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

Bang Bang

Females throughout the centuries have made a huge impact in the hip hop industry. Women today play a huge role in the voice of hip hop. "Bang Bang" is sung by three of the biggest names in female hip hop. Nicki Minaj, Jessie J, and Ariana Grande are powerhouses in this new female generation. All three of these women add different aspects in creating music in history. In the video they show strength and power included in different shots and scenes. 

There are three main scenes that go along with all three women separately. All three of the women are the focal points in their shots. Jessie J is filmed on the city streets. She has groups of people dancing with her, however she is still the center of attention.

There is lots of fun, colors, and exciting action going around during her scenes. People all over the city are dancing, skateboarding, eating, and making their own fun. In Ariana's scene she is in a dim lit bedroom which gives off a more seducing, sexy vibe. 

Nicki's scene is shot at night, getting out of a helicopter, on a rooftop in the middle of a big city. This shows empowerment. Her slow movements and fast movement of words are contrasts. The arrangement of the scenes perfectly organize the video.

These three icons take their city, bedroom, rooftop scenes to the next level. Each women is dominant. At the end of the video, they are finally all conjoined together not the rooftop. The three of them together show diversity and force. "Although black and Latino women have been a small but integral presence in graffiti, rapping, and breaking" (23). However, today, black and Latino women are on the top charts for hip hop and these women make up a portion of them.

The point of view in this music video focuses on the women in all shots. The camera is normally centered straight highlighting the women. It also lowers to the ground level and gets them from a different view. This view shows confidence and determination. As the women sing, the camera begins to zoom in and out. The close ups make the viewer focus on the song and the power behind it. One thing the camera also does is film an overview or horizontal view of the whole city multiple times. It is as if the camera is in the air flying. All these camera angles put the video together and draws the viewer's eye.

In "Rap Music" by Tricia Rose, she explains how females had "strong social sanctions against their participation" (22). Society as a whole did not associate hip hop and women. She also states how females have been absent from the area of music production. "There are not major players in the use of sampling technology nor have they made a significant impact in rap music production and engineering" (23). Hip hop is known to be a male dominated genre and women are often looked over. Nicki Minaj for example, has proven to be more talented and dominate this genre of music. Women in hip hop has begun to change, as women are shaking up the hip hop world. Women in hip hop are independent and very talented. Hip hop is not just a males genre, but a new culture of female performers.

"Bang Bang" is a song written and performed by supportive, empowering women. The energy given off, the lyrics, and the style and arrangement of the music video is the definition of hip hop. The female hip hop industry will continue to grow and dominate in the genre.

Reese Nathanson

Language Analysis of "Stereo Hearts"

In the song "Stereo Hearts" by Gym Class Heroes, figurative language is used to create a metaphor for love. The comparison of two unrelated things allows for a deeper meaning. The entire song is written based off of a "radio" as his heart or even bigger, his love as a whole. There are so many metaphors that the entire song is a metaphorical symbol. The radio is the main symbol throughout the entire song. "My hearts a stereo it beats for you so listen close" is the intro to the song and sets the tone. This short phrase is repeated consistently throughout the song. This is a clear metaphor because the artist clearly compares his heart to a stereo. When you are in love, your heart beats faster, which is compared to the loudness of the stereo. As you continue to listen to the lyrics, they are actions a stereo performs, not a human. You can not physically "Hear my thoughts in every note" or even "Turn me up when you feel low". The artist is giving himself qualities of a radio in a way to express his love.

The artist makes it clear he wants his love to be known and reciprocated. He spits "If I was just another dusty record on the shelf would you blow me off and play me like everybody else?" To me, this makes me think of how the girl he is expressing his love to gets around with anyone but him. He wants to be her exception. This is a turning point in the lyrics because he then tells the audience how he is used to getting hurt in relationships. "I apologize for any skipping tracks. It's just the last girl who played me left a couple cracks" he is still comparing himself to a stereo while explaining he wants this time to be different because he was left broken and used like an old radio. This lyric I feel is very relatable for not just me, but many people are left feeling broken after a relationship.

Throughout this metaphorical song, the use of metaphors, exaggeration, and even personification is used to present his unconditional love. He presents a question in the song by asking " Would you turn my volume up in front of the cops? And crank it higher everything they told you to stop?" By continually comparing himself to a stereo, he is now asking this girl he loves if she would be able to stand by his side, love and support him in the hardest of times, like in a marriage. As stated before, he has been played like a radio and has had some heart break in his life. "If I was an old school, fifty pound boombox would you hold me on your shoulder wherever you walk?" This exaggeration is used to prove a point that he might be harder to handle with all of his prior hardship and suffering. He has has experience that have made him stronger and the "weight" that comes with it. He has been hurt before " I thought love was dead". Love itself can not be dead, but his prior love could have "died" off. Even though he has been hurt, he never gave up on love and will do anything for this girl in hopes she will do the same for him.

The artist also uses similes for his love to try to get his point across. "To keep me stuck inside your head like your favorite tune" states how he wants her thoughts to be stuck on him like songs do. A catchy song gets stuck in your head like someone you love. When you are obsessed with something you can not stop thinking of it and for him it is the girl he is in love with. He wants her to understand his feelings and to be the focus in her life. Another simile used "You never know we come and go like on the interstate". Most relationships at an early age come and go until you find the one, like cars driving to a destination until they finally stop. He wants this relationship to be different in hopes of forever.

As the song starts to close out, the artist thinks he finally gets the girl he loves to understand. "I think I finally found a note to make you understand" "If I can hit it, sing along and take me by the hand" the metaphor here is his singing, which again relates to a radio. If he hits the right "note", then he has won her over. The note could be anything, for example taking her out, saying the right thing, or finally expressing his love. For him to finally find a note for her to understand is his end goal. The metaphors of the radio overall show how strong his love is. His perseverance of love shows his commitment to the girl he loves.

Growing up in Atlanta, the hip-hop culture has always called my name. Listening to artists and watching them grow into top performers like Migos, Gucci Mane, Young Thug, Future, and Lil Yachty just to name a few, have shaken up the hip-hop world with their new style of rap. These artists may be relatively new, but Atlanta became home to older hip-hop rappers not so long ago. The men from Atlanta throughout the decades has given the hip-hop world more than just some top songs, but a lifestyle. Hip hop in Atlanta has continued to strive since its introduction in the 1980's. It was labeled as a variant of "Miami Bass" or "Booty music" with a subgenre that consists of heavy bass, kick drums, face paced tempos, and of course, sexual lyrics. Outkast, one of the first hip hop duos from Atlanta redefined G-Funk and Dirty South music styles with their strong melodies, intricate lyrics, and positive messages. Outkast paved the way through the early days of hip hop in Atlanta with their hip hop and hustler culture. As hip hop in Atlanta grew, so did the style of rap. By the 1990's, '"Gangta Rap" had boomed and from then Atlanta defined the southern hip hop style, dominating hip hop entities, and establishing Atlanta as a center for hip hop. Ludacris made his debut in the mid 2000s as Atlanta's hip hop gained popularity. After the establish of Trap music, Migos had been passed the hip hop torch. The 2000s has been a big step for Atlanta's face of hip-hop. The eras between Ludacris and Migos have changed the way hip-hop is featured today.

Ludacris first emerged to the rapping scene in 2000. Atlanta was becoming the new center for hip hop and Ludacris was giving just that. America wanted crunk beats, aggressive chanting, and lackluster rapping. He started his career with on air raps on commercials and station promotions before selling millions of album copies by his label. Ludacris' debut album was Atlanta's earliest foray into a brand new era of hip hop dominance. At his rise to fame, no other rapper sounded quite like him. At the time it sounded new and fresh. Ludacris had a loud seamless knack for Seussian riddles and vulgar puns. Ludacris' rap has a pretty average technique. There is not much change in phrasing or sentences. Most of Ludacris' rhymes come at the end of the sentences and they are one or two syllables long. For example in one of his first songs "Freaky Thangs" his rhyming is ordinarily simple. "Tan skin so butter soft I'm ripping' the buttons off yo blouse (...) I'm in yo house (...) women to men when down south (...) while they in yo mouth." As Ludacris ages through hip-hop, so does his style. Ludacris' pop records put him at odds with the now dominant styling of trap music. His over enunciation sounds, which now in rap is slurred and slung, couldn't keep up with the style that was to come next to Atlanta.

However, the group Migos rise to fame was somewhat fast with the releases of mixtapes that caught the eyes of producers and other famous rappers at the time. Trap rap was born in Atlanta and the group is controlling the trap rap era. They incorporate a much heavier trap style into their lyrics about murders and drug use, giving Atlanta the nickname of "Traplanta". Trap is a genre filled with a hard attitude that you can feel in the sound of the brass, triangle, triplet hi hats, loud kicks, snappy snares and low end 808 bass samples that are used when composing tracks. The Roland TR-808, used for making the infamous 808s sounds is crucial in Atlanta's all around sound. Migos "flow" is all of this with a sputter of noises and lyrics that draws everyone in to their catchy hits. Newer pop rap differs from the old Atlanta rap scene because of the heavily electronic productions and edits. The silence in their music is saying the most in the moments when they aren't saying anything at all. New school rap lyrics are also less deep and meaningful then old school rap. Ad-libs are also used considerably a lot in todays hip hop, unlike in older rap. Migos take full advantage of ad-libs, using them in almost every album. Also rhyming is key to Migos most famous lyrics. The rhyming consonants in "Bad and Boujee", "Raindrop drop-top Smokin' on cookie in the hotbox" pushes the groups work to the top. The repetition in their lyrics isn't redundant, but makes the song's trademark. Migos trademark is the rhymed triple affect that other rappers have been imitating. The trio today in their style of hip-hop and performance is unstoppable.

Like in almost all hip-hop, either from the early 2000s, all the way to present day 2020, hip-hop lyrics have always been sexual. Hip hop lyrics are almost always labeled as sexual and explicit. Even Ludacris' early 2000 songs and albums contain sexual content. In Ludacris' song "What's Your Fantasy?" Ludacris indulges in his unique puns through his own sexual fantasies. Like in Perry's essay, men have always sexualized their lyrics. "Not only are women commodified, but sex as a whole" (Perry 135). Another example is In "Sex Room" by Ludacris the entire song commodifies how unrealistic sex is. The attitude toward the act and how females react is portrayed unrealistic and fantasized. Even his "Splash Waterfalls" from 2003 is entirely about sex. However, unlike Ludacris, Migos doesn't quite rap as much about sex. Migos trap rap stears more towards money, murder, and drugs. The trap rap aspect is lyrically lacking and does not tell a story unlike rappers like Ludacris. Not every rap song needs to be sexual for fame to come.

Music videos play a huge role in all Atlanta rappers careers. Stated in Perry's essay, "The use of black women in the music videos of male hip-hop artists often makes very clear reference to the culture of strip clubs and pornography." This is true in the videos of Ludacris as well as Migos. In almost every music video made by these male rappers, there are women, half naked dancing. This portrays how women are objectified in rap culture. In Ludacris' "What's Your Fantasy" there are even close ups of women's mouths sucking on popsicles and lollipops. For another example in the beginning of "How Low" by Ludacris two women say "Rumor has it if you go low enough Ludacris will appear in the mirror" These women begin dancing sexually in hopes a man, which in this instance is Ludacris will notice them. This alone teaches women and young girls how they need to impress men by doing something sexual and showing their bodies. Just the same as Ludacris' music videos, women are shown barely dressed around the men. Throughout the 2000 decade from when Ludacris was more popular, the idea of the unrealistic bodies for women has also grown. Migos uses these women's bodies in their videos. "White girls find themselves inundated with images of beauty impossible for most to attain: sheets of blonde hair, waif thin bodies, large breasts, no cellulite, small but round features, and high cheekbones." (Perry 137). Women in these music videos have all of these criteria, which is unrealistic. Even with the majority of Migos' songs not even based around sex, they still have these sexual videos. The unfair image this creates for all women shows how the hip hop industry from the beginning is objectifying women even until today.

The evolution of rap throughout time has continued to change drastically. Hip hop throughout the different eras of time have different techniques, sounds, and rhythms. Who knows what will be next for hip hop. Why not have the same style forever? These artists like Ludacris all the way Migos have created hip hop in ways to change the sound to be original at the time. As hip hop culture and style has changed throughout the decades in Atlanta, Ludacris and Migos, show how rap has evolved into today's top hits. The beats and lyrics of both styles of rappers allows for the uniqueness of the different sounds. Right now, Migos shows how Atlanta is home to trap rap, but will this evolve too? Who knows where hip hop will be heading in the future. With a better use of newer technology and younger upcoming artists, hip hop will evolve with the listeners. Atlanta is a core piece in hip hop innovation and will continue to be. Atlanta has made its mark on the hip hop culture. Hip hop in the future to come will be welcomed and explored to be the best of Atlanta.