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

Matthew Lederman

Lyrical Analysis

A Dance With The Devil

     Music varies greatly between its many different genres, from the meaning of the piece down to the emotions that are projected onto the listener. One of the most polarizing of genres in this sense is Rap/Hip Hop. Rap has a mainstream stigma of always being about drugs, sex and violence when in reality theres an underlying presence of the purest form of poetry remaining in this world. Immortal Technique is one rapper in particular, who tends to be very blunt about the stories he chooses to tell. Born Felipe Andres Coronel, Technique’s music is a collection of examples of the aforementioned characteristics of rap. While his verses are filled with violent language discussing drug rings and gang activity, his hooks and his messages are always pure.

     Immortal Technique’s track titled, “Dance with the Devil'' is a 3rd person narrative about the darkest of attributes in a life of crime. The song begins, “I once knew a nigga, his real name was william. His primary concern, was makin’ a million...a corrupted young mind at the age of thirteen.” Immediately, Technique introduces a young boy with a damaged conscience, focused only on getting rich. He goes on to address Billy’s mother being addicted to smoking crack and his father being completely out of the picture. These details allow the reader insight to what may have caused this young boy's distress. The second verse begins to explain Billy’s entry into a criminal lifestyle. Coronel spits, “Fulfilling the Scarface fantasy stuck in his brain, Tired of the block niggas treating him the same... They told him any motherfucking coward can sell drugs... but only a real thug can stab someone till they die.” The artist lists several crimes in this sequence such as selling drugs, illegal firearms and using them to take another man’s life. He also however, acknowledges the fact that it takes a different kind of darkness in someone's mind to be able to murder someone “standing in front of them, starring straight into their eyes.” The higher ups in the gang that Billy is attempting prove himself to suggested a horrible act to certify that he was “cold hearted”, that act was rape. 

     On a friday night at a quarter to 3 A.M. Billy and his associates got together. The final verse of the song explains, “they saw a woman on the street walking alone... dragged her into a lobby that had nobody there... the shirt covered her face... they all proceeded to rape her violently.” The rest of the gang had forced Billy into gang raping an innocent woman on the roof of an apartment building. This digs into the absolute darkest of crimes that gangs in America commit. There is nothing glamorous or exciting about this side of the places where hip hop has originated. People who go on to lead rich and flashy lifestyles do not necessarily come from a happy lifestyle. As the song continues and the terror comes to an end, the men suggest that Billy must end the woman’s life. Technique discloses, “Right before he pulled the trigger... pulled back the shirt cover...he was staring into the eyes of his own mother.” The listener is now informed that the woman the men had taken and raped was in fact Billy’s mother. After Billy came to this realization his mother is quoted as screaming louder than when they were assaulting her, and Billy leaps off the roof and he “died with no soul” This final act of Billy’s alludes to the very heavy chorus that delivers, “Dance forever with the devil on a cold cell block, but thats what happens when you rape, murder and sell rock. Devils used to be God’s angels that fell from the top, there’s no diversity because we're burning in the melting pot.” Billy was a young boy, essentially abandoned by both parents. He was destined to be corrupt before his life ever began. He was an angel under god’s protection until he fell from the top, gave into sin and greed. 

     Now as dark as it may be to think of writing such a story, Immortal Technique did not in fact do that. This story was true and told by Technique in the form of a song. He ends the song by admitting, “And listen cause the story that I'm telling is true, cause I was there with Billy Jacobs and I raped his mom too… And you'll be one of God's children that fell from the top. There's no diversity because we're burning in the melting pot. So when the devil wants to dance with you, you better say never, because a dance with the devil might last you forever.” He also explains how his memory of Billy and his mother have continued to haunt him his whole life. There's no telling what may have led any given criminal to do the things they’ve done and even if there is, it is certainly no excuse. However, this song and Immortal Technique as an artist have done an incredible job at addressing the roots of all evil, exposing the greatest impacts on the short life of a particular violent criminal. Hip Hop isn’t always about money, girls and drugs. It addresses pain, suffering and sometimes even the greatest of malice.

Visual Analysis
 

There is an interesting dynamic to the artform that is music, it is an incredible example of how sounds, words and visualization can convey a message. From a lyrical standpoint, hip-hop has always been a great source of storytelling. However, just as well as lyrical effect, a music video can provide just as much substance to the message.

Donald “Childish Gambino” Glover is an actor/writer/artist/comedian, the list goes on. One of my favorite texts that he has produced is a music video for a song called “This is America”. Gambino addresses the problems that face America as a whole and their effect on its people. The main point that he touches on in particular is the unfair treatment of minorities and the areas they reside in. 

The freeze frame from the video above depicts Gambino holding a machine firearm and firing at an entirely african american choir. This to me was meant to represent the gun violence involving the black community. Glover has a part in the song that reads, “guns in my area, i got the strap, i gotta carry it.” This part of the song is referring to how people in areas with particularly high gun violence feel pressured to keep one of their own. This assists in the exponential increase of innocent lives being taken by firearms. Gun violence in general is an epidemic in our nation and on top of that it is mostly detrimental to african americans. The most common way that guns are misused violently is by police officers. 

Childish Gambino also does a great job embodying hip hop with several different clips of group dancing which has always been a big part of the culture. His attire in the video is a symbol as well. He is shirtless with plaid corduroys and wearing a chain around his neck. This to me fealt like an homage to slavery where they were given little to no clothing and the clothing they were given was cheap. The chain around his neck also alludes to the captivity they were held in. It felt as though he was trying to say that despite the abolishment of slavery, african americans are still held captive in the “system” that is america.

The opening frame of the video displays Gambino standing in a very particular manner. This stance is very similar to the common depiction of Jim Crow. Jim Crow was a character created by Thomas D. Rice as a racist example of african americans and their culture at the time. Gambino then proceeds to shoot a man with his face covered, another allusion to the gun violence. 

This final frame shows Childish Gambino sprinting away from a mob of white men in suits. This seems to be another reference to how the black community still feels like they are running away from racism and discrimination in America. Tricia Rose discusses in her piece titled Rap Music, “hip hop's anger is produced by contemporary racism, gender, and class oppression” This quote addresses the anger and pain that is felt by the black community due to the history of America as a racist institution.