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

Mar'Ques Watson-Trent 

9/17/2020

Visual Analysis 

English 1101

Dr. Aron Pease 

 

“This is America”

 

The video I have chosen to analyze today is “This is America” by Childish Gambino.  This music video has won countless prestigious awards, most notable would be it’s Grammy Award for best music video in 2019.  Along with all the awards the video has gotten, the message behind the video is truly remarkable.  In the article,  Rap Music, by Tricia Rose, she explains how, “... Hip Hop’s anger is produced by contemporary racism, gender, and class oppression” (27).  The video tackles many racial stereotypes and highlights racial inequalities through symbolism, tone, and shifts seen throughout the video. 

In this picture,  childish Gambino is shown shooting the Black man who in the beginning of the video was playing the guitar. This unconscious act creates a shift visually, but also in the song itself.  Visually the scene starts with Childish Gambino dancing,  which we assume symbolizes a Jim Crow character, which was a cartoon character that supposedly represented a slave in 1830’s.  The character’s face was darkened and was written to racially stereotype Black people in that time.  He continues Dancing and as the camera gets closer to his face he starts to make faces.  The face expression he makes can be viewed as an impulsive reaction from the dances but I believe the real genius behind the faces were meant to symbolize a racial stereotype from the old Minstrel Shows.  The Minstrel Shows were also a racial depiction of Blacks and our Culture in the 1920’s. The reason behind these hidden racial stereotypes is to create dialogue about it.  What that does is bring awareness and it also reminds us that this was America, and the dehumanizing and horrific things we hear about aren't just folk tales but real events of what America stood for just 60 years ago. From a Musical standpoint there seems to be a musical modulation caused by the violent actions seen in the video. The song starts off with a South Africa choral sound, this relates to what Rose said about, “...Regional differentiation in hip hop is solidified and will continue to be so” (26)  As the violent act is committed in the visual the song shifts from a choral to a more modern trap beat.  The reason behind this is to give the viewer a dose of a familiar sound they are used to listening to. This challenges the viewer to normalize and forget the violent event that occured, this is what the director believes is happening in the Black community. We are blinded by Celebrities and what's viral, we never find time to viralize the problems we face everyday which is systematic racism, violence within our communities,  and violence in the world.

In this Picture,  The same cause and effect dynamic between what's going on in the video and the tone of the song is recurring.  Now the brilliance behind every shift is the use of symbolism.  The first shift can be interpreted many different ways. One would be it symbolizing racial stereotypes. This shift is more direct and gives a visual example of what he means.  Killing the entire choir symbolizes mass shootings and more directly the shooting in Charleston, SC.

In This picture, you can see that what once was an empty warehouse is now a field with abandoned older models.  The lyrics of the song during this scene is, “ Get your money Black man …”  So this relates to what Rose said about how, “ The power of rappers’ voice and their role as a storyteller ensured that rapping would become the central expression in hip hop culture” (20). Gambino idea of showing the old cars is to touch on Black economics.  It's simply stated but holds so much power both because that's a real modern day issue with america. 

 

In “This is America” Childish Gambino added at least 7 samples of other popular artists at that time in the song.  Now Rose states that the use of multiple samples are for, “ … Dialogue, commentary,  percussive rhythms, and Counterpoints.” Now in this case,  it can be assumed that he uses them as just commentary, like adlibs, but i feel the reason for the samples were just to give the listener a familiar sound.  This goes back to trying to hide the violence in the song to relate to what we do in real life. He also does many popular dances throughout the video that does the same thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MarQues Watson-Trent 

9/17/2020

Visual Analysis 

English 1101

Dr. Aron Pease 

 

“This is America”

 

The video I have chosen to analyze today is “This is America” by Childish Gambino.  This music video has won countless prestigious awards, most notable would be it’s Grammy Award for best music video in 2019.  Along with all the awards the video has gotten, the message behind the video is truly remarkable.  In the article,  Rap Music, by Tricia Rose, she explains how, “... Hip Hop’s anger is produced by contemporary racism, gender, and class oppression” (27).  The video tackles many racial stereotypes and highlights racial inequalities through symbolism, tone, and shifts seen throughout the video. 

In this picture,  Childish Gambino is shown shooting the Black man who in the beginning of the video was playing the guitar. This unconscious act creates a shift visually, but also in the song itself.  Visually the scene starts with Childish Gambino dancing,  which we assume symbolizes a Jim Crow character, which was a cartoon character that supposedly represented a slave in 1830’s.  The character’s face was darkened and was written to racially stereotype Black people in that time.  He continues dancing and as the camera gets closer to his face he starts to make faces.  The face expression he makes can be viewed as an impulsive reaction from the dances but I believe the real genius behind the faces were meant to symbolize a racial stereotype from the old Minstrel Shows.  The Minstrel Shows were also a racial depiction of Blacks and our Culture in the 1920’s. The reason behind these hidden racial stereotypes is to create dialogue about it.  What that does is bring awareness and it also reminds us that this was America, and the dehumanizing and horrific things we hear about aren't just folk tales but real events of what America stood for just 60 years ago. From a musical standpoint there seems to be a musical modulation caused by the violent actions seen in the video. The song starts off with a South Africa choral sound, this relates to what Rose said about, “...Regional differentiation in hip hop is solidified and will continue to be so” (26)  As the violent act is committed in the visual the song shifts from a choral to a more modern trap beat.  The reason behind this is to give the viewer a dose of a familiar sound they are used to listening to. This challenges the viewer to normalize and forget the violent events that occured, this is what the director believes is happening in the Black community. We are blinded by celebrities and what's viral, we never find time to viralize the problems we face everyday which is systematic racism, violence within our communities and violence in the world.

.

In this Picture,  the same cause and effect dynamic between what's going on in the video and the tone of the song is recurring.  Now the brilliance behind every shift is the use of symbolism.  The first shift can be interpreted many different ways. One would be it symbolizing racial stereotypes. This shift is more direct and gives a visual example of what he means.  Killing the entire choir symbolizes mass shootings and more directly the shooting in Charleston, SC.

In this Picture, you can see that what was once an empty warehouse is now filled with abandoned older model cars.  The lyrics of the song during this scene is, “ Get your money Black man …”  So this relates to what Rose said about how, “ The power of rappers’ voice and their role as a storyteller ensured that rapping would become the central expression in hip hop culture” (20). Gambino’s idea of showing the old cars is to touch on Black economics.  It's simply stated but holds so much power because that's a real modern day issue with America. 

 

In “This is America” Childish Gambino added at least 7 samples of other popular artists at that time in the song.  Now Rose states that the use of multiple samples are for, “ … Dialogue, commentary,  percussive rhythms, and counterpoints.” Now in this case,  it can be assumed that he uses them as just commentary, like adlibs, but I feel the reason for the samples were just to give the listener a familiar sound.  This goes back to trying to hide the violence in the song to relate to what we do in real life. He also does many popular dances throughout the video that does the same thing.

 

The common denominator between new age hip hop vs old school is the actual lyrics. Think about it, old school rap honestly had a lot of meaning behind a lot of the words. Rappers like Tupac you could turn on any of their songs and you could most likely find a message in it. Rappers back then really used their words to express their emotion. Nowadays rappers don't put much thought into their lyrics which is why the term “Mumble rappers” came about. Most of today’s rappers strive for the sounds that cause physical reactions, music that makes you want to dance and get up to do something.  It is more about the hypeness of the sound and the beat rather than the words being used…….

   The way rap lyrics were back then compared to now differs in so many ways. Rappers like Tupac not only used their real voice in their music but gave us an authentic raw song to listen to about their life. Tupac songs really give you eyes to look into his life because the lyrics he tells give us a vivid image of what he wants us to hear. Rappers back then had more of a story to tell, which is why a lot of the people could relate to a lot of the music. Rappers back then created a lot of thought in what they produced. The goal wasn’t to get tik tok famous, but it was maybe to save them and their family's life. 

 

  The common denominator between new age hip hop vs old school is the actual lyrics. Think about it, old school rap honestly had a lot of meaning behind a lot of the words. Rappers like Tupac you could turn on any of their songs and you could most likely find a message in it. Rappers back then really used their words to express their emotion. Nowadays rappers don't put much thought into their lyrics which is why the term “Mumble rappers” came about. Most of today’s rappers strive for the sounds that cause physical reactions, music that makes you want to dance and get up to do something. It is more about the hypeness of the sound and the beat rather than the words being used. This thing we only have for caring for a beat takes away from rappers wanting to put actual meanings in their songs. It's all about how much money you can make off songs, so when the people only want to buy hype songs it makes the artist push away from the lyrics and focus on other aspects of creating a song. Earlier rappers used rap as something to express how they were being oppressed in their communities, it was never about money and trying to get people to buy what you put out. They wanted people to hear exactly how they felt rather if it was entertaining or not.

   The way rap lyrics were back then compared to now differs in so many ways. Rappers like Tupac not only used their real voice in their music but gave us an authentic raw song to listen to about their life. Tupac songs really give you a visual look into his life because the lyrics he tells give us a vivid image of what he wants us to hear. Rappers back then had more of a story to tell, which is why a lot of the people could relate to a lot of the music. Rappers back then put a lot of thought in what they produced. The goal wasn’t to get tik tok famous, but it was to save them and their family's life from poverty and violence. Rap for them was a way to get out of the environment they were in and give their communities a sense of unity. Which is why Rap had way much more meaning back then, people actually had more reasons to want to rap and it just wasn't to get the fame and money.

    Tupac was one of the people who embodied meaningful rap lyrics very well. The way he spoke was honestly flawless, you can really feel him. Think about his song “Dear Mama” . It's literally a song he made for his mom about how it was from him to grow up with her. He made plenty of more of these storytime types of songs. This just shows how rap was literally a book of these people's lives which makes it feel so real when we listen to their music. Nowadays when you listen to rap songs you will rarely get the same feeling you get when you listen to people like tupac. Now rarely isn’t ever and there are some examples of rappers that try to embody that style of hip hop today such as J Cole and Kendrick Lamar, but no one really can give you this feeling. Every rap song today promotes sex, guns, violence, drugs and even murder and this is not to say that rap songs back then didnt talk about those topics but I believe its alot more prominent in the songs we hear today. I feel a song about drugs and sex dosent covey any meanings behind it. It’s like the artist doesn't care what they promote for people to hear as long as they get money.

 

 Marques Watson                             

 

                                              “Evolution of American Hip Hop”

American hip hop has gone from a way for artists to excite change, and express their passions to a way to gain profit and recognition over the years. According to a review from Harvard, “Everything from the definition of mainstream hip-hop to the function of record labels to the personas of the artists themselves has evolved over the past decade.” This emphasizes the idea that mainstream hip hop music has changed immensely over the years, which has resulted in a much different response from listeners. American hip hop is categorized as one of the most influential genres of music. However, over the years rap music has transformed dramatically. Artists used the genre of rap music to find a general unity within their association's manifestations of poverty, violence, and racism underlying the historical context of their cultural origin.The common denominator between new age hip hop and old school is the actual lyrics. If one actually analyzes the lyrics, they will find that old school rap honestly had a lot of meaning behind a lot of the words. Rappers like Tupac could turn on any of their songs and you could most likely find a message in it. Rappers back then really used their words to express their emotion. At present time, rappers do not put much thought into their lyrics, which is how the term “mumble rappers” came about. Most of today’s rappers strive for their music to cause physical reactions rather than producing an emotional reaction which was the goal of this genre of music in the past. Rappers today, however, aim to produce music that makes you want to dance and get up to do something. Writing is  more about producing a hype and beat of the sound, rather than creating a song that has legitimate meaning behind the words. Artists know that people fall in love with a song when they like the tempo. This causes writers to put more effort into the beat of their songs rather than creating a song that has meaning to their lyrics. Writing music is now all about gaining popularity and profit. The level of profit one makes from songs depends on the popularity of the song and how many times it is purchased. Because of the focus on money in this industry, artists tend to push away from focusing on the lyrics and focus instead on producing music that will excite physical reactions because they know that this is what listeners are looking for. However, this is not how it used to be. Earlier rappers used the genre of rap as something to express how they were being oppressed in their communities. They used their music to give themselves and those in their communities a voice. Music in the past was largely used to bring awareness to issues occurring during the artist’s time. It was never about the profit or trying to get people to buy what they put out. They wanted to express their internal emotions and create change, no matter the popularity or number of purchases of the song. Artist’s created music because this is what they were passionate about, and they wanted to make a difference in their community, while this is not always the case and some artists in today's age are using their music to make a difference, most artists now create music to make money and gain recognition. 

   Rap lyrics years ago were much different than they are today in many different ways. According to the article “How Streaming Changed Rap”, young musicians are growing up with very easy access to inspiration for music and creating pieces that would not have been widely accepted in the past. Notable rappers like Tupac not only used their real voice in their music, but gave us an authentic raw song to listen to about their life and issues that they were experiencing in their communities. Tupac used his music to give his listeners a vivid look into his life, as his lyrics were descriptive and expressive. He used his passion for music to share what he wanted his listeners to hear. Rappers back then had more of a story to tell, which is why a lot of the people could relate to a lot of the music. This helped listeners develop more of an emotional attachment to the music, while also educating them on issues of which they possibly were previously unaware. Rappers years ago put a lot of thought in what they produced. Their passion for their work was obvious and their motivation was much different and more valid and respectable than many rappers motivation is today. They did not want to gain “clout” or become famous, but they wanted to save and protect  themselves and their families from poverty and violence. Rap for them was a way to get out of the environment they were in and give their communities a sense of unity. While also bringing awareness to the issues that were occurring in their homes which made them unsafe and made it necessary for them to find a way out. These are the reasons why rap had much more meaning years ago. Artists actually had raw motivation and emotional attachment to their music rather than simply being in it for the fame that comes from this industry.

    Tupac was one of the people who embodied the production of meaningful rap lyrics very well. The way he spoke was flawless, listeners could  really feel him and understand what his songs meant. He influenced many through the meaning behind his lyrics, which is rare to find in today’s norm of rap music. Tupac’s song “Dear Mama” was  dedicated to his mom, in hopes of  expressing to her his view of growing up with her. He wrote many songs expressing his emotions and singing from his heart and passions, which influenced many lives.  This just shows how rap was literally a book of these people's lives which makes it feel so real when we listen to their music. Tupac was idolized by many people, but not for the same reasons present day popular rappers are. According to the article “ Impact of Rap Music on Youths”, hip hop music has caused many issues and is given much credit for being the reason for an increase in violence among youths within communities where this music is popular. Take YMW Melly for example. One of his most popular songs was titles “Murder on My Mind”.This song was largely popular and had millions of streams, despite its very violent nature. It is written about an actual murder that the writer committed, and despite the disgust of his lyrics, many listeners took interest in this song. The violent nature of todays rap musc  as seen in “Murder on My Mind” is especially negatively impacting young listeners. It is instilling aggressive and violent thoughts and making it seem like artists that they idolize are “cool” or “more respectable” for being more careless and tough. Presently, when listening to rap songs, people will rarely get the same feeling you get when you listen to artists like Tupac. It is very uncommon to know rappers who embody the style of Tupac when looking into the genre of rap. Artists such as J Cole and Kendrick Lamar put meaning behind their songs, but not to the extent of Tupac. Rap songs today promote ideas that are not safe for youths to be listening to and learning from such as  sex, guns, violence, drugs, curse words, and even murder. This, however, is not to say that rap songs back then didn't talk about these topics, however, songs today shed a much stronger light on these topics and are creating the idea that these ideas are accepted. When looking at songs that are top on the hit list, you realize that most songs are demoralizing and negative in their nature. Songs about drugs and sex do not convey the true meaning behind the lyrics, but draws the attention of the listeners. And, because this is the main goal of rap music today, artists are not concerned with the level of negative impact their lyrics could have on their listeners. Artists are too concerned with fitting the norm of rap today, that they forget the true meaning of why they love music. Rap music used to be a way artists expressed their feelings to an upbeat and fast tempo, but now has taken over the world.

 

 

Works Cited

Primary Source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb1ZvUDvLDY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqDinxaPUK4

 

 

 

 

 

Secondary Source

https://impactofrapmusiconyouths.weebly.com/negative-impacts.html#:~:text=The%20lyrics%20often%20glorify%20criminal,is%20said%20in%20the%20lyrics.

 

 https://www.complex.com/music/how-music-streaming-changed-rap