Analyzing Eminem's Song 'Rhyme Or Reason'

Robin Thicke’s music video to his song “Blurred Lines” avidly contributes to the patriarchy, while portraying sexism, gender standards, and beauty standards. His music video can be analyzed from a feminist theory approach, as it’s evident that his song and video contribute to a patriarchal society and its inherently sexist and sexualized ideologies. The ideology behind the song and music video is purely sexual and about male dominance. The lyrics to the song and actions in the video exhibit extreme over sexualization and objectification of the women. Analyzing this piece of popular culture through a feminist approach opens up a provoking conversation about how popular culture functions in a patriarchal culture. Analyzing pop culture though a feminist theory can allow for a larger variety and more in-depth analysis about the social aspects and political agenda within popular culture.

Throughout Kanye West’s prolific career, he has possessed an intricate sound that has separated him from his hip-hop counterparts. After the immense praise he received on his breakout album, College Dropout, it was no surprise that Kanye West would perform at the same level on his second album, Late Registration. West presented an innovative and soulful sound to the hip-hop industry, earning individuals’ ears and hearts.With lyrics that discussed themes of poverty, drug abuse, and domestic issues and samples that provided a sense of nostalgia, Kanye West was steadily transforming into a political icon far beyond the means of his hip-hop artistry. With such empowering and sincere lyrics, Kanye West served as the voice of historically marginalized people, whose voices were seemingly unheard before. In the song “Drive Slow,” West’s guidance and empowering message remained evident, as he joined forces with GLC and Paul Wall to create a soulful song that offered assistance on how to overcome barriers in life. Through the use of suggestive details, figurative language, and vivid storytelling, West utilizes the automobile culture to assert how individuals can achieve success of every field of human endeavor through constant efforts in the right direction. In addition, he also attempts to convey that one must “drive slow” in a car in order to appreciate the environment that consists outside of the automobile. West creates a double entendre of the word “drive slow,” expressing that

The above text is the hook to the poem “Mystery of Iniquity” Before going in depth with the first piece of the poem; something stands out in the first two stanzas: “iniquity” and “inequity”. According to Webster’s dictionary, inquity is defined as “gross injustice; a wicked act or thing” and inequity is defined as “injustice, unfairness; an instance of injustice or unfairness” (Merriam-Webster) Here Ms. Hill sets the tone for the rest of the poem. She explains that the unfairness of iniquity and inequity is a miserable feeling. She is talking directly to those that share her unfortunate circumstances of being treated unfairly in a state of misery. The pre verse that follows the hook brings the topic of religion into view. The first four lines in the pre-verse symbolize Biblical meaning and give way to religious pretext. The verse says

The theme of 123rd Street rap is one that can't be compared to any other poem. The reason for this is that it has such a deep reality to it and it is only a poem. One good reason to love this poem is it show someone to appreciate the life that one has and to not take what you have for granted. The line “Automatic bullets bounce off stoop steps”(Perdomo 2) should make anyone who doesn't live this everyday reality appreciate the life that they live. The poet saw the life that people have to live and put it into words and makes you understand in just a few lines.

On average, 1 person commits suicide every 16.2 minutes(Do Something). The song 1-800 by Logic sets a scene of a boy who goes through life and struggles with being gay, bullied, and suicidal thoughts. Which leads to a call to the 1-800 suicide hotline. The video takes a turn and ends happily with the main actor being married and surrounded by family and friends. The main point that this song displays is that suicide is a real problem and it portrays that through stressing the importance of accepting everyone. My main points in this paper are the content of the video, the sound and pace, how this piece affects today’s society, what modes of persuasion are used.

As the title of the paper suggests, I chose Kendrick Lamar’s song “Blacker the Berry” off the To Pimp A Butterfly album. When selecting a song, I actually took to Twitter to ask my followers what song I should write about. I personally do not listen to Kendrick Lamar so I decided to ask people who enjoy his music to recommend songs that an analysis should be written over. Several people mentioned “Blacker The Berry”. Although I did not hear the many rhymes and metaphors at first, after reading the lyrics along with listening to the song I was quick to realize how creative, witty and almost unintentional the rapping’s of Kendrick Lamar are. Another reason I decided on this song is because he raps about current violence of high profile crimes

In the 2015 kendrick Lamar song “u”. Kendrick describes the feelings that constantly haunt his heart and the guilt he carries everyday. Reflecting on his darkest moments, lingering pain and the details of his depression. The song “u” by kendrick uses literary tools like Soliloquy and Conflict to show how built up guilt leads to his prolonged depression.

Sampling is a technique that many artists have used for decades, when given the opportunity to record a new track. Sampling has transformed the music industry, by allowing an artist to broaden their horizons, and give people the ability to have a different outlook towards a particular song. Often times when a producer is trying to assist the artist or group, they will present the artist with many beats and mixes. Of the beats and mixes provided, a few of them may be a sample of another artist’s work. Often times when an artist or group admires the work of another artist, they will get their permission to sample their music and incorporate into the work that they are about to produce. Another reason an artist may decide to sample the work

Beginning at 0:09 in “My Name is”, Eminem uses sample appeared at 2:31 in “I Got the…” as a major rhythm for the whole song. Sampling is one of the most common elements in the hip-hop music. Sampling is the act of using recordings of other music in making new music. In the hip-hop music history, sampling is always a controversial topic legally and musically since sampling relates to the issue of the copyright of the music. Does sampling violate the other musicians’ copyright? Does sampling threaten the innovation of the music? Those questions are the most sensitive debates about sampling. Sampling begins in mid-1970s, when DJs mixed between particular parts of records, especially the breakdowns, to inspire dancers in the party. The technique, such as spinning and scratching the record while it played, can be considered as an early form of sampling in hip-hop music. In the mid-1980s, the primary use of “sampling” as a basis of the beat is a main shift in production. “La Di Da Di” produced by Slick Rick and Doug E Fresh is probably the most sampled song in hip-hop. Sampling has three “layers”, which are the sound, the reference and the intertextuality. The artist may use sampling to refer the older piece’s context or refer to other people’s use of the same sample. There are some famous cases regarding sampling in the hip-hop history. For example, “Pretty Women” produced by 2 Live Crew was sued for using Roy Orbison’s song. As a result, 2 Live Crew won on the basis

In the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, the message in the song is to always be happy, and that the sky is the limit. When I was younger I always had big goals and I still believe it, and I keep reminding myself of the message in the song when I’m upset or angry. When I was younger, I never seemed to enjoy the present moment and I was always looking towards the future, and once the future came, I realized that I should’ve enjoyed the past, and not look at the future, and appreciate what’s there in the moment. When I started listening to this song a few years ago, I started hearing the true message in this song, and I started appreciating my life, and enjoying every moment of it. I figured out that the

In “Alright” Kendrick Lamar is speaking to the public about police brutality, or is he sending a deeper message to the people of minority. Kendrick Lamar released the song titled “Alright” in 2015. Upon release the song instantly blew up. It 's catchy and even though people got tongue tied trying to recite the song everyone knew the hook of the song which stated “We gon be alright do you hear me do you feel me we gon be alright.” I wonder did anyone catch the poetic verses Kendrick was saying before the hook. By simply watching the video you instantly think oh police brutality but I recieved a deeper message. I believe Kendrick wanted the song to inform the public about the brutality that seemed to be continuous at the time; and offer a bit of hope to those who didn’t feel there was any. That’s why the song was so famous, Kendrick performed this song on numerous award shows and talk shows because the people needed to hear it. Though some believe the song is in protest against cops or sending a bad message others believe it is an anthem for african americans.

Kanye West has proven himself over time that he is much more than just a producer. With each new album he releases, he constantly pushes the boundaries of music influencing artist across all genres. Kanye has an ever evolving sound that changes almost year to year. Kanye West’s Yeezus album is an album that takes a much darker and more minimalist turn in his discography. This approach to music makes Yeezus a much harder album to listen through because it is not filled with nice, polished sounds. Having the album made this way makes us look over what the message of a song and the album are. Among many rough songs one the most popular on the album was Blood on the Leaves. Blood on the Leaves samples from another song called Strange Fruit sung by Nina Simone which is a very political song talking about gruesome lynchings that happened before and at the turn of the century. With help from the sample, West uses the pain of lynching and drug abuse to compare with the break ups he goes through.

In my opinion, Kendrick Lamar, an award-winning rapper and songwriter, has one of the best abilities to describe his distressed and abused lifestyle in Compton, California. He is not your original cliché artist who does not speak about anything meaningful. Kendrick, also known as K. Dot, is one of the most well known and most respected rappers in this era. Not only does he speak about his gloomy past, but he also speaks about his fortunate future. His ability to give detailed representations of his struggles and his story telling allows me to, metaphorically, enter the mind of Kendrick Lamar.

The average rapper wouldn’t be able to grace the pages of Rap Pages, VIBE, Spin, The Source, URB and Stress and go on a national tour months before their major label debut album is released. Then again Eminem isn’t the average rapper.

‘No matter gay, straight, or bi, I was born to survive’. In the words of lady GaGa herself it doesn’t matter who you marry, what your gender is or what’s you race you just need to accept others and yourself. Lady GaGa’s song ‘Born this Way’ informs others about self-acceptance in her new album ‘Born this way’. This song is about people abusing others and reflecting badly on them self because of their race, gender and choice in who they marry. Lady GaGa expresses her thoughts about people’s issues to say it doesn’t matter who you are because you were born that way.