A Contextual Analysis of “Words I Never Said” by Lupe Fiasco
“Words I Never Said” is the second single released from Lupe Fiasco’s third album Lasers. This single was released on February 8th, 2011 for online download. “Words I Never Said” is a very informative and somewhat opinionated song. Through his lyrics, Lupe Fiasco is trying to speak out to the people and let them know what is really going on in the world and how they should pay attention because they play a huge part in it. The lyrics refer to multiple socioeconomic and controversial political topics. He talks about the corruption within the world and how we all see it and yet no one speaks out against it. Lupe writes about the war on terror, the media, and the silence in the
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This lyric states how people have become blind as sheep and are now controlled by the media; having them push less important thoughts into our minds such as the problems you see on the MTV show "Jersey Shore" instead of looking at the real issues of the world. Major news stations spend half of their time on real world issues and the other half on gossip for good ratings. In his lyrics, Lupe is trying to get the media to broadcast real world problems and speak truth to the people, because right now they have the ability to control what we think about, and what we view as the truth. The most substantial message that Lupe Fiasco is trying to express with his lyrics in “Words I Never Said” is the silence in the people. Lupe is trying to tell everyone that they should speak out against all of the corrupt issues in the world, and to not be afraid of doing so because everyone else is thinking the same. He is starting to speak what is on his mind and informs everyone that it is now their turn. The entire third verse of the song expresses this with the lyrics “I think that all the silence is worse than all the violence. Fear is such a weak emotion, that's why I despise it. We scared of almost everything, afraid to even tell the truth.
So scared of what you think of me, I'm scared of even telling you. Sometimes I'm like the only person I feel safe to tell it to.
The short story “Two Words” by Isabel Allende is a tale about a girl who went by the name of Belisa Crepusculario. She had extreme desire to be the best at selling words, since the first time she saw words in the sports section of the newspaper. Belisa learned to read from a priest for 20 pesos and read the dictionary until she knew it cold. She went from the top of blistering cold mountains to scorching hot coasts selling her words in markets and fairs. Belisa’s words became popular fast and everyone knew who she was. People waited for her from year to year to hear her words.
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
The lyrics of a song often have no substance and a clear example would be any Britney Spears song. The lyrics of “All Falls Down” are very deep. They talk about the ideal situation in life; We should go to school, get a good job and make money to buy what we want. The lyrics then ask, what if this doesn’t happen? This is prevalent in the first verse. “She has no idea what she doing in college. That major that she majoring, it don’t make no money.” The song questions these everyday values because we focus so much on these things, we don’t realize there are more important things in life such as life itself. Even Kanye admits that he spent money at Jacob’s Jewellery store before he thought about a house. “I went to Jacob with
The song’s overall message is to emphasize the absurdity of belief that African-American people are predisposed to a criminal way of life due to their race, or, in other words - because of their DNA. The second line of the song goes “Loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA” (Lamar), where loyalty means being loyal to the African-American community, and royalty stays for the proud of being a representative of this community. In the next lines, Kendrick states that he is predisposed to violence and evil as they are encoded in his DNA: “Realness, I just kill shit ’cause it's in my DNA; I got dark, I got evil, that rot inside my DNA” (Lamar). Once again, it is needed to understand that these words are used with double meaning. Saying so, Lamar depicts the
History has constantly brought upon leaders and individuals who stands up against the corrupt society he and many others face. Those “leaders” express their profound thoughts for both him and the many others that are too afraid to speak out. One of the most notorious writers in American history and is known for his transcendental ideals. However, today’s society lacks individuals who parallels with Whitman. Lupe Fiasco represents the Modern American voice speaking out against the degrading world society and does so by influencing the public through their appeal of music. He rejects and contrasts from the negative influences of the world and uses his music to contradict those who degrade our society. Born in the west side of Chicago
The song expresses how people are not living up to society's values and norms. It suggest that the socialization is at fault and that they contribute to improvement of self being. The song implies the way society goes against values and norms by one of the very first lyrics in the song. The lyric goes, “What’s wrong with the world, mama, People livin’ like they ain’t got no mamas…” (lines 1-2). This makes one aware of the lack of values in one's family. Values is the belief or an idea that a person or group has to determine is correct or not. Another verse of how the band shows one disobedience of the values and norms comes toward the middle of the song. “People killin', people dyin’, Children hurt and you hear them cryin, Can you practice what you preach, And would you turn the other cheek…” (lines 50-53). These verses show of society has failed to act stable and logical way that society once viewed as correct living. These actions show that citizens have not lived up to the expectations of society. Social norms are likes the laws of society. Laws are things that are illegal behaviour and norms are like behaving in a way society wouldn’t like. For example being in gangs, like the bloods, or the crips, or a big group that goes against society's norms like racial groups. An example of a racial group would be the KKK.
In the essay, “What You Eat is Your Business”, Radley Balko writes to tell his audience about how the government is trying to control people’s health and eating habits by restricting food, taxing high calorie food, and considering menu labeling. Balko includes in his essay that government restricting diets and having socialist insurance is not helping the obesity problem, but it is only making it worse because it not allowing people to take their health in to their own hands so they have no drive to lose weight or eat healthy. In his essay, Balko is targeting society, including those who may be obese, he is trying to show them that the laws our
Many people in today’s society tend to believe that a good education is the fastest way to move up the ladder in their chosen. People believe that those who seek further education at a college or university are more intelligent. Indeed, a college education is a basic requirement for many white collar, and some blue collar, jobs. In an effort to persuade his audience that intelligence cannot be measured by the amount of education a person has Mike Rose wrote an article entitled “Blue Collar Brilliance”. The article that appeared in the American Scholar, a quarterly literary magazine of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, established in 1932. The American Scholar audience includes, Company’s , Employees,
“We have, in this country, two million children under the age of sixteen years who are earning their bread” (1-3). Throughout Florence Kelley’s speech to the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, she emphasizes the injustice of child labor laws and the need for women to take a stand by fighting for the right to vote. Kelley is one of many inspirational leaders who fought for women’s rights. She reaches out to a group of women so that they might call to mind their right to petition. In doing so, Kelley is persuading the audience to fight for their right to vote to change child labor laws. Kelley uses several rhetorical devices such as imagery, diction, and pathos
Every individual has traditions passed down from their ancestors. This is important because it influences how families share their historical background to preserve certain values to teach succeeding generation. N. Scott Momaday has Native American roots inspiring him to write about his indigenous history and Maxine Hong Kingston, a first-generation Chinese American who was inspired by the struggles of her emigrant family. Kingston and Momaday manipulate language by using, metaphors, similes, and a unique style of writing to reflect on oral traditions. The purpose of Kingston’s passage is to reflect upon her ancestor’s mistake to establish her values as an American
Independently, Shakur’s lyrics suggest the inequalities he has experienced throughout his life and of his race in general. In the first verse, Shakur expresses his upbringing without a father and the struggles with the racial tension in his neighborhood. He implies that he has been pushed into a world of violence and crime because of his low socioeconomic status. He states that peace can only be attained if the African Americans are offered a place in the society. The second verse focuses upon the broader oppression of the black body where he addresses the police violence and inequalities of the system. His lyric analyzes the violence in the streets and the fear of police officers that are willing to shoot him because he appears threatening. Finally, the third verse expresses that he is still waiting on things to change, yet the answer is not present. The greater meaning to his
In ‘Here’s Why Legalizing Marijuana Makes Sense’, Alex Newhouse, a lawyer who resides in the area of Sunnyside, Washington addresses the controversial issue of the legalization of cannabis. The sole purpose of Newhouse’s article is to persuade readers and voters that marijuana should be legalized. Throughout his article, Newhouse focuses on the use of ethos and logos, while also slightly focusing on the use of pathos, to help persuade his audience. The incorporation of such rhetoric strategies allows Newhouse to change the opinions of individuals with views opposing the opinions he, himself, holds.
Logos: It is an appeal to the mind with the use of logic, rationality and critical reasoning to persuade the audience. The author uses logos in his article to make a logical connection with the topic. For example, the author uses the explanation of ideas in the article and employs lots of diagrams in each parts of the topic to show the visualization to support his evidence which is very informative because the visuals give lots of information about what the article is about and that to get attention of the audience.
So he finally said, “lo! On every visage a black veil”. Which basically translates to him saying that everybody is harboring their own secret sins. This conveys to the song “Demons” because of the lyrics “I want to hide the truth. I want to shelter you.
The major theme of the song “Losing My Religion” is obession. It is clear that the singer is obsessed with the girl that he is singing about because of the specific details given throughout the entire song. “Every whisper of every waking hour” shows that he thinks of this girl all day long and that she is the only thing that is on his mind all the time, but he does not know how to express his feelings towards her. “Oh no, I’ve said too much” states that he tried to give her hints of his true feelings towards her, but he does not know if she picked up on those hints. “I haven’t said enough” implies that despite the strong feelings he has towards her, he fears that he never makes his feelings clear enough to the girl.