After specific examination, I found that a rather catchy pop song, in fact, had a deeper and darker theme to it because of the issues referenced within. Clear up until now, I never clearly understood what was happening in the catchy pop song, “I Love the Way You Lie” by Eminem and Rihanna. I knew nothing of the toxic and abusive relationship told in the song. To me “Love the Way You Lie” was a simple pop song with: a catchy chorus, repetitive beat, and an unintelligible rap part that seemed to slur together. The song had no meaning, there was nothing that stuck out to me. Though after thorough examination, I found that my current opinions on the song were false. In truth, this song had a deep and darker meaning to it. During the song, there
It is well known that industrialization in America started in the east. However, the gold rush was the reason why California industrialized much faster than the east. With the technological improvements, that the gold rush demands it helped California industrialize much faster. James Marshall first discovered gold on January 24 1848 on the south fork of the American river. A not so well know part of California history is that James Marshall was not the first person to discover gold in California. Francisco Lopez was the first documented gold rush in California. It is less know because right after Lopez had discovered gold the war between Mexico and US had begun. Moreover, like everyone knows Mexico lost and lost California and other territory to the US. After James Marshall had found gold and after everyone had started to hear the news, few people started rushing to the minefields. The gold rush fever had not started yet because many people were hesitant. It wasn’t until president, President Polk at that time, confirmed that there really was gold found in California after the announcement by Polk was heard. Massive amount of people from all over the world rushed to California. States were not the first to hear about the news. Actually, people in Hawaii were the first to find out. As trading ships were leaving the San Francisco port on their trips across the pacific. Was when the Hawaii found out about the news? When the states
According to Mary Eberstadt, "contemporary adolescent popular music, especially the subgenres of heavy metal and hip-hop/rap, is uniquely degraded – and degrading – by the standards of previous generations." When compering music in the past and today, it is important to compere musical lyric too. Modern music is more aggressive and coarser than old music. Contemporary lyrics describe misogyny, violence, suicide, sexual exploitation, children abuse and other bad things. Mary Eberstadt explains the changes in musical lyric as a result of changes in society. Nowadays, music is not censored. In her essay "Eminem is Right," Eberstadt wrote about how Eminem is right in his songs because he understands the current family crisis that millions children
Cobb, Michael D., and William A. Boettcher. “Ambivalent Sexism and Misogynistic Rap Music: Does Exposure to Eminem Increase Sexism?” Journal of Applied Social Psychology, vol. 37, no. 12, 20 Nov. 2007, pp. 3025–3042., doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2007.00292.x.
In the third chapter of Lies My Teacher Told Me, the author, James W. Loewen continues the topic of history teachers and textbooks not providing its students correct information, or leaving out details that are important to the specific topic of discussion The first specific topic Loewen discusses is the first settlers of what we now know as the United States. He describes that his students mostly said the first settlers were white men in the 1620s. Loewen then informs the reader that the first settlers besides the Native Americans were African slaves. He then describes that new settlers all over the world took over numerous areas of the United States in the 1500s.
While most rappers establish their credibility by boasting about their wealth and position in their lyrics, “The Way I Am” makes it clear that this rapper refuses to change his lifestyle to conform to the expectations set for rappers. Although, like most rappers, he does take an autobiographical stance in this song, he is more specific and honest in his lyrics than the majority of rappers. He reveals details about his family by claiming he often feels like his father because he “hate[s] to be bothered.” While the majority of rappers might replace a personal detail like this for one that describes their materialistic gains, Eminem ensures that his audience sees fame from an honest perspective. He provides another brief example of a personal problem he has had with fans approaching him while he’s with his family. With lines expressing these sentiments, he gives the impression that he doesn’t care about his fans’ opinions. He criticizes his fans for disturbing him, claiming that he doesn’t owe them anything. This criticism serves the purpose of establishing authority through his lack of interest. Due to the aggressive indifference his lyrics express, the interpreter will likely assume the rapper has the authority to devalue others’ opinions. The intent of the song is not to prove that he is worthy of praise, fame, or glory. On the contrary, the lyrics as a
In the essay, “Hip-Hop’s Betrayal Of Black Women”(221), by Jennifer McLune, she vents her feelings regarding hip-hop songs that are rhythmically diminishing the value of black women. She provides example on how the lyrics are being voiced and how hip-hop artists do not seem to care. Kevin Powell in “Notes of a Hip Hop Head” writes, “Indeed, like rock and roll, hip-hop sometimes makes you think we men don’t like women much at all, except to objectify them as trophy pieces or, as contemporary vernacular mandates, as baby mommas, chicken heads, or bitches” (221). There have been apologizes for what the rappers have said but nothing to resolve the dehumanization of black women. McLune informs the readers that hip-hop singers belittle black women and make them invisible. Jay-Z, a popular hip-hop artist is brought to center stage by McLune. The essay shows the example of a part of Jay-Z song that says, “I pimp hard on a trick, look Fuck if your leg broke bitch hop on your good foot” (222). This lyric is a perfect example of how hip-hop artist have no remorse in the words they sing. The hurt feelings and loss of self-esteem black women suffer, is of no concern to the rappers. McLune expresses that those who are underground hip-hop artist follow the footsteps on being sexist and using crude words in their lyrics just because they yearn and dream of being in the spotlight. Upcoming rappers want to be loved like Jay-Z and other famous notorious rappers.
We as human beings are all influenced by one thing or another in our lifetime. It’s not necessarily always a bad thing, but when does it become serious enough to cause an epidemic to our society? One such instance is through music, songs, videos, and lyrics, specifically related to the song, “I Love the Way You lie”, by Eminem Ft. Rihanna. This song has become number one on almost all pop charts and has become popularly honored by people of our society, myself included. At first what seemed like a powerful song about tough love, was soon discovered as a parent’s worst nightmare. As I’m replaying the song over and over again trying to decide my opinion on the overall message, I’m
Millions of people in the world listen to music for all different reasons. Most people all over the world listen to different genres of music in order to relax, but not too many people pay attention to the actual lyrics of a song. If you listen to the lyrics of a song you will realize that many songs have important messages or themes to them. An example of this is the lyrics of the song “Changes” by Tupac Shakur. If you listen to this song, you will realize that Tupac raps about not only the problems that African Americans face from society, but also the struggles that poor people in society have to endure and overcome. Many
Women served an important role in WWII. They not only took the challenge and stepped up to take the places of the men off fighting in the war to work in factories, but they also fought side by side with those risking their lives and fighting for their country. They were needed everywhere during the war. There were an unbelievable amount of job opportunities for women during the war and many supported the brave acts of voluntary enlistment. “‘A woman’s place is in the home’ was an old adage, but it still held true at the start of World War II. Even though millions of women worked, home and family we considered the focus of their lives” says Brenda Ralf Lewis. Without the help of those women who were brave enough to
Now the world of development is faster and faster, a lot of mobile applications are make the people distance more and more closer. In the “I Had a Nice Time With You Tonight” article. JENNA WORTHAMT She has 3,000 miles away from her boyfriend, and they often use smartphone applications to get closer and chat with each other. She pointed out that the convenience of these applications can make people become more closer, and this is not like the phone or text formal. In the new app “you and me”, the entrepreneur is committed to allowing more couples to use the software for one-on-one meetings. Although this software is not a real alternative, but does not affect the actual time together in the real world. In Ms. Friedman's blog, she noted that 74% of couples believe that the Internet had a positive impact on their relationship. In my view, although the virtual world spent most of the time, but it also brings a lot of positive impacts.
In the past 2 years alone, more than 3 dozen criminal prosecutions have had rap lyrics be presented by the prosecutor as a vital piece of evidence in the case. [Manly] In many of these cases the prosecutor will use violent lyrics created by the defendant to prove that that person is inherently dangerous and in other cases, will use the lyrics as a direct confession to having committed the crime in question. If you read into these cases you will notice a common theme between them; the defense will claim that the lyrics are freedom of speech and should be considered artistic expression, while the prosecutors will claim that the song is either a criminal threat or has too many similarities to the actual crime that it should be considered a confession. The primary basis for this debate is that hip-hop music is a misunderstood cultural practice because of the racial divide between the defendant and the criminal justice system.
Summer hit “Blurred Lines” is one of the radio’s most played songs currently. The song is placed at number one on America’s top 40 charts for the week of September 14th. While it is popular, the lyrics paint a story of someone who wants the singer, but is a good girl. The message of the song is blurring lines of morality. Not only is the song soliciting sexual themes, but it goes as far as using derogatory names towards the said good girl. Also, the song has strong themes of guilting someone into sex, claiming that not many can refuse T.I.’s pimping. The song
In addition to the actualization of women, rap also promotes extreme violence and abuse towards women. Besides the ?mild? abuse the vast majority of rappers perpetually depict, some rappers display a loathing so deep it can only be classified as misogyny. In the song ??97 Bonnie and Clyde,? by Eminem, he says ?There goes mama, splashing in the water. No more fighting with dad, no more restraining order. Blow her kisses bye-bye, tell mommy you love her? (Bonnie). In a sinister fashion, the song goes on to describe how he murdered and disposed of his ex-wife with the assistance of his three-year-old daughter. Here the violence towards women crosses generations and involves the traumatic use and abuse of a three-year old girl. It promotes that violence, even toward our most vulnerable, is acceptable if they are female. Undeniably, the hip-hop culture?s perverse attitude towards the treatment of women has gradually been accepted by society. It seems society has been desensitized to the violence of rap by
When faced with the decision of which pop song really stood out to me during my youth and adolescent years, the song “Lose Yourself” by Eminem immediately came across my mind. From listening to this song during soccer game warm ups, to quietly being indulged in my own headphones while studying for high school exams, this song was like no other in my ITunes library. On top of its amazing use of musical elements, I especially love this song because of its connection to certain socio historical factors and the pure raw meaning behind its lyrics. Although the reaction to this song was quite mixed, and stirred a lot controversy, it was the most defining rap song of the early 2000s. While sitting at my seat pondering about this piece, it brought
Kendrick Lamar took the music industry by storm last year after his release of his sophomore album To Pimp A Butterfly. Immediately, the album quickly became critically acclaimed and resulted in multiple awards such as winning four grammys this past winter. The album goes deep into Kendrick’s personal struggles as new found celebrity, while also touching on subjects surrounding the black community. For this paper I took a look at the standout song off the album Institutionalized, that deals with the internal struggle people go through in life because of the barriers of thinking they are imprisoned to in their lives. Along with this, the song also has elements that tie