Yes Came Case Study

To gaze into the lyrics of both Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur is like living in the ghettos of New York City where violence never stops. Both of these artists grew up seeing and living a life filled with violence. Gunshots and drive-byes, death and murder were a daily occurrence. Although the lyrics of both artists are simply telling their life stories and how hard it was to grow up in their “hoods” they contain vulgar, hateful, and sexual verses that send the wrong message to their listeners. Whether these listeners are teens or adults, white or black, they are continually sending notions of hatred and fear through their lyrics and actions. Ultimately,

Throughout the song, Tupac gives an inside look on the social problems affecting African-Americans and suggests possible solutions. In the first stanza of the song, Tupac first talks about how certain social issues are linked together; he makes a correlation between his skin color and being poor. Tupac says “I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black.” Then he explains how poverty causes crime by saying “My stomach hurts, so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch.” And finally, he demonstrates the relationship between police brutality and race by saying “Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero.”

In the 5th line and 6th line of this song, Tupac addresses a second issue that is mentioned in the song which is the mistreatment of black people by the police. “Cops give a damn about a negro. Pull the trigger, kill a nigga he’s a hero”. Tupac incorporates rhyme with the use of a derogatory term starting with n in order to signify the mistreatment. The rhyme uses repetition of sound adds a musical effect to make the song sound and the use of the naughty word starting with n is a term used to

First of all, as the saying goes, ‘it takes one to know one.’ 2Pac’s criminal past and time in prison have earned him respect among troubled, black youth. But what’s more, he speaks to them in their language, a lyrical, almost sophisticated form of Ebonics or African American Vernacular English (AAVE). The rhythm and rhyme of the lyrics is engaging and compelling, which we see in the afore mentioned lines, “jack you up, back you up / crack you up and pimp smack you up.” The verb, ‘to pimp smack one up’ exemplifies the poetic style of street speech. Finally he addresses his audience as his “brothers”, he uses the word “nigga” in a permissible context and alludes casually to “Huey”, a.k.a. Huey P. Lewis, co-founder of the Black Panthers. These are all ‘in-group’ markers, which help establish his credit and rapport among African Americans in general and black gangsters specifically. It is for these reasons that he has earned the right to speak to them about these complex issues.

It is a given that when people hear the term “hip-hop” the first image that comes to mind is that of an uneducated, jobless, violent thug with a gun control issue. This stigma is embedded in today’s society because of artist such as Young Jeezy, 50 Cent, Ice Cube, etc. that glamorize the calling of picking up a gun and “hustling” to sell drugs on the streets. This can be seen in a number of songs, but one song that can be picked out of the lineup is Young Jeezy’s Soul Survivor. “But if you lookin' for me I'll be on the block / With my thang cocked possibly sittin' on a drop, now/ 'Cuz I'm a rida/' Cuz er'ybody know the game don't stop/ Tryin' to make it to the top 'fore your ass get popped, now/ If you a rida” There is not much depth to this song, the story behind this song is that most youths that belong to the streets of ghetto usually get into the business of selling drugs to get quick cash. When he mentions “sittin’ of the drop” he is referring to the drug deal location, which shows how most rap has a criminal element to it. Through all of the “gangsta” glorification throughout “hip-hop” from to the gun slinging and alcohol consumption Lupe took a different

Here's a little something' bout a nigga like me never should of been let out the penitentiary Ice Cube would like to say that I'm a crazy mothafucka from around the way. Since I was a youth, I smoked weed out now I’m the mutha fucka that you read about. Taking' a life or two that's what the hell I do, you don't like how I'm living well fuck you! This is a gang, and I'm in it my man Durrell fuck you up in a minute with a right, left, right left you toothless and then you say goddamn they ruthless! Everywhere we go they say [damn!] N W A's fuckin' up the program and then you realize we don't care, we don't just say no, we too busy saying' yeah!

“I got tha word as hell/ya blew trial and tha Judge gave you/25 with an L/ time to prepare to do fed time/ want see parole.” “25 with an L” means a conviction of 25 years to life. The artist seems to be telling his friend that although he’s in jail for life, he will be looking out for his responsibilities, kids, and baby mother. “taken risks, while keeping cheap tricks from getting on her../ like in the hood... Implies there is risk that could lead to jail or death protecting his family from cheap man who will take advantage of a single mother. Since most guys in prison worry about their family being bothered, Tupac was assuring him to not worry about anything because he’s doing his best to keep them

"There's war on the streets & the war in the Middle East, instead of war on poverty, they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me, and I ain't never did a crime I ain't have to do." These lines represent how the government is not resolving poverty, but instead tackling drugs in the Middle East and because African Americans are deeply involved with the use and trafficking of drugs, blacks are easily targeted. In the last line of those lyrics, Tupac refers to himself for never committing a crime unless he was forced to because he needed to get by as stated before African Americans don't have the same opportunities or fair chances in society as other races. Even though the white race mistreats, targets, and does not care for the black race, Tupac also points fingers at his own race for a lot of the hate and anger they are surrounded by. In addition to this, he raps "I got love for my brother, but we can never go nowhere unless we share with each other. We gotta start makin' changes, learn to see me as a brother 'stead of two distant strangers." He knows that his own people are at blame because they have jealousy towards each other and they're more about individuality than unity. Again Tupac is trying to inspire his people to quit the selfishness and take a stand to help configure a

As N.W.A fell into the laps of the mainstream target audience: white, middle class, suburban males and their angst filled teens, more problems began to arise regarding the misconceptions of gangster rap and appropriation of the experience of black men in low income cities. Most of the rap that this demographic would hear on the radio was the lighter Pop-Rap of MC Hammer and The Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff. According to GZA, the founder of the Wu Tang Clan, “the label (Gangster Rap) was created by the media to limit what we can say. We just deliver the truth in a brutal fashion…They don 't like that, so you hear 'ban this, ban that '. We attack people 's emotions. It 's a real live show that brings out the inside in people”. But many people outside the scene just associated it with the violent rivalry between the East Coast’s Bad Boy Records and the West Coast’s Death Row records that ultimately resulted in the mysterious murders of The Notorious B.I.G. and 2Pac. However, when ‘Efil4zaggin’ hit number #1 on Billboard charts, the genre became more widely acknowledged and accepted by mainstream audiences. Although, in a general sense, “Fuck Tha’ Police” was relatable to the Every-Man in it’s dissatisfaction with unfairness- it cannot be separated completely from it’s specific context. Although facing discrimination and brutality at the hands of cops was a common experience for minorities, suburban America still refused to believe that this bias was happening. This track

While listening to this song, it is easy to understand he is upset on how life is difficult in the ghetto and the mistreatment of african americans by police. Within the first few lines it says “im tired of bein poor and even worse im black. my stomach hurts so im lookin for a purse to snatch. cops give a damn about a negro, pull a trigger kill a nigga hes a hero Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares? One less hungry mouth on the welfare.” He has a strong feeling that cops don’t care about african americans due to what life was like during that time in ghetto areas.

And a bottle full of lean and a model on a scheme, yup These days of frustration keep y'all on tucking rotation”. In those lines Kendrick Lamar was talking about riots in the hood, gun violence, also selling drugs in those few line Kendrick Lamar talked about many of the struggles in the hood. Nothing negative was said by the media it was just positive things being said.

“Hey, hey, hey, gather ‘round hustlers/That is if you’re still living/And get on down before the judge give the sentence/A few more rounds before the feds come and get you/Is you gonna smile when your date gets issued?/You know them feds taking pictures/Your mom’s in prison, your father need a new kidney/You family’s splitting, rivalries between siblings/If cash ain’t king it's damn sure the incentive/And good riddance.” This verse belongs to the song ‘The season/Carry me’ by Anderson Paak, a young and talented musician. With only a few words, a scenario of a black man struggle in the ghetto became vivid and touchable. Noticing at Anderson’s brilliant wordplay in the last part, the ‘cent’ in the ‘incentive’ cooperate with money. Except that, flow and rhythm are also being well done by Anderson Paal.

He makes many references to the south and shout outs to his home state Georgia, “Overall Georgia, Overall Clean,” a feature and act common in southern rappers and southern rap to do as well as, “Dirty South mind blown, Dirty South bread,”. Ludacris takes his listeners on a trip to the south with his imagery of staple food and drink of the south, “catfish fried up, Dirty South fed,” catfish being a popular south plate and, “sweat for the lemonade, sweat for the tea,” lemonade and sweet tea also being staples of the south. Ludacris also HINTS to African Americans and slave culture in his song. While talking about the south ludacris states, “sleep in a cot pickin Dirty South bed,” referencing to the cotton picking slaves of the south and then continues through alliteration, “Afro picks, Afro chicks,” and “Afro-American, Afro thick,” the later verse being more emphasized as Ludacris strategically had some of the music and beats fade as he rapped it. Another southern factor Ludacris shows his listeners is the mean thuggish ways in which he has to and can be, “Southern Hospitality or overall mean,” as well imagery of threats and violence. Coming from the street and struggle, one must establish not to be messed with as Ludacris does, “Forty Glock cal’ keep your mouth on hold,” with threats of guns and threats to a snitch, “rip ya tongue ‘cause of what your mouth told,” ending with, “DTP stay doing thugged

He continues this message onto TPaB, in a song titled “Institutionalized”, where he discusses wealth’s corruptive powers and takes a retrospective look back on how even after escaping Compton, he still feels trapped in the continuous cycle of negativity brought on by the institution of money itself. The album in its entirety becomes a dissertation describing how black rappers are being “pimped” by the entertainment industry and capitalist America. He discloses how his childhood peers have become practically brainwashed by the idea of getting rich, yet won’t take proper measures to attain these goals, resorting to a life of petty crime rather than working towards an escape. Guest artist Bilal echoes in the hook advice that Kendrick’s grandmother gave him as a boy: Shit don’t change unless you get up and wash yo’ ass, a statement on how unless these men clean up their act, nothing will ever change in their life for the better. The repetition of this line emphasizes the impact this had on young Kendrick, who as an adult now recognizes the impossibility of truly appreciating whatever it is that you have gained unless actually putting in the work for it. Yet he also admits the challenges that these people face when they try to leave—anyone can leave the hood whenever they please, but the way society is set up and the upbringing of those raised there make it an incredible feat for them not to fall

This chorus gives hope to the other struggling people to have faith and not to give up on life because anything you want, you can have. It just takes the effort to be proud. This is what Notorious was special at doing. He could deliver the message better then any other person out there, because he is a prime example to all the people that they do have a future.