don't even want to listen to his music. He notes this in the line “Half of you critics can't even stomach me, let alone stand me”. He doesn’t mean that they can’t eat him literally. What he really means by this line is that half of the people who criticize his music wouldn’t even be able to listen to his music without being disgusted by the end of the songs. This is just one of the many ways he shows that a lot of people do not like the rhymes and lyrics in most of his music but he uses figurative language to make most of his songs have a funny context.

Most of the figurative language used in this “The Real Slim Shady” is used to show how most of the people who criticise his music do not have the right to talk about the things that he says because there are plenty of people in the world that want to say exactly what he says. The only difference between slim shady and a regular person is that he is not afraid to express how he is feeling. The beginning of the song mostly had a lot of figurative language showing how people thought that Eminem's music had a negative impact on the kids that listen to his music. Although the people may not like what Eminem is saying it does not bother him at all because either the kids are going to grow up to be just like him because of the influence that he has on them with his music.

    In conclusion Eminem’s use of figurative language in the song was used to show the hardships and struggle he has to deal with in life, while showing the influence and impact that his music has on a lot of his listeners. He still continues to speak his mind regardless of what people have to say about his lyrics. Even if he gets a really bad backlash for his lyrics he openly speaks his mind without worrying about the consequences because he does not care about the repercussions and he probably has some mental issues that interfere with his decision making. He also tends to use figurative language to add a comedy cadence to his music so that it's not all serious business because of his quirky rap style and lyricism.
 

The two artist that I am going to be comparing today are going to be eminem and lil uzi vert. While they may have some things in common as people they have two completely different rap styles and most of the time messages. Lil uzi vert usually raps a lot about his feelings in relationships and how they have caused him to have a lot depression in life. His music and lyrics have a lot details about women and money which either talks about how he can get a lot of females or anyone that he wants or about the materialistic items that he owns.

  Then we have Eminem who talks about his poverty and struggles growing up. Eminem's life was as a minor was a huge struggle for him considering the fact that he had a mom who did drugs almost everyday. He uses his anger and emotions towards his mom in his music as well. He does not speak a lot about materialistic items or women in his music, but does have a comedic aspect added.

A lot of modern day rappers usually incorporate violence and gang relations into their music. Some rappers incorporate both into their music but sometimes the rappers don't always have to include violence they treat it as more of a lifestyle of how they live and they things that they do. In the past a lot of "gangster" rap was mostly rappers talking about they affiliation and the hood that their from. In modern rap a lot of the "gangster" rap does not speak about claiming territory for power. They speak about a lot of violence such as killing other rival gangs for power.

Rappers such as Snoop dogg use their rap to portray their gang affiliation but unlike other rappers such as king von who is affiliated with stretch gang he raps a lot about the colors he reps and uses his gang to identify himself. king von raps about how stretch gang hits "licks" which are robbery's which he vividly explains in his music. King von was already known as a silent assassin in chicago and Snoop Dogg is known as a true crip. These two have similar topics but different ways of talking about them and different actions involved. 

A lot of modern day rappers usually incorporate some form of violence and gang relations, while others talk about their lifestyle and the things they enjoy doing in their gang. While they often talk about some form of violence in the songs it is not always a common occurrence. In the past “gangster” rap would mostly likely consist about their affiliation and wouldn't involve a lot of violent lyrics. While some of their rap may have had a small amount of violence it isn’t as prominent as it is in today's “gangster” rap. Snoop Dogg for instance would talk a lot about being a crip and how he loves representing them by wearing the color blue and carrying their flag on him at all times. However nowadays we have rappers such as King Von who rap about robbing people, setting them up for robberies, and killing opposing gang members to assert their dominance over them.

    When it comes to representing their gangs Snoop Dogg and King von have nothing to hide.Snoop Dogg can be found sporting blue which is the color of the Crip gang. Likewise King Von can be found wearing some form of black in his attire which is the color of the O block gangster disciples. When it comes to lyricism and style King Von and Snoop Dogg are two completely different artists. King Von’s Rap is more of a story that the listener can follow while Snoop Dogg's music is more relaxing and something that can be listened to when you are in a calm mood. They both rap and fully support the gangs that they are a part of but King von is a lot more explicit about his actions and the crimes he commits as opposed to Snoop Dogg.

    Rappers should not have to include violence in their music when representing their gangs. There should be no problem with representing your gangs and having non violent lyrics. Snoop Dogg does a much better job when it comes to rapping about the gang lifestyle without including violence compared to King Von. While Snoop Dogg may include some violence in his music towards opposite rivals it's not as prominent as King Von who has some form of violence in all of his music. In King Vons song “O Block” he says “B****, I don't play, glock and SK make him empty the safe.” This whole verse alons shows that he is a very violent rapper and he is literally telling us how he robbed someone for all the money in this safe. King Von also makes fun of a dead opposition named Tooka who he often named after mirijauna that he smokes. The song “ All these N***** ”  He says “Tooka in my lung, I say that every time, 'cause he got smoked” taunting the dead person even after death. On the other hand we have Snoop Dogg who believes that he is the largest and most famous crip and proves so in his song super Crip. This song does not have a violence related line but does have a line showing how the gangsters should make the world a balanced place for all gangs instead of violence. The song Super crip has 3 lines that state “ Real G's make the hood go 'round Keep the planet spinnin' on its axis.” I believe he was implying that real gangsters don't have to kill each other to assert their dominance.

    When it comes to gangster rap violence doesn't have to always be a part of it. You can convey your message about your gang non violently as Snoop Dogg has proven. Snoop Dogg does an excellent job of representing the Crips in his music without promoting violence, while King Von represents the O block Gangster Disciples with violence in almost all of his music.
 

A lot of modern day rappers usually incorporate some form of violence and gang relations, while others talk about their lifestyle and the things they enjoy doing in their gang. This is most of the time referred to as drill music. While they often talk about some form of violence in the songs it is not always a common occurrence. In the past “gangster” rap would mostly likely consist about their affiliation and wouldn't involve a lot of violent lyrics. While some of their rap may have had a small amount of violence it isn’t as prominent as it is in today's “gangster” rap. Snoop Dogg for instance would talk a lot about being a crip and how he loves representing them by wearing the color blue and carrying their flag on him at all times. However nowadays we have rappers such as King Von who rap about robbing people, setting them up for robberies, and killing opposing gang members to assert their dominance over them. Too many gang members always boast about the crimes they commit in their songs with their gangs which is not needed. They are basically telling on themselves when they do this making it easier for officials to catch them and this also can be seen as a taunt to the opposition or other gangs which causes tension. 

Snoop Dogg is an old school rapper who dominated most of the 90’s with his rap music especially by being affiliated with the Crips and forming most of his rap career from songs about them or being affiliated with them. Snoop has been an affiliate of the Rollin’ 20s Crips since a young age. Snoop Dogg has since matured and now wants peace between rival gangs such as the Bloods and Crip. Last year on December 15, 2019 Snoop Dogg brought pole dancers to his concert and tried to promote Crip and Blood peace. This shows how much he has matured as a person because he could have definitely taken that to a violent route considering they are rival gangs. In 2016 Snoop Dogg even got together with another rival gang member “The Game” to have an anti-violence summit for gangs and shootings happening around the world. 

This can not be said for rappers in today's society. There are rappers who are just violent and malicious to their opposition no matter what happens. They do not want to see peace among the communities and want their gang to reign supreme over everything. Some rappers may have violence in their music because of emotions but there are some rappers like King Von who just incorporate violence in their music just to boast about the fact that they did it. Rapper King Von is one example of a malicious rapper/gang member. He is a member of the O block Gangster disciples. He talks a lot about how people not from O block can get murdered, shot or robbed for stepping on their territory. This also shows how short his temper is and his maturity level as opposed to Snoop. King Von is no stranger to violence as he was connected to a murder in May of 2014 but was then released because there were no witnesses to testify.

Many rappers are a part of different gangs and this often causes a lot of tension between gang members. When it comes to representing their gangs Snoop Dogg and King von have nothing to hide. Snoop Dogg can be found sporting blue which is the color of the Crip gang. Likewise King Von can be found wearing some form of black in his attire which is the color of the O block gangster disciples. King vons O block gang affiliation is very apparent especially considering the fact that he boasts about not being from 63rd a lot in most of his music. This is because he has opposite gang members from 63rd affiliated with the FBG gang that causes them problems. When it comes to lyricism and style King Von and Snoop Dogg are two different people. They both talk about their gangs a lot in their rap music but King Von has a lot more violence involved in his music compared to Snoop. King Von’s Rap is mostly story based and talks a lot about O’ Block which is where his gang the Gangster Disciples operate with a lot of instances of violence. While Snoop Dogg’s music may contain violence once every blue moon his music is more of him boasting his gang affiliation and how he is the biggest and most important Crip member. They both rap and fully support the gangs that they are a part of but King von is a lot more explicit about his actions and the crimes he commits as opposed to Snoop Dogg. 

Rappers boast their gangs in the songs that they write, it is nothing new but the way that king von does is explicit and disturbing.  King von is already connected to a lot of murders in Chicago while Snoop Dogg is not. In King vons song “Took her to the O” he vividly describes a murder that he commited because someone shattered his windshield with a brick. In the song he says “Picked up a brick, he merched it on Brick and threw it at my whip Now I'm like, "Sh**, " I hopped out so quick Then I raised my Blick, and I don't miss I let off two shots, I hit him in his sh**." There should be no problem with representing your gangs and having non violent lyrics. It's understandable that when people talk about gangs there will be some violence but it's a lot more apparent in today's rap as opposed to old rappers such as Snoop. Snoop Dogg does a much better job when it comes to rapping about the gang lifestyle without including violence compared to King Von. While Snoop Dogg may include some violence in his music towards opposite rivals it's not as prominent as King Von who has some form of violence in all of his music. In King Vons song “O Block” he says “B****, I don't play, glock and SK make him empty the safe.” This whole verse alons shows that he is a very violent rapper and he is literally telling us how he robbed someone for all the money in this safe. King Von also makes fun of a dead opposition named Tooka who he often named after mirijauna that he smokes. In the song “ All these N***** ”  He says “Tooka in my lung, I say that every time, 'cause he got smoked”  taunting a dead person even after death. Tooka was a gang member from the 63rd block of St. Lawrence.  On the other hand we have Snoop Dogg who believes that he is the largest and most famous crip and proves so in his song Super Crip. This song does not have a violence related line but does have a line showing how the gangsters should make the world a balanced place for all gangs instead of violence. The song Super crip has 3 lines that state “ Real G's make the hood go 'round Keep the planet spinnin' on its axis.” I believe he was implying that real gangsters don't have to kill each other to assert their dominance.

Since Snoop Dogg has gotten older he is rarely heard of committing any violent acts, while he may do something every now and again he is human and it is bound to happen. He is leaning more towards the sides of peace and trying to bring everyone together instead of fighting and killing.There may be some songs that incorporate some form of violence in them because of anger or emotions being spread through their music. There is a huge issue though because he is only one person and with the rise of new upcoming rappers everyday it will be hard for the music to change paths from violent drill music to peace. King Vons music will be one of the obstacles that people who want to see gangs come together and co exist have to overcome. Anti violence will have to spread rapidly throughout rap and hip hop continuously in order for them to be able to spread their message of anti violence. The new school rappers will have to pick a side and depending on which one they pick rap will eventually become a peaceful anti-violent genre or grow into a genre that people automatically associate violence with.
    

                    Work cited
CBS Chicago. “Second Man Charged With May Shooting That Killed Man, Wounded Two Others.” CBS Chicago, CBS Chicago, 24 July 2014, chicago.cbslocal.com/2014/07/24/second-man-charged-with-may-shooting-that-killed-man-wounded-two-others/. 
Press, Associated. “Snoop Dogg and the Game Call Gang Members Together for an Anti-Violence Summit.” TheJournal.ie, 2016, www.thejournal.ie/snoop-dogg-the-game-us-gang-meeting-2883233-Jul2016/. 
“King Von (Ft. Lil Durk) – All These Niggas.” Genius, 5 Aug. 2020, genius.com/King-von-all-these-niggas-lyrics. 
“King Von – Took Her to the O.” Genius, 21 Feb. 2020, genius.com/King-von-took-her-to-the-o-lyrics. 
“Snoop Dogg – Super Crip.” Genius, 1 July 2016, genius.com/Snoop-dogg-super-crip-lyrics.