Imitation #4(80's)

Public Enemy – Don’t Believe The Hype

“Word to Herb, yo if you can’t swing this

Learn the words, you might sing this

Just a little bit of the taste of the bass for you

As you get up and dance at the LQ

When some deny, defy it, I swing Bolos

And then they clear the lane I go solo

The meaning of all that, some media is the wack”

            Don’t Believe The Hype, an acclaimed song by Public Enemy released in 1988 of the album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.  The song is meant to be a critique on false media.  As can be seen, the basic structure is end rhyme while some of the lines have internal rhymes.  There’s not much of a clear rhythm or flow in this part of the verse, his lines are seemingly only connected to rap because they are being spoken over a beat and rhyme at the end.  There is some assonance in the fifth line.  These bars are giving a figurative meaning, as it is not clearly stated that Chuck is trying to knock the media until the last few words.  There is some literal meaning, as when he says he “swings Bolos,” which are the wind up punches made famous by Sugar Ray Leonard.  This also shows up when he tells the Herb, or listener who doesn’t understand rap music and is critical of it, that they should “learn the words, you might sing this,” meaning if they might understand the message someday.  Chuck D used personification of the bass in the third line, when he tells the Herb to get a “taste of the bass.”  The tone of the bars is kind of upset, but not raging – as if he’s just trying to get a point across to clear up a misunderstanding that he’s annoyed about.  Seeing as this song is giving an opinion on the media’s flaws and misconceptions, this bit from Chuck D’s verse can be considered lyrical poetry.  

Imitation #3(70's): Gil Scott Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

            This spoken word piece by Gil Scott-Heron was originally released on his 1970 album, Small Talk at 125^th and Lenox.  It is about the fight for racial equality and its non-existence in media. 

Gil is confessing his outrage with the way the media is driven for and controlled by white people.  In the lyrics, Scott-Heron makes a number of references to pop culture of the 1970s.   This is a way of using figurative meaning.  For instance, he says, “The revolution will not be brought to you by the Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.”  These were icons of that time, and throughout the piece Scott-Heron uses them to outline the fact that people know so much about fantasy characters, actors and actresses, and business ads, but are unaware of what is going on with the Black revolution.           

 Also, since this is a completely emotion-filled opinion about the goings-on of this era, this song can be attributed as lyrical poetry.  The tone of the piece is angry and forceful.  On the recording, Scott-Heron’s voice is booming and loud as he speaks over a simple drumbeat. 

About 5 years before this song was created, Malcolm X had been murdered.  And in 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot.  The fight for racial equality seemed to be in the balance, as two of its most prominent leaders were killed off.  Instead of succumbing to fear, some people stood up in this fight.  At the end of the song, Scott-heron says, “the revolution will be no re-run brothers, the revolution will be live.” In saying this, he ensures that whether or not people are made aware of the tragedies befalling the Black race, their fight for equal rights will continue.