In most instances, a listener strives to find a song that is simultaneously culturally and socially conscious, while having a listenability that allows the song to be played at any time or any place. For the above song, I took a pointedly socially and culturally approach to the socioeconomic inequalities that persist in the United States, using subtle and themes of freedom and hardship, while concurrently using the not so subtle theme of class differences to convey the differences between social classes in our society. The lyrics provide the potential listener with a juxtaposition of someone who invariably questions their place in society in comparison with an individual who seems to have everything they could ever need or want, hence the inclusion of (Mercedes) Benz in the second verse. The lyrics are written in simple verse form and intentionally have the last two lines of the first verse rhyming with each other, as well as the first two lines of the second verse rhyming with one another. The rhyming is meant to emphasis the restraints that lower class people have in terms of social mobility and the freedom those in upper classes enjoy on a daily basis. The “end” and “Benz” creates a slant rhyme that resembles the perpetual cycle of poverty in contrast with someone who is sad about their luxury car being out of commission. Given the form of the lyrics and their social connections, the options for music selection and instrumentation varied across genre and sound. For the
This song implies that individual’s are violating the norms and values of society. They start the song with a verse that expresses
Shallow lyrics that fail to evoke much thought can be detrimental to a listener's intellectual health. Many developed countries have seen declines in reading proficiency and the superficial
Throughout Kanye West’s prolific career, he has possessed an intricate sound that has separated him from his hip-hop counterparts. After the immense praise he received on his breakout album, College Dropout, it was no surprise that Kanye West would perform at the same level on his second album, Late Registration. West presented an innovative and soulful sound to the hip-hop industry, earning individuals’ ears and hearts.With lyrics that discussed themes of poverty, drug abuse, and domestic issues and samples that provided a sense of nostalgia, Kanye West was steadily transforming into a political icon far beyond the means of his hip-hop artistry. With such empowering and sincere lyrics, Kanye West served as the voice of historically marginalized people, whose voices were seemingly unheard before. In the song “Drive Slow,” West’s guidance and empowering message remained evident, as he joined forces with GLC and Paul Wall to create a soulful song that offered assistance on how to overcome barriers in life. Through the use of suggestive details, figurative language, and vivid storytelling, West utilizes the automobile culture to assert how individuals can achieve success of every field of human endeavor through constant efforts in the right direction. In addition, he also attempts to convey that one must “drive slow” in a car in order to appreciate the environment that consists outside of the automobile. West creates a double entendre of the word “drive slow,” expressing that
Throughout Kanye West’s prolific career, he has always possesses a intricate sound that has separated him from his hip-hop counterparts during the early twenty first century. After the explosion and phenomenal praise he received on his breakout album, College Dropout, it was no surprise that Kanye West would perform the same with his second album. West presented a innovative and soulful sound to the hip-hop industry, garnishing fans ears and hearts.With lyrics that discussed themes of poverty, drug abuse, and domestic issues, and samples that provided a sense of nostalgia, Kanye West was steadily transforming into a political icon far beyond the means of his artistry. With such empowering and sincere lyrics, Kanye West served as the voice of historically marginalized people who often were stripped from their voices. In the song Drive Slow, West’s guidance and empowering message remained evident, as he joined forces with GLC and Paul Wall to create a soulful and mellow that helped to get people through with their day. Through the use of suggestive details, figurative language, vivid storytelling, and repetition, West utilizes automobile culture to metaphorically assert how individuals can achieve success of every field of human endeavor through constant efforts in right direction. In addition, he also attempts to convey that one must “drive slow” in a car in order to appreciate the environment that consists outside of the automobile. West creates a double entendre of the word
The novel is able to share how music is of great importance and is able to affect people’s moods and thoughts.
This illustrates a problematic aspect of the African American community. Material identity has become a prevalent aspect surrounding the hip-hop community. Material is illustrated most often through the type of car a person drives and the accessories that they put on it. It is also illustrated through clothes and jewelry. This bar judged men that Winter would consider dating. Souljah uses Winter’s love of material possessions to illustrate what becomes the downfall of many people in the African America community.
Music has played a major role as an agent of socialization in each of my 4 decades. I know and hope that it will continue to do so. During each period music has affected my personality, shown my personality, affected my perceptions and helped me to cope with growing and changing as a person. My Looking Glass Self has compared the person in song and possibly the singer themselves to myself to gain perspective of who I was at each time. I am going to discuss each decade with the thought of how music was an agent of socialization in each.
In Stephen Dobyns’s “Loud Music,” the speaker describes the differences between him and his step-daughter’s thoughts on loud music, which shows that music really describes a person’s personality. Throughout the poem the speaker explains how his step-daughter likes soft and more meaningful music more than loud music and their different music types shows in their difference in personalities and the way they see things. People all over the world let the music they listen to describe their personalities.
The paper will focus on comparing two different songs by discussing their context and highlighting the similarities and differences between both chosen songs. The comparison will be based on the background information for each song as well as peripheral information about the albums. The comparison will also include any contextual similarities and differences between the songs. The two chosen songs for the comparison are: 'Woodstock' by Joni Mitchell and 'The Times They Are a-Changin' by Bob Dylan.
For as long as mankind has walked on this earth, music has been an important part of our culture and lifestyles. Each walk of life beats to a different drum. Different cultures use music for many aspects of their lives; for religious purposes, for celebrations, for comfort, for sorrow, for relaxation, for sports, for dances, for energy, for learning, for sleeping, and for sexual experiences. Everyone uses music for something. Music connects with people and reaches them in ways that words simply cannot. Music is a representation of what feelings sound like. It expresses emotion and brings that characteristic out from within us; it tells us a story. Every generation has its’ own sound and different music styles have emerged and become
This is showing that the poem isn’t perfect. Which is in relation to how life isn’t perfect for African Americans. Using end rhyme is an important technique the author uses to help portray the message of the
Today many people feel compelled to buy anything or everything with an expensive price tag. This includes Expensive designer clothes, latest gadgets, expensive vehicles and many other similar things. This form of consumerism has embedded itself in today’s society; where it's encouraged to invest in such materialistic possessions. Kanye West is an African-American rapper, producer, and entrepreneur, who articulates his struggle with consumerism and the struggle for those around him in his song “All Falls Down.” West, utilizes puns, rhyme, and juxtaposition to highlight the issues surrounding materialism that can be interpreted differently by different listeners such as African Americans and White Americans.
Today’s society is filled with the fast paced individuals, working to get their materialistic high-end cell-phones, big cars and trucks, and even bigger houses. It seems like you have to have stuff to “be somebody”. It is not about the little things anymore; kindness, appreciation, thoughtful deeds. People are judged by what they have, who they know, and how much money they make. It reminds me of the song by Kristen Bush entitled Trailer Hitch. In this song he sings about living a simpler life, not knowing why everyone wants all the expensive things. He sings about giving away his things and feeling good for doing it, realizing that you can’t take them with you when you go as “You never seen a hearse with a trailer hitch”. Makes one think about how you live your life, and that materialistic possessions do not really matter.
Often music is consisted not only by sounds made from musical instruments, but also by voice and verbal messages. The structure of the voice, or as Roland Barthes describes it ‘the grain of voice’ is the element in a certain piece of music which is responsible for creating the emotions when listening. The grain and the lyrics make the signified and carry out the message. The vocal part of music is formed of words, text, which communicate and make the representation and expression of what it is sung - talked about. According to Barthes the emotive modes of the voice and the changes of the tones from low to high is what delivers the final message and makes us feel the music. (Barthes, R. 1977 [1972]).
Over the years, African American Music has developed as not only as cultural but also artistic phenomenon affecting the world. The music takes its own stand of being dominant as well of having a prevailing means of expression through the use of the lyrics. The lyrics of many songs tend to use a specific type of language in order to create that connection between the listeners. This certain style of language helps the listeners to think on a deeper level about the real meaning behind the lyrics.