Single Mothers: A Song Analysis

As we get older we tend to reflect more on our life and get our priorities together. We tend to realize who and what is important, the people who mean the most to us and the ones we can’t live without. Who would those significant individuals be for us? For most people it would be their parents. In the poems “My Father’s Song” by Simon J. Ortiz, and “My Mother” by Ellen Bryant Voigt, both writers express their emotion towards a parent. The poems are similar in many ways simply because they share a parent child relationship, they are also vastly different. “My Fathers Song” is a poem about a son who lost his father and is grieving and referring back to old memories, reflecting on their past and the wonderful time he had with his father. “My Mother” on the other hand is a poem about a daughter who lost her mother and is having a difficult time coping as she reflects on the decisions she made as a child and how that affected her relationship with her mother. Despite their differences, the two poems share a true connection of love towards their parent. Most notably “My Fathers Song” and “My Mother” differ in the relationship with their parent, the settings in which the memories they hold of their parents take place, and who they are mourning over, yet the two have a strong emphasis on love.

As a cultural perspective Hip Hop has had an overwhelming influence on the black community. Hip Hop is more than just music is a culture. Hip Hop is a formed of communication through lyrics. It has helped individuals speak up for generations and provide a voice for their people as well send a message. Additionally, Hip Hop culture can as well be viewed as a response to the socio-economic issues that spawned in the black community. It was done through the power of musical expression.

Rap music in general has failed miserably in portraying the true worth of a woman. Women have a character that men cannot replace in any other way. “Behind every great man, there is a great woman,” and I strongly believe this because it is very applicable in my life as well. I can say that my mother plays an important role in my life, and she stood behind my success till now. Being an international student in this country takes a lot of courage, but the support and encouragement from my mother has helped me every step of the way. She is able to do things that a man cannot do; to be the nurturing, caring, patient, loving, and protective woman she can be to her children and her family.

Whiskey Lullaby is a song sung by Brad Paisley (ft. Alison Krauss) which narrates the story of a soldier coming back from war to find his wife in bed with another man. After this, the man drinks away his life trying to escape the pain until he commits suicide. Then the song continues to talk about how the woman follows down the same path after hearing about his death. In the end of the song they both get buried next to each other which symbolizes how they are finally together. The audience for this country song is those who have served or who have had family members serve. The unexpectedness of how life will figure itself out when the soldiers return. Also, how hard it is for families when their loved ones are out fighting, and they are

Geoffrey Bennett’s article Hip Hop: A Roadblock or Pathway to Black Empowerment illustrates the influence hip hop and rap music has had on not only the music industry but mainstream culture, African Americans to be specific. Geoffrey Bennett, a senior English Major from Voorhees, New Jersey goes over many aspects of how hip hop came to be “the forefront of American attention.” He starts from its early history in the 1980s as an African American exclusive music genre to what is now a worldwide phenomenon. He reviews the affect it has had on the lifestyle of many people and the ways it’s changed the way people

Ludacris does a remarkable job of portraying his message about the struggles that some adolescents are faced with. “Runaway Love”, by Ludacris, featuring Mary J. Blige (2007), represents the theme of struggle through hip-hop and rap music. It is about little girls who are “stuck up in the world on their own.” They have to take care of themselves because the people they are around do not care about them. They range from nine to eleven years in age, and their goal in life, at such a young age, is to run away from home. Ludacris is trying to get the listener to realize the struggles that even children have to face because adults are not the only ones who have problems, like most people believe. He is very successful in

The author was categorical on various issues related to Hip-Hop music and other genres such as Jazz and Rap. The major assertion was that Hip-Hop has grown and attracted attention of many black Americans and media. Maybe, this was the only way that they could have expressed their discontent and tribulations they were facing especially from a political perspective. The author asserts that Hip-Hop was mainly an avenue to show resistance and the call for deliverance of black Americans.

A Baby Mama is looked at as someone who has had a child with a man that she has not married, and that man may or may not be able to support the child. A Baby Mama is usually not classified as a good thing, but back in history when our black queens were married and became mothers she was looked at with the upmost respect. Dwanie states, “why must single Black mothers be portrayed in such an insulting way?" One regular offender noted was The Maury Povich Show: "It sends the false message that black women are all single mothers” (“reflection”). Society has created this stereotype for black women and as said before sometimes they will not always have the right decisions. This is one of the decisions they have concluded to settle with because conformity seems like the easiest decision.

In black media today the hip hop culture is often referred to when defining what it means to be a black person in society. In particular the hip hop culture is where many young black men pull both positive and negative aspects of black masculinity. Many mainstream hip hop songs often create a common misogyny by objectifying and stereotyping women. An example of this can be heard in the song Nasty Girl by The Notorious B.I.G. where he states:

Even with the seemingly endless list of negative influences, there are countless positive influences deeply rooted in the soul and culture of hip hop. Hip hop is facing the same criticisms that every new type of music has faced in the development of that genre of music. Blues, Jazz, and Rock (in their beginnings) all scared parents and were criticized by the media, but they are now widely accepted and considered “clean” music. New music of any generation is always scary to the non-youth in society because the media only focuses on bad points and downfalls, but always fail to mention the good being done. Breaking down cultural barriers is the most positive influence rap has had on society. It creates/sustains community, is the voice of the people, defines generations, fuels needed protest, and calls attention to injustices. This new style of music allows anybody to control their destiny from the ground up, and has become a new medium for social commentary. Hip hop allows the underprivileged and discriminated to express their feelings, and

Black single mothers have overall negative stereotypes linked to them, their children, and their financial situation. Single black mothers are getting labeled as Gold diggers, lazy, con-artist, non-supportive, emotionally unstable, and uneducated. To make their reputation even worse most of the songs in the Hip Hop community make hypocritical songs that generalize all single black mothers based on their particular experience. Hip Hop narratives such as “Faith” by Kendrick lamar and “Baby Mama” by Fantaisa, challenges the race stereotypes about co-parenting. Not all Hip Hop songs reinforce the negative stereotypes about single black mothers. Songs like “Faith” by Kendrick Lamar is a great song that represents the struggle single mothers go through.

The song "The message" by Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five depicts the struggle of young black adults growing up in society. The struggle to make it out of poverty can be compared to survival of the fittest in a jungle. Only the strong would survive and adapt to the changes to fit in. Trying their best to make a betterment with whatever little society offers. Being a young black African American in the early 1980's was not easy. It was easier to live the fast life and gain fast money by being part of the drug community. Drugs, guns, and money was glamorized and this is what the young adults looked at as a means of getting rich. In the songs, a young man talks about how he is trying hard to hold on to the little bit of sanity he has left in his soul. He talks about the struggle he endures while trying not to get pushed over the edge. He was born an innocent child who's blind to the ways of mind kind. Growing up he faced many challenges and had to fight

Hip Hop music became one of the primary constructive outlets for Black Americans to release their thoughts, pain, and anguish about the injustices and mistreatments of Black people. Even though most of the pioneers in Hip-Hop either were not born in America or are 2nd generation immigrants that proves that common oppression can lead to unity. The fact that that these individuals were impoverished and felt marginalized is what brought them together and lead to the culture today. Deep rooted racism in the United States kept the genre of music suppressed for a while before it was allowed to even be played on the airwaves. Now, in 2011, the main consumers of byproducts of hip hop are White Americans.

‘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.

One negative global implication that commercial Hip Hop in the U.S. produces is the characterization of young black women in four different personas: Diva, Hoe, Gold Digger, and Bad Bitch. When young black women hear music and see music videos that promote sexual conduct, they take on one of the different personas that is illustrated in the music and treat themselves as sexual objects. This characterizations affects the black community worldwide because this causes young black girls to be more sexually active at a much younger age, this results in teen pregnancies and