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

Queen Latifah, an active Native Tongue at the time, left her footprint on Hip-Hop when she released her pugnacious song "U.N.I.T.Y.". The Native Tongues' are a collection of artists in line with many of the Afrocentric teachings such as unity and collective identity. Latifah’s song "U.N.I.T.Y." hits on several different points of sexism against women such as domestic violence, sexual harassment, and issues surrounding black women at the time. In 1993 she released her third album, Black Reign, which began her impactful “unity phase.” 

Queen Latifah’s "U.N.I.T.Y." video includes several visual forms of unity. Using both physical and literal forms of unity, the video captures and expresses Queen Latifah’s bold personality and views on hardships for women at this time. Within the first 35 seconds, she emerges from a crowd of people and leads a motorcycle pack on a bridge obviously following the title of the name. The camera angles start on her but swiftly move back to show what is gathering behind her. Queen Latifah consistently leads the pack through her body language and nonverbal communication. 

The next recurring visual in the video is this shot of Queen Latifah in an orange hoodie with extremely gruesome and intimidating looks, all while stating the lyrics, “You gotta let em know, you ain’t a bitch or a ho.” It stands out to me as a scare tactic or trying to assert dominance by having this bold clip come up over and over again. Also, I  find the angle and level of zoom to have an effect by making it more of a serious and grim mood to get her point across with this element of fear. 

Following this closely is Queen Latifah in this metal hanging box facing these people in a building next to her. A cage immediately came to mind for me. A cage enclosing her and black women from opportunities in the world and letting men look at them as caged animals. As Tricia Rose states in her book Black Noise, women were discouraged to participate in the production of music (23). It was very difficult for women to learn about music production, because men did not support women learning about the technology or machinery. Queen Latifah produced music promoting the confidence and strength of women to prove that women could overcome these struggles. Men also had an upper hand growing up because most of them were taught or introduced to music during their childhood, while women were not exposed without fighting for a spot. Queen Latifah shows that women may be put in this cage at the beginning of a career or journey, but there is a gate and every woman has the key to get out and be successful. 

As the "U.N.I.T.Y." music video progressed, Queen Latifah started to own the cage she was often in, talking back to the men in the windows.  Latifah’s lyrics went along to say not to dishonor her or call her out by her name or else she will “bring rap to those who disrespect me like a dane”. Instead of thinking of it as a cage she instead made it a stage and while she had everyone's attention she was going to tell them what the hell was up

.

Queen Latifah is once again in the metal stage, not cage anymore, this time she seems to be spinning around and talking very animatedly towards  the camera. She has confidence and it is sunny outside which contrasts the previous  scenes when she is barking at the men in the dark with sunglasses on. 

By the end of the video Queen Latifah not only owns her “stage”, but she has her back up dancers and fellow female supporters now. The camera also greatly suggests the metal stage of women to be quite dominant being that they are towering over the audience. Queen Latifah especially is asserting her dominance with her body language and use of her hands while she sings to the audience proudly. 

Queen Latifah’s undaunted stance on women's rights and issues shines through her music video. Domestic violence, sexual harassment, general discrimination against black women was a passion of Queen Latifah’s and something she wanted bring attention to the public. Queen Latifah struggled like most female rappers in the beginning, but because of her perseverance and determination she overcame what stood in her way, and went on to produce music to encourage other women just like her. She wanted to express and represent what women are capable of by stepping over and ignoring the common man who underestimates most women. Escaping the small inhumane metal cage most women are put in at the beginning of her career is one of Queen Latifah’s greatest accomplishments not only for her but women worldwide.

Lillie Cary - Section HH 

Falling Apart 

Post Malone is known to be an extremely emotional and profound artist. Many of his songs are known for the emotion and despair they bring people. People relate to his music as well, he knows how to speak to his audience and bring them music that they can easily pertain to. This song especially is a relevant problem to most everyone and one that everyone experiences once or twice in their lifetime; heartbreak. I myself, just last week, was dumped by my boyfriend of two years and his music spoke to me. It made me feel like I was not so alone in this experience, it was comforting and it made me forget about the loss I had just endured a couple days before. 

That excruciating and intense pain you feel throughout the entirety of your heart when someone breaks it is something Post Malone has had experience with. He describes how he deals with numbing this pain in this simile, “And now I'm takin' these shots like it's novacane, yeah”,  which further describes that his hurt is so invasive that he will take shots of novocaine. He wants to feel nothing, not his aching heart or his swollen puffy eyes. However, this is an intense statement considering that most people just chose to drink alcohol or find another outlet to find a way to escape the pain, but instead he wants  a drug that will numb him literally. I was just recently broken up with and I have not yet found anything that numbs the throbbing feeling that my heart feels. I understand why Post Malone why novocaine would be the drug of choice to make his pain disappear for a little while.   

Post Malone obviously lost the love in his life and this is the center topic of the song. Now who does not want to know what happened between the two lovers? He answers part of this question with the simile, “Feelin' like I sold my soul, Devil in the form of a whore”, Post Malone is expressing that this love connection was so deep that he felt like he sold his soul to the devil.  However, since he describes them as first of all a devil but in the form of a whore obviously points to the relationship not ending well. This leads me to interpret that she cheated on him or some form of major mistreatment in the end of the relationship. To call someone a devil in the form of a whore is a forward and intense statement to make and one that is obviously filled with hate. Post Malone lets this statement be the source of all his other actions. He states this for the audience to understand why he is so hurt and falling apart. 

Drinking alcohol is something most steer towards when they have had their heartbroken because it makes the emotion pain less. As I referred to before, Post Malone choses novocaine to straight up numb his body, but he also looks to drinking to help his heartache with the metaphor “Never caught a feelin' this hard, Harder than the liquor I pour.” Post Malone describes he’s never caught a feeling this hard implying this is his first love or the one he has loved the most. This  immediately makes me feel for him because my boyfriend was my first love and I have experienced nothing like this, the pain of losing your best friend and significant other all in one. It is one of those things that only time can heal and you have to trust that things will become better. 

Post Malone wants to hide his pain and mask it through impairing his state of mind and continuing to live his life. He describes how he tries to brush it off  and keep going by “whippin in the foreign” and “the drink keeps flowin” but he states he cannot hide these scars that she left. In the following  line the scars have a symbolic meaning behind them, “All these scars, can't help from showin', She cut too deep, now she left me scarred, yeah.” The scars are symbolizing their relationship and how she left a mark on him. She had the knife making him bleed but they were in love and he could not feel the pain yet. However once she cut too deep and hurt him too hard and pushed the knife into much he felt hurt and felt it deep. When she pushed the knife into too hard I think of this being when she cheated on him. Ever since she cut too deep Post has been bleeding out and trying to find ways to numb the pain of this wound she left on him. He creates music like this to help people numb their pain through his songs, he wants people to feel like they can just melt into his music and hear about his problems instead of thinking of theirs every second of everyday. This is one of the biggest gifts I think he can give to the world and his audience and I think this is why he is so loved as an artist. 

Comparison Paragraph 

Mental health vs Stability 

Mac Miller (Malcolm James McCormick) vs Kanye West

I wanted to place these rappers side by side because they resemble the mental health issues and also what it looks like to not have those issues and successfully produce music. Mac Miller's music vs Kanye's music I think alone will describe the contrast between one another well. Their songs and lyrics posed against one another will demonstrate and point out how the mental health of the rapper truly reflects into their music that they produce. For example, Mac Miller's music generally has a slow tone, his voice is low, and his music was overall sorrowful. His music also became especially meaningful after he took his own life in 2018 because then the whole world knew that he was suffering and his music had a much deeper meaning. 

Mental health and well-being is relevant to everyone in this world. Some obviously struggle with it more than others, but it is something everyone experiences a time or two in life. Mental health is also something that is sometimes closeted or hidden away from the entire public because it is looked down upon or people are treated very differently because of their state, and not always in a good way. This is where the rapping community has started to break new ground and has helped tremendously to normalize mental health. There are so many rappers and artist who battle or have battled mental health issues and they express it through they music. Most artist will convey their feelings to their audiences through music or concerts so they will touch or relate to the listeners who are struggling with similar things. The rappers layout their stories and experiences to truly let the audiences know who they are and what their music stands for, and their honesty draws listeners in and brings them to also expressing and acknowledging their own feelings and concerns within themselves. I want to take a look at what music sounds, looks and feels like that comes from an artist who struggling and one who is not. I want analyze their tones, ratings, fan-base, lyrics, net-worth, style and just how they differentiate from one another and how it affects what they produce.  

Lillie Cary
Compare + Contrast Essay 
Rough Draft 

The Mentally Ill 
Mental health is a prevalent issue but not one that everyone is open to discussing. Most of society, especially teens deny or hide their mental illness initially because they don’t always know it is as serious as it actually is or just because they don’t want people knowing. Mental instability is generally looked down upon, people look at you differently because you are “ill”. The rapping community has made major strides in the normalization of mental health issues. 
Logic a 27-year-old rapper from Maryland put out a song title “1-800-273-8255” which is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in the U.S. and this is number one biggest hit. His tweet reads, “I made this song for all of you who are in a dark place and can’t seem to find the light,” this is a prime example of rappers allowing listeners to normalize their feelings of suicide and to seek help. He has performed live at the MTV VMAs and Grammys and both times centering his performances around suicide awarness. Logic brought people on stage who had been affected by suicide wearing shirts saying “You are not alone”. Choosing to bring those people onstage is a selfless act to bring awareness to suicide and are the kind of acts that are working society towards mental health issues being a regular topic of discussion. 
I want to shine a light on two rappers who are key factors in this movement. Lil Peep and Kendrick Lamar. Both of these rappers have played a role in moving mental health issues towards the category of “normal,” but both in different ways. Lil Peep is considered an “emo-trap heart throb” or an “emo rapper,” which means that he raps his darkest and most depressing feelings in his songs.  “In 2017, Pitchfork called him ‘the future of emo.’ Peep, in his song “Crybaby,’ tossed off a phrase that fit much of his catalog: ‘Music to cry to,’” as Rolling Stone describes Peep is an artist that produces some of the most upsetting music and also the easiest to cry to. Peep described the variety of drugs he used in his songs to add to the depressiness of his music. There is not much of a plot or storyline in Peeps music. He simply just spits out his feelings and emotions. Rolling Stone also interviewed Peep’s mother following his death, which was concluded as an overdose but was in question at first because of his terribly sad music. “Peep often spilled his darkest thoughts into his music, lacing his songs with lyrics like ‘I don’t want to die alone right now, but I admit I do sometimes.’ But there is no indication he intended to die alone that afternoon,” Rolling Stone states. His death was not a suicide but it still began to bring major attention to mental health issues because based off his music he would be willing to take his own life. Peep’s following only grew stronger and bigger following his death because people adored his music so much and saw him as someone who understood their issues. He was singing and writing songs that described all of their overwhelming emotions about life, but he did it in a word vomit style. 
Now placing Kendrick Lamar in the spotlight next to Lil Peep to compare their styles and how they expressed their mental health problems. Lamar on the other hand produces stories with his songs. He describes a plot and then incorporates elements of sadness or depression that he feels like goes along with his plot. Black Doctor .org quoted him, “I’ve pulled that song not only from previous experiences, but, I think my whole life, I think everything is drawn out of that.” Lamar is talking about his smash hit “u” that he released in his To Pimp a Butterfly album in 2015. He uses his experiences to get his songs/stories started then he branches the rest from there. Lamar has helped tremendously in the normalization of mental health through collaborations and writing songs expressing his battles and struggles. Kaiser Permanente reused some of Kendrick’s lyrics and rhymes to create an ad to inspire people to be more open to coming forward about depression. This is to help break the stigma and awkwardness around it currently.  
Lil Peep and Kendrick Lamar both are breaking new ground in making mental health issues a more common topic amongst society. They both have different ways of expressing their difficulties and it affects their audiences both in different ways. Lil Peep’s listeners go to his albums to find a song to cry to while sitting in the shower or laying in bed all day. Kendrick is the more inspirational side of the mental illnesses. He creates these stories to share his hardships but also to uplift listeners by giving some songs a happier ending, to show light at the end of the tunnel. 
 

Lillie Cary 

Compare & Contrast Essay 

Final Draft 

Mental Health; A New Normality? 

Mental health is a prevalent issue but not one that everyone is open to discussing. Most of society, especially teens deny or hide their mental illness initially because they don’t always know it is as serious as it actually is or just because they don’t want people knowing. Mental instability is generally looked down upon, people look at you differently because you are “ill”. The rapping community has made major strides in the normalization of mental health issues. 

Logic, a 27-year-old rapper from Maryland, put out a song titled “1-800-273-8255” which is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in the U.S. and this is his number one biggest hit. His tweet reads, “I made this song for all of you who are in a dark place and can’t seem to find the light.” This is a prime example of rappers allowing listeners to normalize their feelings of suicide and to seek help. He has performed live at the MTV VMAs and Grammys and both times centering his performances around suicide awareness. Logic even brought people on stage who had been affected by suicide wearing shirts saying “You are not alone”. Choosing to bring those people onstage is a selfless act to bring awareness to suicide and is the kind of act that is working society towards mental health issues being a regular topic of discussion. 

I want to shine a light on two rappers who are key factors in this movement. Lil Peep and Kendrick Lamar. Both of these rappers have played a role in moving mental health issues towards the category of “normal” but both in different ways. Lil Peep is considered an “emo-trap heart throb” or an “emo rapper,” which means that he raps his darkest and most depressing feelings in his songs.  “In 2017, Pitchfork called him ‘the future of emo.’ Peep, in his song “Crybaby,’ tossed off a phrase that fit much of his catalog: ‘Music to cry to,’” as Rolling Stone describes Peep is an artist that produces some of the most upsetting music and also the easiest to cry to. Peep described the variety of drugs he used in his songs to add to the depressiveness of his music. He simply spits out his feelings and emotions, but he is placed outside the box for this. He reaches people way outside the mainstream and is totally relatable to a wide variety of people across the music spectrum. 

Rolling Stone interviewed Peep’s mother following his death, which was concluded as an overdose but was in question at first because of his terribly sad music. “Peep often spilled his darkest thoughts into his music, lacing his songs with lyrics like ‘I don’t want to die alone right now, but I admit I do sometimes.’ But there is no indication he intended to die alone that afternoon,” Rolling Stone states. His death was not a suicide but it still began to bring major attention to mental health issues because based off his music, it seems like he would be willing to take his own life. Peep’s following only grew stronger and bigger following his death because people adored his music so much and saw him as someone who understood their issues. He was singing and writing songs that described all of their overwhelming emotions about life, but in a word vomit style that brought him to be considered an “emo” artist but still loved and adored by so many.  

Now placing Kendrick Lamar in the spotlight next to Lil Peep to compare their styles and how they expressed their mental health problems. Lamar on the other hand produces stories with his songs. He describes a plot and then incorporates elements of sadness or depression that he feels like goes along with his plot. Black Doctor .org quoted him, “I’ve pulled that song not only from previous experiences, but, I think my whole life, I think everything is drawn out of that.” Lamar is talking about his smash hit “u” that he released in his To Pimp a Butterfly album in 2015. He uses his experiences to get his songs/stories started then he branches the rest from there. 

Lamar has helped tremendously in the normalization of mental health through collaborations and writing songs expressing his battles and struggles. Kaiser Permanente reused some of Kendrick’s lyrics and rhymes to create an ad to inspire people to be more open to coming forward about depression. This is to help break the stigma and awkwardness around it currently. Lamar is extremely intentional with his messages and what he is putting out into the world. Lamar tells his stories with intent but he sways more mainstream. Lamar is a regular rapper to most and some of his followers probably have no idea that he struggles with mental health issues. I didn’t know until I started researching him for this paper. Peep was a walking mental health awareness billboard, Lamar is not.  

To break them both down even more I want to venture into another perspective of my topic; race. Being that Kendrick Lamar is African American he is able to represent the African American community and the people who are struggling with their mental health. According to Highsnobiety, “But compared with the general population, black men and women in the US are 20 percent more likely to suffer from mental health issues at some point in their lives.” Which is why I think is not only amazing that Lamar is able to represent African American, but it is essential. Highsnobiety also states, “To make matters worse, there’s also a general shortage of mental health providers and even fewer therapists from minority backgrounds. This creates another barrier for people of color who might prefer to talk to a therapist they can identify with.” People of color are at a disadvantage when it comes to mental health and seeking help, which is why it is important that Kendrick Lamar stands up and spreads awareness. It makes it easy for the rest of the world to understand that people of color have problems too when they hear that a famous one has come out with their issues. It's disheartening and disgusting to say the least that this is how some people’s brain’s work, but it is the truth. Kendrick Lamar made it out of Compton when he was younger and was able to make a life for himself outside of that world. This is one of the main reasons Lamar came out about his issues because he feels like he owes it to his fellow brothers who never made it out, survivors guilt is what he called it. 

Highsnobiety quotes, “And while white men enjoy privileges relating to race and gender, middle-aged white men are the demographic with the highest suicide rate in the US.” This is another reason why the people of color struggle to find a voice in the mental health world is because the white men take up the majority. They take up so much of the majority that to some colored people having mental health issues is to have “white people problems.” Half the reason African Americans or Hispanics are having mental health problems is because of how much they are discriminated against. So yes, I guess it does make sense that Lil Peep was a walking mental health awareness poster, he was a white male. How is something going to become normalized to a society who doesn’t accept all races to feel the same things or have the same problems. Mental illness does not discriminate and that is something people can’t  seem to grasp. 

Lil Peep and Kendrick Lamar both are breaking new ground in making mental health issues a more common topic amongst society. They both have different ways of expressing their difficulties and it affects their audiences both in different ways. Lil Peep’s listeners go to his albums to find a song to cry to while sitting in the shower or laying in bed all day. Kendrick is the more inspirational side of the mental illnesses. He creates these stories to share his hardships but also to uplift listeners by giving some songs a happier ending, to show light at the end of the tunnel.

Work Cited

Peisner, D. (2019, October 08). The Tragedy and Torment of Lil Peep. Retrieved November 12, 2020, from https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/lil-peep-tragedy-torment-804686/  

Higgins, C. (2020, April 15). Rapper Kendrick Lamar Opens Up About Depression & Suicide: Page 2 of 2: BlackDoctor.org - Where Wellness & Culture Connect. Retrieved November 13, 2020, from https://blackdoctor.org/kendrick-lamar-mental-health/2/

Fatoba, K. (2019, July 12). How Rappers Are Helping to Break the Stigma of Mental Illness. Retrieved December 03, 2020, from https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/rappers-mental-illness-hip-hop/