The Message Of Reality And Society

How do the composers of classical texts convey themes that are still relevant in today’s society?

Surroundings and opinions influence a person’s reality and understandings. This is explained by the social construction of reality theory. This theory explains how society creates and influences every aspect of life. From the time a person is born to the time of their death, they are given direction on how to think, speak, and act. With this type of thought process, it causes people to agree on many of the basic principles of the world today.

Cole’s ability to redefine what it means to be masculine in Hip-Hop still receives backlash from Hip-Hop critics claiming that his music is bland and lacks shock value. The conflicts that are mentioned in J. Cole’s music is centered around him coming from a small town and being limited with opportunity him struggling to define his destiny beyond his hometown. The album, “2014: Forest Hills Drive” is a soundtrack to Cole’s evolution into manhood, that doesn’t include any typical hip-hop themes of violence, wealth, and negative depictions of women. Composing this rhetorical analysis from a cult of masculinity theoretical lenses allows the complexity of Cole’s

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

Gangsta rap songs tend to send a stronger message as they open up the doors to the reality that the black population has to face. People would not fully grasp the whole story behind the struggle for social equality if it was not for the strong messages behind these songs, which are more rebellious, yet also raise a sense of sympathy by the reader as they acknowledge the living standards and treatment of these individuals. To conclude, gangsta rap songs make it easier for a point to get across as they are composed of raw, personal testaments of each individual’s

Reality is not an objective thing that is imposed upon us, but is created by us. Reality does not exist externally but internally, as each individual or group interprets it, and is always changing. Due to these concepts sociologists often speak about the “social construction of reality” which is essential to understand when attempting to explain human social behavior. Since realty is the basis of people’s actions, W. I. Thomas states, “If people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences”. The “social construction of reality”, human social behavior and W. I. Thomas’s statement are three concepts that fit hand in hand and are important when trying to explain one another.

Rap artists are no different. In many ways these artists provide an even more inspirational message because of the audience they reach. They portray individuals who have come from inner cities, belonged to gangs, did drugs and committed crimes. It was the lessons that they learned along the way that helped to turn their lives around. Rappers want to empower their listeners to rise above their situations and improve their lives. In “Sing About Me”, Kendrick Lamar says, “look at the weak and cry, pray one day you’ll be strong”. He is trying to tell his listeners that they can make something of themselves if they have the strength to work hard and follow their own path. In the song “Juicy”, Biggie states, “Born sinner, the opposite of a winner”. He is also trying to tell his listeners that you can be anything you want in life, regardless of where you are born or live. Believing in yourself can help you to attain your goals. In “New York State of Mind”, Nas states, “Life is parallel to hell but I must maintain”. Nas is saying that life is hard, but if you work towards a goal you can achieve it. Each artist is conveying a similar message, using his own

Most people are unaware of the social construction of reality. This is the process through which truth and knowledge are “discovered, made known, reaffirmed, and altered by the members of a society (Newman 29).” One main component of any society is the way individuals are organized and how these organizations cause them to interact with each other. This classification, or social stratification, is based on class, race, and gender. Although they are contrasting concepts, class, race, and gender are interconnected systems of power and inequality. It is not the categories themselves that cause resources and opportunities to be distributed differently, but rather the meanings people attach to them. Social order is a product of human activity.

In the world today rap and hip hop is beneficial to society (Robinson, 2008). Throughout the past few years’ artist use their music to express their views on life, opinions, and feelings. Some artist has lyrics that a lot of people can relate to, some may or may not know what they are talking about because either they have done the same things or is having the same issue (Akil, 2010). The world has freedom of speech according to the first amendment, and that is all the artist are doing.

The questionable lyrics in most rap music present a teaching moment for the guardians of adolescents.. The care-givers of the future generations have the chance to depict the rap music as simply a form of entertainment and not a set of values to adopt. This music gives parents a chance to illustrate what kind of world we currently reside in, and gives the parents a chance to arm their children with the morals they will need to thrive

Also, Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole are both known for their elite storytelling abilities, making Cole and Lamar two of the best hip-hop lyricists of all time. Kendrick Lamar is known for his story telling abilities about relevant on-going racial or political issues. J. Cole, on the other hand, is known for his story telling abilities about his past. For example, on Kendrick Lamar’s song, “Lust,” he says, “We all woke up, tryna tune to the daily news, looking for confirmation, hoping election wasn’t true. All of us worried, all of us buried, and our feelings deep. None of us married to his proposal, make us feel cheap. Still and sad, distraught and mad…” Kendrick is speaking about how there was so much disbelief and dismay on how an individual

For a lot of people rap is trash and crap, hence rap-crap. Today’s rap music is infected with stereotypical ignorant rappers who only talk about money, women, and drugs, but there is a completely different side of rap today as well. One of my favorite rap albums of all time goes to good kid, m.A.A.d city by Kendrick Lamar. His words are the truth and only the truth. The basis of the entire good kid, m.A.A.d city album questions the “thug” or “ghetto” lifestyles of people. Through his second studio album good kid, m.A.A.d city Lamar talks about life issues that we all face such as love, lust and violence. Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city is a mixed narrative of fiction and non-fiction. Each song tells Kendrick’s real life story, but at the same time is distorted for the sake of story telling. I sure know I didn’t grow up in a place like Compton, but the stories did have a meaningful impact on me. The lyrics on each track paint a beautiful picture for me. Tracks like Swimming Pools (Drank) and Money trees gave me an understanding of where violent paths can lead me. As the album progressed, songs like Bitch, don’t kill my vibe and Money Trees produced a dreamy feeling that showed me life has so much more to offer than violence and sadness. Other songs produce a hard, gritty, “come at me” approach like m.A.A.d city and Backseat Freestyle. These songs showed me that life is a difficult challenge, but we all must

The music industry continues to expand and people often find the power of music to help them get through hard times. Artists have become capable of expressing similar emotions through their work leading others to connect to their music. Although this is a pro of music there is a con, not everyone analyzes lyrics. Society listens to what sounds good and unfortunately often leads to singing lyrics without paying attention to the message. This can be said about Robin Thicke’s summer hit “Blurred Lines.”

The social construction of reality is the procedure in historical and societal perspective that entails human beings giving meaning to the world through cultural interaction. The world exists beyond processes and language of interpretation. Nevertheless, social construction of reality is an aspect that can be understood and linked to, by human beings through language-based procedures of historical creation of knowledge, sense-making and cultural interpretation. Apparently, social construction of reality is a sociological-anthropological idea that addresses basic questions of what are human and the link between humanness and the communities in which people are created.

With the overwhelming movement of rap music there are many youth looking up to rap artist as Role models. Youth are even starting to have the gangster look, like baggy pants, backward hats, chains and jewelry. It appears anyone can make plenty of money in the rap industry, as so often projected, they are going to take a shot at it. Moreover, if their attempts to get a record deal never materialize, they may decide to take it to the next level by becoming a drug dealer or by getting into the drug game in order to live the lavish life style that is so often projected in music videos. What they do not realize is that today's rap stars might be tomorrow's welfare recipient or prison inmate. It has happened to numerous rap artist artists, who were highly regarded at one time (Toms, 2005, p2). However, there might be some children that are inspiring to be like rap artist, then there are children that want to be like them, to have the expensive cars and money, but with out the violence that some rap artists face.