The Season Carry Me Analysis

Michael Jackson once said, “the greatest education in the world is watching the masters at work”. And that saying could be the same for Michael Jackson The King of Pop. And he was right. One of the best ways to learn was watching the master at work, as Michael Jackson had one of the largest impacts in the entertainment industry. Without the influence of Michael Jackson, the R&B and Hip-Hop industry would not have had the artists or music that it has today. He was known as one of the best entertainers of all time, Michael Jackson was the most decorated pop artist. He was a developer in the music industry, thanks to his ground-breaking music, choreography, and music videos. Michael Jackson transformed what it means and takes to be a pop

Frank Gottie is one of the most well known gang member of The Eight-Tray Criminal Hoover in Memphis.  Gottie believes that gangs are becoming to spin out of control, that it needs to be a solution to gang activity. On July 10, 2016 Gottie says “I ain’t never seen heaven before, but it was like a Memphis heaven everybody was on one accord “, if the gangs could be on the same page for Black Lives Matter (Jones and Fretland, 2016) . Why can’t it happen for the youth? Ar’tavius Brown was 18 years old and joined a gang called the Pirus the Blood Alliance. Brown joined gang activity in South Memphis because he saw “people with the cars, with the money”(Goggans, 2014). Brown was put with the ramifications of having a gun shoot out at Central High school,but the judge saw something within Brown and gave him a second chance.

Vanilla Ice uses a stereotypical approach to establish credibility from other rappers and his audience. With the use of literary devices, Vanilla Ice illustrates himself as an MC capable of “cooking [other] MC’s like a pound of bacon.” This simile comparing other MC’s to bacon gives the audience the impression that Vanilla Ice can out-perform any competitor. This is essentially challenging others as though they were no match for him. He also uses the stereotype that successful rappers constantly have female attention when he claims he has “girlies on standby.” However, he insinuates he is too good for these women after he “just drove by.” This implies that he not only has admirers, but it is not worth his time to stop and acknowledge them. He also makes his music seem desirable by comparing its value to that of drugs, claiming “if [his] rhyme was a drug [he’d] sell it by the gram.” This comparison demonstrates how addictive he believes his music is. Vanilla Ice uses these methods to appeal to the conventions of rap in order to create an image comparable to that of an established

Ludacris talks about the struggle in many verses in the song and uses the alliteration “hand-me down” to describe many things he had hand-me down. First was flip-flops and socks and he then rhymed that with drug dealers and rocks. Flip flops and socks are usual hand me downs but drug dealers and rocks create a gritty impactful message that allows the listener to recognize the struggle. Ludacris also makes a reference to a triple beam scale normally used to weigh out drugs with his lyrics “overall triple, overall beams”. Aside from explanations of the struggle, Ludacris raps lyrics that show he now has overcome the struggle and has a good time, primarily with girls. The song starts out with him talking about his cadillac and how clean it is, “Candy paint, Cadillac kills,” and also ends the song talking about an expensive range rover, “All black tinted up thugged out range,” showing he is very successful to have these cars. Another attribute to his success is Ludacris’s talk about his grill, “mouth full of platinum, mouth full of gold,” showing he can afford a grill of platinum or gold, no longer living the struggle. With success comes women as Ludacris doesn't fail to mention in his lyrics, “pretty ass clothes, pretty ass toes/ oh, how I love these pretty ass hoes,” and other suggestive lyrics throughout the

Kendrick Lamar’s third studio album, “To Pimp a Butterfly,” sheds light on the struggle of achieving rich and fame and the trials that come with. Rolling Stone and Billboard praised the album awarding it the best album of 2015. The album depicts the difficulties of fame by putting the trials and tribulations on display; the inability for those to adjust to their new lifestyle and the potential temptations that creep in. “To Pimp a Butterfly” has been both a divisive and uniting factor in its emergence in popular culture.

Kendrick Lamar’s song “Alright” talks about race and how African Americans are being targeted and profiled. The song tells about the gun violence and police brutality that is effecting our community, “And we hate Popo, wanna kill us dead in the street for sure, n…” (Line 35). This quote out of his song is significant because in the world we live in someone gets killed every day for the color of their skin color or a profile that someone made off assumptions. As the song goes he tell about how African Americans were discriminated. “When you know, we been hurt, been down before, n… / When our pride was low, lookin' at the world like, "where do we go, n…?”’ (Line 33-34). Throughout the years African Americans are looked down on to the point where they do not know what their purpose is. For some, living in a world where people do not want them there hurts the pride of people.

In the chorus, each time it plays, the lyrics sing, “But it ain't my fault, No it ain't my fault, Mighta had a little fun, Lotta wrong I'd done, But it ain't my fault” (Edwards & Silver). Clearly the artists want to reinforce that the criminals think it’s not their fault for whatever problem or mess they are in. This is a contradiction because the “presidents” are in trouble for robbing the store and running from authorities, which is a parallel to how the real presidents try to redirect the fault away from themselves. In correspondence, one of the verses expresses the crooks actions when they are running from the police, “I got my hands up, I need an alibi, Find me a witness who can testify, You made a mistake, You got the wrong guy, I'm only guilty of a damn good time” (Edwards & Silver).

The first stanza tells the listener or reader not to "throw the bums a dime" because it is easy to loan too many peoples money and never be repaid, leaving the possibility of losing everything. The lines of the first stanza address someone as "you", suggesting

Children between the ages 7 to 12 are exposed to many television shows. These television shows, play an important role in children this age by opening their eyes to new ideas, cultures and to new places. As a 5th grade teacher, I was surprised to hear how many of my students were excited about the return of The Walking Dead on February 14, 2016. Before today, I had never seen this show, but I knew it was not appropriate for 10 and 11-year-olds to watch.

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

The context and setting of this rap is American in the 1970’s. Historically, this period came after the Civil Rights Movement, during the start of the Nixon era. The Vietnam War was dividing the nation’s population into anti-war protestors and those that supported the war effort. It was an era of recession and continued change for minorities. One of the issues was enforced racial integration after the Civil Rights Movement, which many institutions had still not complied with. The struggle to find equality even after the movement was something African Americans at the time had to deal with. The support for the black power movement was one of many results of this struggle. The media and press largely did not report on the alienation that was still present. This was an inspiration for Scott-Heron and this song in particular.

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

King is a very successful writer and has made a lot of money of his work, but to someone who

Within Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come,” the Black Community is seen to have had to face too many trials that have made them want to give up. These men and women were not accepted within their communities, and they were brutally treated for years. However, Sam Cooke still believed throughout his song that a change would be soon to come. Cooke uses a simile to portray the idea that he has had to run “like the river” that he was born by his entire life. This image explains the instability he had to face in his life even as a young child. Instability is still a factor being faced by many black children that are not able to grow up in a safe environment with guardians of a good influence. He readdresses the point that a person of his color is told that he is not wanted around. He was not able to go to places such as “downtown” or the “movies” to just enjoy the life he was given without being reminded of the oppressor who did not accept his presence as a human being longing for a fulfilling life too. Even his own brother “knocks him down” just like his oppressor rather than helping him move forward, creating a motif that the black community needs to stop bringing each other down and lift each other up if they want a true change to come their way. This relates to a common topic today in which black on black crime is still at a high and steady rate, and not enough is being done to solve this issue. Even though the author writes that there have been points he did not believe he could

On October 19th, 2017, I had the honor to attend the Indiana State University production of A Piece of My Heart. This play could be considered a historical documentary and was full of drama, thrill, and action. A Piece of My Heart was originally written by Shirley Lauro, a very popular play writer with many other well-known plays. The play was based around 6 extremely strong and opinionated women who were sent to the Vietnam War to either help or entertain the American Men. Consisting of 5 army nurses, one country singer, and multiple different army men the production was able to provide a full understanding of how life was in Vietnam during the war. This play was performed by Indiana State University students.