Comparing Beats, Rhymes & Justice

“What I Learned as a Kid in Jail” is a speech given at a TEDTalk convention to a group of young men and women delivered by Ismael Nazario, a prison reform advocate where he does work for The Fortune Society, a non profit organization. Nazario was arrested when he was just under eighteen for robbery and sent directly to Rikers Island where he spent 300 days in solitary confinement, before ever being convicted of the crime. Nazario’s goal in delivering his speech to a group of younger men and women is to make them aware of the way correctional officers treat younger inmates and how inmates should be spending their time doing productive activities and understanding they do not have to go back to the life they were living. Nazario accomplished this goal by sharing personal stories from his past experiences.

The effect that captivity can have on someone is massive. Jimmy Santiago Baca, the author of A Place to Stand, describes his life and his choices that formed him into the man that he is today, through this memoir. Unfortunately, it took Baca years of struggle and hardships to get there, but thankfully, incarceration led him to the revelation that changed his life, writing poetry. Within his work, Baca expresses, “My writing became the receptacle for my sorrow. I wrote even when I didn’t want to, because I knew that, if I didn’t, my sorrow would come out in violence” ( Baca 234). During adolescence, he often found himself in seriously violent situations. Through his experience in prison, Baca was able to distract himself from all the terror

After reading the book I have gained a new understanding of what inmates think about in prison. Working in an institution, I have a certain cynical attitude at times with inmates and their requests.

Most of his time at Sing Sing was consumed being in close contact with the inmates, in dining halls and housing galleries, doing strip searches, searching cells, writing disciplinary infraction reports, and confiscating inmate contraband. In addition, because they live in an enforced state of near powerlessness, answering to inmates who required support with a seemingly endless range of personal complications occupied much of Conover’s time. Conover’s account of the correctional officer’s role is consistent with those opinions offered by others who have firsthand experience of prison life. Virtually all serious, firsthand interpretations of correctional work define a gap between the training and the realism of the job, official policies and procedures that require routine avoidance, poor associations between line officers and administrators, and the undermining power of stress on professional conduct and personal life.

During their adolescent lives, teenagers can face a multitude of problems and struggles. Poetry is used by some youth to reflect on issues such as divorce, sexuality and parental expectations. It is also easy to express emotion through poetry, which makes it a useful creative outlet for teenagers coping with their issues. It is not difficult to relate to these poems, as they all focus on common problems that teenagers go through on a daily basis. Three pieces of poetry that are used to discuss these issues are "Beyond Pastel," "I Perform All My Duties", and "Warren Pryor."

Hassine begins his narrative as he is entering prison but this time as an inmate. Prior to his incarceration, Hassine was an attorney (Hassine, 2011). Even then as an attorney, the high walls of prison intimated Hassine (Hassine, 2011). As Hassine was being processed into the system, he expressed how he systematically became hopeless from the very prison structure itself as well as because of the intimidation he felt by uniforms. Prisons of the past actually had a goal to aid individuals through rehabilitation by instilling new values in order to correct the wrongs that one may have committed during their lifetime but today this is no longer true. . Hassine draws colorful depictions of how dim and unfamiliar a prison can be in which instills fear in an individual soon as he or she

Hip Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes is a documentary created and produced by Bryon Hurt. The documentary challenges the dominant discourses of hyper masculinity and the misogynist treatment of women in commercialized rap. Of the many mainstream phenomenons that are discussed by Bryon in the documentary, the issue of hyper masculinity in Hip Hop is questioned greatly. Throughout the film, the producer was able to show the wide acceptance of hyper masculinity not only in Hip Hop but also American culture as well. He defined America as a hyper masculine and hyper violent nation for the reason that using a gun to defend one’s family became a metaphor for masculinity and a tool for widespread violence. The issue of issue of hyper masculinity can be

The poem “In the Depths of Solitude Dedicated to Me” written by Tupac Shakur, embraces a struggle that most people address in their young-adult life. Shakur analyzes the honest feeling of maturity. The poem potently explains the lost feeling and contradictions that challenge most young-adults. Skakur states, “...Trying 2 find peace of mind and still preserve my soul/CONSTANTLY yearning to 2 be accepted...” (5).He bluntly addresses the confusion and ignorance of people finding who they really are in a chaotic world.

Can words change person’s thoughts from desperation, violence, to peace and normality within a dehumanizing prison? Some prisoners spending short to long term sentenced, sometimes lose themselves in a world of violence and become worse off when coming into the prison system, than how they used to be before prison life. Trying to hold on to any bit of sanity or respect for humanity becomes an everyday struggle. Sometimes the smallest thing can help prevent the feeling, of going over that edge of no return from a dreadfulness act of death.

An ode can be defined as a "ceremonious lyric poem on an occasion of dignity in which personal emotion and universal themes are united" (Ode, 2012). While hip-hop is known for its violent, masculine, and often, misogynistic lyrics, "Dear Mama" (1995), the first single from Tupac Shakur's album, Me Against the World (1995), can be considered to be a modern ode. Tupac Shakur, also known as 2Pac, one of hip-hop's most influential rappers, intended to pay homage to his mother through this song and frequently referenced it in many of his later songs. "Dear Mama" (1995) contains many elements that allow its lyrics to be analyzed from a literary perspective including tone, theme, and lyrical style.

Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, Byron Hurt examined the troubling aspects of hip hop music. Hip hop was said to have brought masculinity back to the game. One aspect of this troubling masculine culture is the idea of hyper masculinity. The term hyper masculinity is defined as the exaggeration of male stereotypical behavior, such as an emphasis on physical strength, aggression, and sexuality. These three attributes create the disturbing facets of what hip hop music portrays to the media and the public.

The two short stories “Black Swan Green” written by David Mitchell and “Letters To A Young Poet” by Rainer Maria Rilke both share a common central idea. In both stories, there is a mentee looking for advice from their mentors. The mentees have a passion for poetry and are aspiring poets. The mentors inform their mentees that someone who wants to be a poet should get their motivation from natural aspects. For one thing, It’s your natural beauty that makes you who you are as a person and a poet. Poetry is for yourself, your thoughts and ideas, not an audience.

“Rap is poetry” (xii). To any avid fan of the genre, it is a statement that seems obvious. The words could easily be the musings of a listener first introduced to the art form, not the focal point of an entire work of contemporary criticism. Yet in Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop, Adam Bradley’s primary focus is this very point, the recognition of traditional poetic elements within rap music. With the global cultural and economic phenomenon that hip hop has become, it is easy to forget that the style of music is barely thirty years old, that scholarly criticism of it has existed for only half of that time. When viewed within this relatively new arena of scholarship, the importance of Bradley’s text is

A few times a semester I would volunteer at the Prison Book Program, where I would read letters from incarcerated individuals from all over the country and find 2-3 books that match their interests and reading criteria. Opening each letter and hearing people’s stories reminded me of the harsh realities of our world today, and the difficulty many people face in preserving their human dignity and self-worth.

Have you ever read poetry that can inspire you in your everyday life? Poetry that discusses the deep truth about our world and the people who wander it? Well, there is some poetry that can give you a better understanding about life,ourselves, and how to handle situations that come across our path. Inspiring you and motivating you to do your best. These types of poetries can really give the reader a deep knowledge about how to challenge the unknowns. Guiding you on how to work on your up and down moments. Poet Erin Hanson writes poetry that explains the cruel reality of life and also poetry that attracts all walks of people and their everyday challenges with life itself. This essay will present Erin Hanson's excellent poetry motivating many