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

The hip-hop group Public Enemy has been around since 1985 which was only twelve years after hip-hops official starting date, meaning that they were around when hip-hop was still new but also changing.  In Public Enemy's song "Fight The Power" you can see some of hip-hops original features but you can also pick out some of the ways it shows hip-hop changing.  For example you can see one of the members scratching the turntables.  As described in Tricia Rose's "Rap Music" article she describes scratching as "a turntable technique that involves playing the record back and forth with your hand by scratching the needle against and then with the groove" (pg. 3)  

Scratching turntables is credited to Grandmaster Flash who perfected the technique but, was not the one who created it.  Grand Wizard Theodore was the one who is considered its creator, unfortunately he did not have enough of a following to keep working on the technique to perfect it.  Scratching can still be seen today in some hip-hop and rap videos, meaning that its history and legacy is very prominent throughout hip-hops creation and development.  Even though Public Enemy's song attracted a big crowd simply because of what the song is about Rose also says that "the new style of DJ performance attracted large excited crowds, but it also began to draw the crowds attention away from the dancing and toward watching the DJ performance" (pg. 4) meaning that some but not all people in the crowd could have been their to see them perform and to watch the DJ scratch and spin turntables.

Throughout Public Enemy's song "Fight The Power" they repeat the words "fight the power" which can mean a lot of things but in this instance they are talking about the government's power and especially the police's power.  Them saying this line repetitively can be applied to the rhetoric appeal "pathos, that is, to emotions" (Reading Texts pg.20) meaning that the group is trying to relate to their audience by putting in a lyric that relates to current events.  In the video they show extensive amounts of people gathered around one another, supporting each other, holding signs, and fighting for one cause.  Which again can appeal to the viewers pathos because we can see many people standing up and fighting for a cause through music.  The signs say various cities and states showing that people from all over the United States are gathered together to stand up for a cause and express our first amendment, freedom of speech or of the press and the right to peacefully assemble.

The whole structure of the video is very high energy, there are people everywhere, they are dancing and singing along with the artists.  Even the camera man is moving the frame a lot throughout the video and would even often put the camera in the artists face while they were rapping and following their movements.  The camera man doing all these actions is structuring the video to get the viewer involved and give them the feeling of actually being in the crowd. 

Then with the videos composition they say "our freedom of speech is freedom or death we got to fight the powers to be lemme hear you say fight the power" meaning that they are trying to get the community to speak up and not be afraid to do so even if you're scared.  There are many other powerful lines in this song that talk about empowerment and fighting for what you believe in.  For example they also say "To revolutionize make a change nothing's strange people, people we are all the same" meaning that the artists really want everyone to be treated equal no matter what, especially in the eyes of people in power.

Jillian Maloy

Watch Me Burn

In Eminem’s song “Love The Way You Lie” ft Rihanna they use figurative language like metaphors, allusions, and symbols throughout the song, it even opens with a metaphor and an illusion.  The whole musical piece talks about how a boy and a girl are in an abusive relationship, with the girl sitting there and taking all the physical and mental abuse while her partner just watches her breakdown in front of him with no care.  While the girl knows that her partner does not care she seems to like their relationship and forgive him after all the fights and beatings.  In the first fourteen seconds of the video we can see the woman holding a symbolic flame as Rihanna sings “Just gonna stand there and watch me burn well that’s alright, because I love the way it hurts.  Just gonna stand there and hear me cry well that’s alright, because I love the way you lie.  I love the way you lie.”  This whole lyric is repeated four times throughout the song, so while being a metaphor it is also being used as repetition.  In the metaphorical sense Rihanna is trying to get across that the girl is hurting from all the abuse she is receiving from her partner.  But she likes the way it makes her feel and how her partner lies to her.  While the flame represents the couples love for each other, it also represents how fragile and dangerous their relationship is.

Shortly after Rihanna’s second repetition of the first quote Eminem starts rapping for the second time about how when you meet someone and you automatically know you are in love with them because you get a certain feeling.  However, as the relationship goes on you start to get tired of them, but you still want to be with them.  This then puts restraint on the relationship causing fights and loss of feelings.  Eminem raps “Now you get to watch her leave out the window, guess that’s why they call it window pane.”  This is used as a comparison between the pain of watching someone you love very much leave, to watching them leave through a windowpane.  Eminem made it very prominent in this part of the song by having a break in his beats to transfer over to Rihanna repeating the first quote again.  After Rihanna’s only lines in the song are repeated for the third time, Eminem beings rapping again only this time he is talking about how all the fighting is not the girls fault and that maybe it was all the guys doing.  He is also asking the girl not to leave and is justifying why they fight so much.  He tries to explain by saying “Maybe that’s what happens when a tornado meets a volcano.  All I know is I love you too much, to walk away now.”  Saying this to the girl, and to the audience, gives us imagery of the damage that can come from the two of them coming together as two big natural disasters.  Also, how they maybe are not supposed to be together with all the damage they each can do alone, and yet they stay with each other because of the love they have.

Later in the same stanza Eminem also talks about how he is saying all of these lies to the girl in order to get her to come back to him.  He keeps blaming himself for the fights and abuse even though he does not believe they are his fault when, they are.  Eminem says, “Come back inside, pick your bags up off the sidewalk, don’t you hear the sincerity in my voice when I talk?”  When Eminem says this, we can hear him make a vocal emphasis on the word “my” making the audience think he is not actually being sincere, showing us the irony in his words.  The irony is present because he asks if we hear the sincerity in his voice while being aggressive in his tone of voice.  Soon after he says the first quote, he keeps repeating how it is his fault even though he knows he is lying.  Eminem states “Next time, there will be no next time I apologize even though I know it’s lies.  I’m tired of games, I just want her back, I know I’m a liar.”  Showing more irony because he keeps lying to her face while the audience knows what he is saying is not true.  When the song comes to an end, we can see in the video the couple’s house on fire while Eminem and Rihanna watch it burn, with Rihanna’s one quote about standing and watching her burn playing.  This gives us a good conclusion of the couple and their relationship and how people are now watching their relationship burn not just the as a couple.

XXXTentacion was an artist who rapped about the real world and his problems.  He is known for his songs about his depression and how the world can throw so much at you and how it is ok to feel sad.  When his songs first became popular so many people hated on them for being "too real" or too sad, but as he went on his song became so popular with almost everyone.  He never boasts about how much money or women he has, he tried his best to connect with is audience about what matters in life.

Tekashi69 is an artist who raps about all his success and materialistic items, he is known for being very opinionated, colorful, and loud.  In fact when he was released from prison this year his first song was about how all his haters are mad he is free.  Even in the first couple of seconds he talks about how a girl is going something sexual to him because he has money.  Proving how he only raps about materialistic things, in most of his videos we can see the objectification of women.  They are wearing revealing clothing or skimpy bathing suits, we can also see him flashing money and showing off his cars, house, and jewelry.

When you think of the rappers XXXTENTATION, also known as X for short, and Tekashi69 you think about how they are on completely opposite sides of the rap industry.  However, when you take a closer look you can see that they both rap about how they feel.  While X rapes about depression, Tekashi raps about materialistic items that he might use to hide his emotions.  Either way they both have rapped about their lives and have received hate for being "too real".  Both rappers grew up in broken homes with little to no true parent figure.  X was sent to a youth program at six years old after trying to defend his mother from an attacker, shortly after that he was raised by his grandmother, and was expelled from one middle school while dropping out in the tenth grade.  Tekashi did not know his father until he was nine years old and was told he was dead by his mother, his stepfather was shot and killed in front if him, and was expelled from school in the eighth grade using his new free time to help his mom pay the bills.  Each have a traumatic background and each rap about how they have felt and how they feel.

Establish Basis of comparison – depression talk about depression in America

Depression is a major issue and with society becoming more and more accepting of this, more and more people have come forward about it.  There are about six common types of depression in America, I am going to talk about the first three, Major Depressive Disorder is a mental disorder characterized as a persistently depressed mood with finding little to no pleasure or interest in life and it is said to affect 16.2 million adults.  Persistent Depressive Order is feeling depressed all the time for more than two year, it is like Major Depressive Disorders next step if you still feel sad after a long time, and it is said to affect 1.5 percent of adults in America.  Lastly, Bipolar Disorder is when you have sad and depressive episodes but after you go through an excessive amount of happiness, also known as mania, and then once that is over, you’re back to feeling sad.  It is said to affect 2.8 percent of America.  Even with these numbers so high many people do not reach out for help with the disorders, it may be because they do not want others to know they are depressed, they may not think it will help them, and many other reasons including costs of getting help.  This is where music can come in, many people resort to music when they are feeling sad or depressed as an alternative to getting help.  Two rappers come to mind when I think of depression in rap, XXXTENTACION and Mac Miller.   

Thesis – how an artist responded to the depression in music in a good healthy way (XXX letting people know its ok)

XXXTENTACION, also known as X, is a late American rapper who would rap about his depression and how he wanted others to feel like it was okay to feel depressed and to help those who are not depressed understand those who are depressed .  X states in one of his introduction recordings that “If you’re not open minded, before you listen to this album, open your mind” meaning that he is trying to expand the minds of those who aren’t sad and relate to the ones who are.

Antithesis – how an artist responded to the depression music in a bad hating way (Mac Miller telling him to get over it)

Mac Miller is also a late American rapper who talked about depression in his songs, but only if you listen to the right lyrics he was told many times to just get over his depression and keep producing music.  In one of his songs called Good News he says “No they don’t like it when I’m down” and later says “Good news, good news, good news, that’s all they want to hear” meaning that while he is depressed no one cares and they want him to get over it.

Synthesis – how people have now accepted that depression is ok

Conclusion – Both used music to express emotion, support others getting out of depression with their lyrics

Jillian Maloy

It is okay to not be okay

Depression is a major issue and with society becoming more and more accepting of this, more and more people have come forward about it.  There are about six common types of depression in America, I am going to talk about the first three.  Major Depressive Disorder is a mental disorder characterized as a persistently depressed mood with finding little to no pleasure or interest in life and it is said to affect 16.2 million adults.  Persistent Depressive Order is feeling depressed all the time for more than two years, it is like Major Depressive Disorders next step if you still feel sad after a long time, it is said to affect 1.5 percent of adults in America.  Lastly, Bipolar Disorder is when you have sad and depressive episodes only after you go through an excessive amount of happiness, also known as mania, and then once that is over, you are back to feeling sad.  Bipolar Disorder is said to affect 2.8 percent of America. 

Even with these numbers so high many people do not reach out for help with the disorders.  It may be because they do not want others to know they are depressed, they may not think it will help them, or many other reasons including costs of getting help.  With this being a problem, many people try self-remedies like drawing, hanging out with friends, or getting a pet.  But even though those are great options many people still might not have the money for those simple tasks or even the motivation.  This is where music can come in, many people resort to music when they are feeling sad or depressed as an alternative to getting help.  Two rappers come to mind when I think of depression in rap, XXXTENTACION and Mac Miller.

XXXTENTACION, also known as X, is a late American rapper who would rap about his depression and how he wanted others to feel like it was okay to feel depressed.  He also rapped to help those who are not depressed understand those who are depressed.  X states in one of his introduction recordings that “If you’re not open minded, before you listen to this album, open your mind” meaning that he is trying to expand the minds of those who aren’t sad and relate to the ones who are to help them.  He even expresses how he is not in this for the money but to help those who are going through depression by rapping about his own experiences in hopes of connecting with who are struggling.  In his second album titled “17” he states in his first song “I do not value your money, I value your acceptance and loyalty”  This quote is so moving because in this whole album he talks about all seventeen of his nightmares, and how he is not wanting to make money off of them.  He is wanting to connect in hopes it helps others struggling with depression not end up the way he did.

In his last album his first song is titled “Introduction” he states “I’m not tryna vulture off, off hardships and all that bullshit, bro.  I felt hardships, I’m tired of that shit, I’m good bro.”  This quote really stood out to me because again he says he is not in it for the money, or to profit of what he is dealing with.  He states that he is done with hardships and the depression that comes with it because in the end he is okay.  When he says this he is telling society it is not unnormal to feel sad or even depressed and in the end to still be okay with life and with yourself, you just have to know how to handle it.

Mac Miller is also a late American rapper who talked about depression in his songs, but only if you listen to the right lyrics.  He was told many times to just get over his depression and keep producing music.  In one of his songs called Good News he says “No they don’t like it when I’m down” and later says “Good news, good news, good news, that’s all they want to hear” meaning that while he is depressed no one cares and they want him pretend like he is not dealing with problems.  He raps in that song “Can I get a break, I wish I could just get out of my own goddamn way.”  When he says this lyric you can interpret it as Mac wanting his depression to get out of his mind and wanting to have a break from it.  He again says in the same song “All I do is say sorry, half the time I don’t even know what I am saying it about.”  This lyric speaks for itself, but it is very clear that society has a different view on depression when Mac raps about it. 

That is not the only song Mac talks about his forced repression of depression, in his song Hurt Feelings he raps “I’m always sayin’ I won’t change but I ain’t the same.”  When interpreting this lyric, we can see that Mac is trying to tell people that he will not change for his audience and his producers, but he does not feel right.  This is a clear call from Mac for help with his depression and yet again he is being forced to not come out and say he has depression.  Since society is shutting his emotions down, he feels like he could never truly express himself and slowly fell into a dark place which many believe caused him to overdose on drugs in the end.

Many people confuse being sad for a day as being depressed.  Which from the explanation in the first paragraph that is not the case, depression stems from multiple problems in someone’s life not just a bad day.  But because so many people think of depression is such a simple way as a bad day, society has made having depression a joke or made it seem like someone is just asking for attention by saying that they have depression.  The vicious cycle of depression is caused by one of the estimated nine causes of depression happening to you, abuse of any kind, certain medications, conflict, death or a loss of a family member, genetics, major events, other personal problems, and serious illness.  Once one or more of these events has occurred you enter the cycle of depression. 

It starts with increased guilt or hopelessness, then the feeling of depression, followed by decreased interest or low energy, and lastly decreased activity or neglect of responsibility.  When the cycle starts it is hard to get out of especially when society puts the pressure on you to be their version of normal.  Society acts towards depression the same way Mac Millers audience acted when he expressed his emotions, they sympathize with who has it but tells them to not have to for too long.  According to society if you have its version of depression it is okay, but if you do have it you cannot have it for more than maybe two days.  Another thing society teaches those who have depression is to not talk about their problems to others or they will think you complain too much, or simply tell you to go get help in a rude way instead of offering the friendship everyone with depression wants.

Both XXXTENTACION and Mac Miller had depression, it was not an unknown fact, and both expressed their emotions in their music.  But first they both, like many people, tried to solve their depression with drugs and in the end, it changed nothing.  So, they resorted to trying to teach everyone that this is not the end and drugs are not the answer.  But society has taken and twisted how we should view mental health and turned it into a bad thing.  Since society has done this it has made artists like X make a career out if their experiences with depression.  In the end both X and Mac tried to help reverse societies harmful twist on depression with their lyrics. 

X said in his song Whoa “Won’t let back, I must shine.”  While Mac said in his song Blue World “One of these days we’ll all get by, don’t be afraid.”  Both lyrics are powerful, they are both saying how even if you are in a rough spot you must keep fighting and move forward and once you do you will feel amazing.  Another two lyrics that go well together from both artists talking about overcoming depression are from Mac Miller’s song “Self Care” and XXXTENTACION’s song “Everybody Dies in Their Nightmares”  Mac says “Self care, I’m treatin’ me right, yeah, hell yeah, we gonna be alright.” and X says “Tired of feeling like I’m trapped in my damn mind.”  Both lyrics are talking about how they are done feeling depressed and want to mend themselves back to being better with, like Mac says, self-care.

Work Cited

Center for Clinical Interventions.  “The Vicious Cycle of Depression” CCI

https://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/~/media/CCI/Mental%20Health%20Professionals/Depression/Depression%20-%20Information%20Sheets/Depression%20Information%20Sheet%20-%2004%20-%20Vicious%20Cycle%20for%20Depression.pdf  Accessed 1 Dec. 2020

Emamzadeh, Arash.  “15 Reasons Why People with Depression Don’t Get Treatment”

Psychology Today

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/finding-new-home/201810/15-reasons-why-people-depression-don-t-get-treatment  Accessed 18 Nov. 2020

Legg, Timothy.  “Depression: Facts, Statistics, and You” Healthline

https://www.healthline.com/health/depression/facts-statistics-infographic#Types-of-depression  Accessed 18 Nov. 2020