Courtland Cotten
Ms. Thompson
En12-4th
13 January 2016
Inspiration
If there is someone that has impacted an individual’s life, then suddenly they pass away out of the blue, it can do an immense amount of damage to ones thoughts and feelings. In the song “One Man Can Change The World” by Big Sean featuring John Legend and Kanye West it talks about Big Sean’s grandma impact on his life and everything she did for him and his family as a whole. The artist “big Sean” otherwise known as Sean Anderson was born in Santa Monica, California but was raised in Detroit, Michigan. He was born on the west side of Detroit which can be very hard growing up on a child. There was a lot of gang violence and the city was so in debt that they couldn’t fund anything
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In this line he uses the term “Yay” which is a nickname for the rapper Kanye west who is married to Kim Kardashian. Yay is also a slang term for cocaine, which is instating that his stepbrother sold cocaine on the corner out side their house growing up. Growing up in the hood can become very challenging. Sean growing up had friends that weren’t all like him. They didn’t try in school and they either gang banged or sold drugs. In his song, Sean mentions when he performed at the white house and he met Jim Carrey “I grinded out that black hole then performed up at the White House/Standin’ next to Jim Carrey, we traded stories then laughed/I said you not the only one I know got rich wearin’ masks” (Sean 38-40). In that line he mentions “grindin out the black hole” which means he made something out of nothing and got out of the hood by himself with the encouragement from his grandma. Jim Carrey is a popular actor who was the main character in the movie “The Mask” and Sean says “You not the only one I know got rich wearin’ masks” because he had friends that would rob stores and gas stations just to survive in the hood. In his case he shows the power of what allusions can do and made his song deep and makes you feel like you understand his …show more content…
The speaker in this song is anyone that experienced a tough loss. Big Sean was very close with his grandmother, she taught him how to drive and be a man. “… She taught me how to drive and she raised the kids, then the kids’ kids, and she did it right taught me how to love, taught me not to cry” (Sean 52-54). In this line he states that she taught him how to be a man and took care of him growing up, keeping him on the right track and staying out of trouble. Big Sean also used a lot of imagery in his song. Talking about his grandmas achievements he states “…But how am I supposed to say I’m tired if that girl from West Virginia came up in conditions that I couldn’t survive; went to war, came back alive? On top of that became a female black captain when being black you had to extra-extra try” (Sean 45-49). Big Sean was very proud of his grandma because she became a female black captain back when females were just being allowed in the military and there was still a very serious racism problem. In his lyrics you can see the struggle to get what she accomplished in the times that she did it. As the reader may now see how close Sean and his grandmother were together realize how tough of a loss it was and how people can
Its audiences are both men and women who come to the taverns to drink and sing after their long day on the field or in a factory. The song has persuaded the audiences in which men are willing to join the army to fight for the independence, and women are supporting their men to offer his strength to protect the country. If I were a colonial man who sitting and listening to this song, I would get inspired from hearing the song and join the army because I am a man full of pride for myself. Furthermore, a man lives on with his honor; the honor he gains from fighting for his
think he was trying to communicate what a family was going through at one point in life. They are in a sad
Walter Payton’s young life was full of disasters and struggles. It all started when Payton was a young kid growing up in Columbia, Mississippi. He was born july 25th, 1954. (Pearlman #). During the 1950’s there was still segregation going on in Mississippi, and because of this Payton’s father Edward was arrested for drinking while intoxicated and was
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,
A couple of weeks ago founder of Bad Boy Records Puff Daddy posted a couple of videos of rappers such as Fabolous, Pusha T, Jadakiss, TIP, & more spitting some classic verses of his late friend & hip hop legend The Notorious B.I.G. on Instagram in memory of his passing on March 9th, 1997. Seeing those videos was just another reminder of why one of Brooklyn's finest finds his way into a plethora of Top 5 MC's list. Though the 20th anniversary of Biggie's death is not the only thing we remember about him this month. This Saturday on March 25th marks 20 years since the release of his second & final studio album "Life After Death," a hip hop classic that showed the growth in his artistry & would strengthen the legendary MC's legacy to last decades
Geoffrey Bennett’s article Hip Hop: A Roadblock or Pathway to Black Empowerment illustrates the influence hip hop and rap music has had on not only the music industry but mainstream culture, African Americans to be specific. Geoffrey Bennett, a senior English Major from Voorhees, New Jersey goes over many aspects of how hip hop came to be “the forefront of American attention.” He starts from its early history in the 1980s as an African American exclusive music genre to what is now a worldwide phenomenon. He reviews the affect it has had on the lifestyle of many people and the ways it’s changed the way people
At Aaliyah’s funeral everyone is crying, sobbing, or they have this look like they just lost something they loved. Which was true because everyone loved Aaliyah, her voice, her character, her everything. Everyone’s watching her parents as they see their daughter for the last time. Missy Elliot sings a song and the press were shock at the famous guest who came to say their last goodbye’s, some of them being Jay-Z, R.Kelly, Diamond Dash, and many more. Aaliyah was one in a million and she left a mark on this world that can never be
During the time that when Biggie Smalls was a hustler he thought that was common life for him since he was the youngest black man trying to make a living in the ghetto of his career choice involved certain risks. Later on, he made a trip to North Carolinas for a routine drug he exchanges ended being the soon-to be MC a nine-month stay bars. Once Biggie was released, he decides to borrow a friend tape recorder to lay down some hip-hop track in the basement. When the tapes became passed around and later it was played on local radio station in New York City.
She describes that she hears “brothers talking about spending each day high as hell on malt liquor and Chronic. Don’t sleep. What passes for ‘40 and a blunt’ good times in most of hip-hop is really alcoholism, substance abuse, and chemical dependency” (456). Through these lyrics depicted by rap and hip-hop artists, Morgan points out the fact that the African American community deals with tough situations including a dependency of drugs and alcohol. In addition to drug and alcohol abuse, Morgan explains that conversations between males are often times about killing one another and believing that their life expectancy is low. In this essay, Morgan relates the issue of drug abuse and survival with the life of the Notorious BIG connecting the fact that his life was surrounded by drug and alcohol abuse, jail, relationships, and murder. With the help of these lyrics stated in rap and hip-hop music, Morgan believes that “the seemingly impenetrable wall of sexism in rap music is really the complex mask African Americans often wear both to hide and express the pain” (457). As she describes the issues of the daily lives of African Americans, readers are able to better understand the reason behind the lyrics and the anger of why they perceive women as “bitches” and
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.”
The misunderstood subculture of music that many have come to know as “hip-hop” is given a critical examination by James McBride in his essay Hip-Hop Planet. McBride provides the reader with direct insight into the influence that hip-hop music has played in his life, as well as the lives of the American society. From the capitalist freedom that hip-hop music embodies to the disjointed families that plague this country, McBride explains that hip-hop music has a place for everyone. The implications that he presents in this essay about hip-hop music suggest that this movement symbolizes and encapsulates the struggle of various individual on
The symbolism in this song is that life is hard for other members of the society. This song regards a man trying/ resolving to alter his ways before starting to change the world. This
In the poem she says “I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide”, and “I am the dream and the hope of the slave”. She is saying that because she is black woman and has to face problems; it has made her stronger. She has risen above and has become the person the slaves had hoped to become one day. Just because she is a minority doesn’t mean she can’t be proud of her accomplishments.
Within the first two verses of the song, this young woman presents an issue that is all too common for many people. She has big dreams and wants to make a name for herself, but to succumb to making that dream a reality, she would have to desert the loved ones that have made
Capture Attention- “Too Many Murders, Too Many Funerals, and Too Many Tears. Just seen another brother buried plus I knew him for years. Passed by his family, but what could I say? Keep yo’ head up head up and try to keep the faith and pray for better days” (Tupac).