Imitation 7: The Finale

Kendrick Lamar – HiiiPower

Before I begin, I really hope you’ve heard this song.  If you haven’t, go check it out.  Now.  The movement is already upon us.  This young man is somebody we are all going to know about in time. 

“I got my finger on the muthafuckin’ pistol

Aimin’ it at a pig, Charlotte’s web is gonna miss you

My issue isn’t televised and you ain’t gotta tell the wise

How to stay on beat, because our life’s an instrumental

This is physical and mental, I won’t sugar coat it

You’d die from diabetes if these other niggas wrote it

And everything on TV just a figment of imagination

I don’t want plastic nation, dread that like a Haitian

While you muthafuckas waiting, I be off the slave ship

Building pyramids, writin’ my own hieroglyphs”

Take a moment to get your breath.  It’s genius, I know.  See, one interesting bit about this class is we didn’t talk about my favorite part of hip-hop: wordplay.  This wasn’t as prevalent until recent hip-hop, but man.  It’s a huge part of the genre.  This nearly five-minute excellence trip is on Kendrick’s album Section. 80, released in 2011.  It’s a song about the movement he fronts, HiiiPower, and it also confronts conspiracy theories of the past, present and future.  It’s a lot to swallow – I honestly don’t know what I’d do without rapgenius.com.  He mentions African-American civil rights activists who were assassinated throughout the song, and claims he is in place to be killed because of his revolution.  He uses metaphors, onomatopoeia, similes, assonance, hyperbole, and figurative and literal meanings.  It is, of course, lyrical poetry.  An obvious metaphor in my selection is that between “sugar coat it” and “diabetes.”  This line also holds the hyperbole.  The similes are in other sections of the song than listed.  Onomatopoeia is used later in the song when Kendrick says, “the reason that Kurt Cobain, loaded that clip and then said bang…”  Figurative meaning is used throughout the song, as can be seen in the metaphors and similes.  It’s hard to figure if this song is a confessional or a critique, but I will go with the latter, as it seems to be a look at modern society most importantly.  For once, I won’t be talking much about the context because this song holds too much talent within its structure and literary elements.  It is mostly end rhyme, with some internal rhymes.  This is one of my favorite songs.  I can’t relate to some of Kendrick’s music, since I did not grow up in a ghetto area, and a black community has never surrounded me.  However, this won’t stop me from marveling at his talent or learning from him.

Imitation #6(Music of the 2000's)

Eyedea – Liquid Sovereignty

“Rain,

Everyone wants to get out of the rain

Wants to be free, wants to see no more pain

We’re guaranteed that the season will change

‘Til then, I’m keeping sunshine on my brain

When the drops hit my head they leave a stain

Everyone wants to get out of the rain

We cannot avoid nature’s bleeding vein

But I smile while it trickles down the rain”

This is a song by the late Eyedea – off his 2001 album First Born – in which he uses rain as a metaphor.  For what?  It would seem to be pain, but it could be something more complicated than that.  I’m not in Eyedea’s head, but the dude was deep as any emcee I’ve ever heard.  The entire song is a figurative meaning, as I’ve stated with his concept on rain and pain flowing throughout.  The rhyme structure is basic end rhyme, but it’s made more interesting by the fact that the entire song is made up of words that rhyme with ‘rain.’  The main theme would seem to be Eyedea explaining how everyone hates pain, and never wants that feeling.  However, without pain, we wouldn’t know it’s opposite, which is joy.  Without pain, we would not be the same people we are today.  This is further cemented as Eyedea begins his first verse, in which he says, “harvested love only comes after rain, even though it brings overwhelming strain.  It falls from all skies so I can’t complain.  Without it, our growth would not be the same.  Most people like to have someone to blame, but it falls randomly, not taking aim.  It makes up one half of the yin and yang.”  Because the structure is so simple and is constant throughout the song, there’s not much I can say there.  Nor can I actually really speak much on the context, since I would just be beating a dead horse.  I would say the song is a confessional, since Eyedea is confessing he’s glad that there is pain in the world to make him who he is.  I strongly encourage anyone who hasn’t heard of Eyedea to check out this song and then further delve into his music.  

Imitation #5(Poetry of the 90's)

Endless Journey – Mary Barnet

http://www.marybarnet.com/a1990s.htm

“But, if I must speak, my years will say
Do not rely on pleasures of the flesh;
Less on affairs of the heart.
Create what you can
But do not be disappointed by your losses;
For what some men and women have lost is great.

The most precious thing you have is your soul,
And the dignity with which you pass on
To those who come after
Your knowledge of the value of life and love
And above all, humanity's vision and age's realization
Of the absolute tyranny of Time.”

In this poem, Mary Barnet ponders some of the downfalls of human behavior and offers a bit of advice for the reader’s future.  The poem doesn’t really follow a structure; it doesn’t have end rhymes nor does it have any consistent pattern.  It’s littered with literal meaning, pun intended.  The section I chose is longer than eight lines, but the two stanzas are equally thought provoking and powerful.  Since there isn’t really a structure or many literal elements in the poem, I will critique it through its context and how it relates to the present.  I love that she says, “do not rely on pleasures of the flesh.”  It is a truth that is said all too little in modern American society.  Right now, peer pressures to engage in misogyny and use drugs swallow up young people.  Since I abstain from either, I’m sick of it being such a prevalent part of my life and being shoved in my face everywhere I go.  Later in the same stanza, she offers uplifting words when saying, “do not be disappointed by your losses, for what some men and women have lost is great.”  It’s a good way to look at life for those who don’t feel so blessed, but are in a better state than they may think.  The last stanza is also very interesting.  Taking the first line on its own actually takes away from its full meaning.  The full meaning of the last stanza is that time has no remorse or mercy; it stops for no one.  Therefore, the most important thing you can do is pass on your unbiased knowledge and blessings to those who come after you.  

Original Piece #1

Fallout

Have you ever lived thru a nuclear fallout?

They say nobody ever will

It’s impossible

So it seems…

The generous mind gives,

Until it has nothing left,

Feeling the loss of a thrill,

Universally committed theft

Why is the Earth so cold?

Said the sloth to the mammoth

It is ironic how today
We live in a different ice age...

People get offended too easily,

Yet people too easily offend.

It’s a never-ending conundrum,

Read it again.

Think of how nice it would be,

For the whole human race

To start over

Once more.

To erase the current suffering,

The despair,

The confusion,

The inquisition.

No empty cartridges hitting the floor,

No screams of the oppressed,

No religious men knocking on the door,

No booming voices of the upset…

It is the bittersweet result

Of a

Fallout…

Hip Hop Wars: Chap 7 Overview/Critique

Chapter 7 of Hip Hop Wars critiques the argument that “Hip hop is not responsible for sexism.”  Tricia Rose uses some quotes and breaks the argument down into 6 points.  These points are as follows: “1) society is sexist, 2) artists should be free to express themselves, 3) rappers are unfairly singled out, 4) we should be tackling the problem at the root, 5) listening to harsh realities gives us a road map, and 6) sexual insults are deleted from radio and video airplay.”    Rose points out that none of these arguments actually address the issue of sexism, and explains how this makes these claims false, but more so unproductive.  With the first point, hip-hop’s defenders claim that sexism is a “deep-seated problem” in the U.S.  While this may be true, it doesn’t make it acceptable that artists promote sexism.  The second point is mostly used by record companies’ heads.  This defense is that artists have freedom of expression.  This, however, is a conundrum, because record companies themselves constrict artists to only use subjects that they deem profitable.  The third point is a childish, “Oh, why me?” defense, claiming rappers are singled out.  It’s impossible for rappers not to be singled out, though, since they are the only musicians with whom this issue is such an integral part of their music.  The fourth defense, that people should ignore sexism in hip-hop and tackle the problem at the root, simply ignores the issue altogether.  Just because hip-hop does not represent the origination of sexism does not mean it wouldn’t benefit society if such representations of women were eliminated.  Rose says that the fifth point, that it gives a “road map,” makes no sense, and I totally agree with her.  To where is promoting sexism taking us?  She further explains through a few quotes that this means that using sexism can successfully and meaningfully educate or represent poor black people.  However, it puts black women down, so how does it help at all?  And lastly, the pointless argument that radio and TV bleep out “bitches and hoes.”  If people listen to hip-hop, they know it’s very gritty and harsh.  Rose used an example in which Snoop Dogg had gone to a bat mitzvah in which 12 year old white kids were singing explicit lyrics from a song he had made.  It’s no secret that those who listen to hip-hop prefer the “authentic” version instead of the edited version, no matter what age.  Bleeping out cuss words on national media does not effectively help solve the issue of sexism in any way whatsoever.