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

Hip-Hop is a steadily evolving art unlike any other. Tricia Rose stated in her essay titled "Rap Music" and wrote, "Rapping, the last element to emerge in hip hop has become its most prominent facet. In the earliest stages, DJ's were the central figures in hip hop." (17)  Kodak Black is an African-American hip hop/rap artist.  Kodak is an evolved artist in the way that he uses the style of rapping more than traditional hip hop.  In his music video for one of his hit songs ,"Tunnel Vision", he displays a great scene of a Caucasian male showing an extreme amount of racism to an African-American male who is simply minding his own business. 

In the music video "Tunnel Vision" there are two story lines going on.  One story is the fight between the Caucasian male and the African-American male.  The second story line is Kodak Black and a few of the members of the "Sniper Gang"  dancing and singing in front of two burning crosses with what appears to be a Ku Klux Klan member hanging from one in the back ground.  

The shifting of the two story lines in this music video is done to perfection.  The way the editor of the video arranges the scenes keeps the audience on the edge of their seats and waiting to see what is to come.  The video also has flashing lights during major transitions between the scenes and throughout the video when important things are happening.  The reason for the lights is to catch your attention and keep the viewers focus.  

The setting for the scene of the Caucasian male and African American male fighting is on a farm.  The African American male is doing manual labor when the Caucasian male rides up in his Jeep painting a picture of what looks like modern day slavery.  

Tricia Rose states in her essay titled "Rap Music" that "...the settings for these expressions always suggested existing confinement." (25)  The African American male seems to be in confinement, like Rose refers to, because he is doing intense labor alone.  The setting for the second story line, Kodak and his gang dancing in front of the hanging KKK member and a burning cross, is significant because it shows reference to one of the largest stages of African American oppression, the KKK murdering African Americans, but reversed where the KKK member is being murdered.  

Rose also states in her essay "...hip hop's anger is produced by contemporary racism, gender, and class oppression..."(27) which has a direct correlation to the basis of the "Tunnel Vision" music video.  Kodak is showing he, along with his members are tired of being treated badly and he is making an effort to change it.  Modern hip hop gives African American's like Kodak Black a voice in the fight against racism that other people do not have the chance to do.  Rose verifies this in her essay by stating "These transformations and hybrids reflect the initial spirit of rap and hip hop as an experimental and collective space where contemporary issues and ancestral forces are worked through simultaneously." (25)  

At the end of the music video the African American man is winning the fight by choking the Caucasian man with the United States of America's flag.  The video builds this fight up to where the viewer believes that the African American man is going to kill the Caucasian man, but right when you think the man is going to kill him a young, innocent, female girl yells stop and is staring at both of them.  This display shows that humans are born with no racism in their blood, because the girl is innocent and does not want anyone to be hurt.  Kodak Black uses this girl to symbolize that humans should not see color, but instead just see humans and that if everyone would love the world would be a better place.  

Kodak Black uses his voice in this music video to try and help in the fight against racism.  His modern style of hip hop is displayed greatly and used for an important cause.  

Will Minick

Girl on Fire

            I believe that liking a song and actually understanding and listening to the lyrics can completely change someone’s perspective of a song, or at least it can for me. As a guy, Alecia Keys is not usually an artist I would listen to or enjoy, but I love the song “Girl on Fire” that she released in 2012. This song is filled with passion, soul, and a great beat. Girl on Fire, when looking more into it, is filled with hyperboles, metaphors, repetition, and imagery.

            The lyrics of “Girl on Fire” has a plethora of hyperboles, which is pretty noticeable even just from the title of the song. Obviously, a girl is not literally on fire, but the meaning behind why Keys decided to say this can go different ways. It is explained as a metaphor that the girl is strong and confident. Another hyperbole I found when analyzing was the song lyric, “she’s got her head in the clouds.” Again, does not mean a girl has her head in the clouds, but rather, she is confident with herself so she feels high and mighty. “She can fly away,” represents, instead of flying, that the girl cannot be touched. I think hyperboles are a great way to help a reader, or listener in this instance, find deeper meaning in a text.

Metaphors and similes are a form of figurative language that I think often gets overlooked because of how much they are used in songs, books, poems, movies and more. Keys sings about being “on fire” is a metaphor that describes this girl as a passionate, untamed person. “So bright she can burn your eyes,” to me, really translate to mean that the girl is so confident in herself and her light and power really can shine so much on everyone she comes into contact with. The girl that Keys created for her listeners has so much power that she is above the average person. By elevating this girl so much, she almost leaves us guessing about why and how the girl is like this, but I think the mystery helps the mind wander. Keys says in the last verse of the song that the girl was so strong because she could overcome whatever “catastrophe” came her way.

Most songs have so much repetition in a chorus or bridge but I think it is important to help the artist get their point across. The song repeats many times, “this girl is on fire,” and Keys sets the mood with this powerful and fearless girl. I learn best when I write things or hear things repeated so I can relate to how important it is to repeat things to understand the true meaning of a text or song. Repetition is a pretty self-explanatory form of figurative language but is essential to songs and other texts.

All throughout the song, Alecia Keys reinforces the imagery of the girl she sings about being on fire. Imagery is, in my opinion, one of the most important figurative language that an artist can use. It helps paint a picture in the listeners head of what the artist is trying to portray and gives intimate detail on, in this song’s case, the girl. The lyrics, “she’s walking on fire” is not only a metaphor and hyperbole, but this really gives an image in my head. I am a very visual learner and person so getting details like this in a song or text helps me understand it and appreciate it so much more. The imagery that I think Keys is trying to make a listener understand is that the girl she sings about is untouchable, no matter what she faces. When I listen to a song that has this much imagery, I try to think of a music video that would fit with it. Alecia Keys already has a music video, but I would make one completely different. I would make a girl walk down the streets of New York, an obviously very busy city that people might not notice others. Every step the girl takes, flames would follow her and the people that look into her eyes would see fire and know how special she was.

Most songs are filled with so much figurative language and deeper meanings to look into while enjoying a great tune. I think hip-hop and rap songs, from learning about their history, are usually even more filled with these things than the average pop song. Analyzing and paying more attention to the lyrics and figurative language instead of just the beat and instrumentals can really change a song for someone. This song really sets an image of a powerful girl and also sets a positive tone work to accomplish. The only thing I wish for now is to actually be able to walk on fire.