"We from the hood and we're in the hood, let's love the hood, let's love each other...get all the money we want to get...let's stay alive...let's stay free"- Rick Ross
I visited the Allhiphop.com website to find this being said and much more by some of the most influential artists in hip hop today. My question is, WHY? This may sound harsh, but what makes them want to be apart of something so serious when the words they spit construe this very subject? I'm not saying they have no rights to talk because they do. Depending on how honest they are about where they've grew up and how they've lived their lives soley gives them that right, but I don't understand how they expect to be takin seriously when all they rap about is the very same things that people die over everyday.
Even if that weren't the case how would we go about making a difference and actually stopping the violence? I'm sure not everybody will have an epiphany at the same time and realize the seriousness of it all. What do you think?
Sunday, October 21, 2007
"Meet the Parents"
I decided to post my lyrical analysis that I did for an assignment this week because I want to know what you all think of how I analyzed this song and if you would do the same. I mean, I think I did good, but you tell me, Am I right? or Am I right?...
In my lyrical analysis I chose to analyze my favorite hip hop artist, Jay-Z. The song that I am analyzing comes from his Blueprint II: A Gift & A Curse album entitled: Meet the Parents. Honestly, I wanted to do this song because it is probably the one and only of many of Jay’s songs in which I actually completely understand the meaning of each line.
I’ll start with the beginning. [Let’s take a trip down memory, lane at the cemetery, rain grey skies, seems at the end of every, young black life is this line, “Damn – him already?, such a good kid,” got us pourin Henn’ already liquor to the curb for my, niggaz up above when it, cracks through the pavement that’s my way of sending love.] When a person says “Lets take a trip down memory lane”, they are usually about to discuss something personal to them. Though when he states this to start off the song I got the impression that he was about to discuss one of the many topics in the hip-hop world, something that he usually does in his songs, in this case the correlation between the influences of hip-hop and parenting. Basically he starts off the story from the end of the story. He is remembering as if standing in front of a tombstone at a cemetery describing the scene, rain and grey skies. He is personally speaking and to which we as an audience can relate, “seems at the end of every young black life is this line, “Damn him already”, something that is usually acknowledged at the death of a young life. The last part of this line pays homage to a common act in “The Hip-Hop Nation” which gives respect to fallen “friends & family” in which people pour the liquor Hennessy “Henn” on the ground as if it would reach them somehow, maybe a portion that would have gotten drunk by them had they still have been there.
The next part of the song gets into the reasons why the song is what it is. It is explaining the upbringing of the boy who dies and how he became to get into the position that he was in. [Momma ain’t strong enough to raise no boy, what’s his father name? shorty never knew him, though he had his blood in him hot temper, momma said he act just like her husband, Daddy never fucked with him, so the streets raised him Isis blamin herself, she wish she coulda saved him damn near impossible, only men can raise men he was his own man, not even him could save him.] Because of the relationship between his mother and his father, he never knew his father and because of that he took to the streets for his upbringing. Jay says something pertinent here as he says “only men can raise men” as so many single mothers try to do; again relating to the Hip-Hop world where most of the young black kids are raised by single mothers. [He put his faith in a, thirty-eight in his waist but when you live by the gun you die by the same fate end up, dead before thirty-eight and umm that’s the life of us raised by winter, it’s a cold world.] So instead of his mother having any influence over his life he was influenced by the streets and put his faith in a thirty-eight, a type of gun. Here, Jay spits one of the most insightful lines of the song where he states “but when you live by the gun you die by the same fate end up dead before thirty-end and umm that’s the life of us raised by winter, it’s a cold world”. As in the story he put his faith in his gun and ended up being shot dead and he’s trying to emphasize the fact of living on the streets as a hard, cold way of life. This line also is a signature for Jay-Z who is known for “double entandra’s” in which one word or one sentence has more than one meaning. For example, in this case the word “thirty-eight” was used to describe the type of gun that was held by the boy and it also named the age in which he would be dead before if he kept in his ways.
[Mike was still crazy out there runnin the streets (fuck niggaz want?) had his old reliable thirty-eight gun in his reach it’s been fourteen years, him and Isis ain’t speak he runnin around like life’s a peach, ‘till one day he approached this thug that, had a mean mug and it looked so familiar that he called him “Young Cuz” told him, get off the strip but the boy ain’t budge (fuck you) instead he pulled out a newer thirty-eight snub he clearly had the drop but the boy just paused (hold up) there was something in this man’s face he knew he seen before it’s like, lookin in the mirror seein hisself more mature and he took it as a sign from the almighty Lord you know what they say about he who hesitates in war (what’s that?) he who hesitates is lost he can’t explain what he saw before his picture went blank the old man didn’t think he just followed his instinct six shots into his kid, out of the gun niggaz be a father, you’re killin your son….meet the parents.] Basically as the final leg in the song he describes how the young boy got shot dead. First he explains the life of the father still crazy running around on the streets as he forced his child to do by not being in his life and he still had his faith in his gun. So one day he runs up on this young kid on the street one day who looked familiar to him. Nevertheless he told him to move so that he could take over the strip that the kid was hustling off of, I’m assuming drugs, and the kid didn’t budge but instead pulled out a newer thirty-eight, like father like son. Just as the young kid pulls out his gun he pauses because he sees something familiar in the face of the man as if he was looking in the mirror seeing himself more mature. However, as Jay states “you know what they say about he who hesitates in war, he who hesitates is lost” and before the young kid could regain his thoughts he was shot. The last few words of the song explain the events; the young boy was just shot and killed by his own father.
I take this song as a written lesson to those parents who allow their kids to be out there “running the streets” and to those fathers who are not in their kids lives, because in this case the man unknowingly kills his own son. The song has such a strong impact on the sad realities of the world, particularly the Hip-Hop world and that is why Jay-Z is my favorite artist.
In my lyrical analysis I chose to analyze my favorite hip hop artist, Jay-Z. The song that I am analyzing comes from his Blueprint II: A Gift & A Curse album entitled: Meet the Parents. Honestly, I wanted to do this song because it is probably the one and only of many of Jay’s songs in which I actually completely understand the meaning of each line.
I’ll start with the beginning. [Let’s take a trip down memory, lane at the cemetery, rain grey skies, seems at the end of every, young black life is this line, “Damn – him already?, such a good kid,” got us pourin Henn’ already liquor to the curb for my, niggaz up above when it, cracks through the pavement that’s my way of sending love.] When a person says “Lets take a trip down memory lane”, they are usually about to discuss something personal to them. Though when he states this to start off the song I got the impression that he was about to discuss one of the many topics in the hip-hop world, something that he usually does in his songs, in this case the correlation between the influences of hip-hop and parenting. Basically he starts off the story from the end of the story. He is remembering as if standing in front of a tombstone at a cemetery describing the scene, rain and grey skies. He is personally speaking and to which we as an audience can relate, “seems at the end of every young black life is this line, “Damn him already”, something that is usually acknowledged at the death of a young life. The last part of this line pays homage to a common act in “The Hip-Hop Nation” which gives respect to fallen “friends & family” in which people pour the liquor Hennessy “Henn” on the ground as if it would reach them somehow, maybe a portion that would have gotten drunk by them had they still have been there.
The next part of the song gets into the reasons why the song is what it is. It is explaining the upbringing of the boy who dies and how he became to get into the position that he was in. [Momma ain’t strong enough to raise no boy, what’s his father name? shorty never knew him, though he had his blood in him hot temper, momma said he act just like her husband, Daddy never fucked with him, so the streets raised him Isis blamin herself, she wish she coulda saved him damn near impossible, only men can raise men he was his own man, not even him could save him.] Because of the relationship between his mother and his father, he never knew his father and because of that he took to the streets for his upbringing. Jay says something pertinent here as he says “only men can raise men” as so many single mothers try to do; again relating to the Hip-Hop world where most of the young black kids are raised by single mothers. [He put his faith in a, thirty-eight in his waist but when you live by the gun you die by the same fate end up, dead before thirty-eight and umm that’s the life of us raised by winter, it’s a cold world.] So instead of his mother having any influence over his life he was influenced by the streets and put his faith in a thirty-eight, a type of gun. Here, Jay spits one of the most insightful lines of the song where he states “but when you live by the gun you die by the same fate end up dead before thirty-end and umm that’s the life of us raised by winter, it’s a cold world”. As in the story he put his faith in his gun and ended up being shot dead and he’s trying to emphasize the fact of living on the streets as a hard, cold way of life. This line also is a signature for Jay-Z who is known for “double entandra’s” in which one word or one sentence has more than one meaning. For example, in this case the word “thirty-eight” was used to describe the type of gun that was held by the boy and it also named the age in which he would be dead before if he kept in his ways.
[Mike was still crazy out there runnin the streets (fuck niggaz want?) had his old reliable thirty-eight gun in his reach it’s been fourteen years, him and Isis ain’t speak he runnin around like life’s a peach, ‘till one day he approached this thug that, had a mean mug and it looked so familiar that he called him “Young Cuz” told him, get off the strip but the boy ain’t budge (fuck you) instead he pulled out a newer thirty-eight snub he clearly had the drop but the boy just paused (hold up) there was something in this man’s face he knew he seen before it’s like, lookin in the mirror seein hisself more mature and he took it as a sign from the almighty Lord you know what they say about he who hesitates in war (what’s that?) he who hesitates is lost he can’t explain what he saw before his picture went blank the old man didn’t think he just followed his instinct six shots into his kid, out of the gun niggaz be a father, you’re killin your son….meet the parents.] Basically as the final leg in the song he describes how the young boy got shot dead. First he explains the life of the father still crazy running around on the streets as he forced his child to do by not being in his life and he still had his faith in his gun. So one day he runs up on this young kid on the street one day who looked familiar to him. Nevertheless he told him to move so that he could take over the strip that the kid was hustling off of, I’m assuming drugs, and the kid didn’t budge but instead pulled out a newer thirty-eight, like father like son. Just as the young kid pulls out his gun he pauses because he sees something familiar in the face of the man as if he was looking in the mirror seeing himself more mature. However, as Jay states “you know what they say about he who hesitates in war, he who hesitates is lost” and before the young kid could regain his thoughts he was shot. The last few words of the song explain the events; the young boy was just shot and killed by his own father.
I take this song as a written lesson to those parents who allow their kids to be out there “running the streets” and to those fathers who are not in their kids lives, because in this case the man unknowingly kills his own son. The song has such a strong impact on the sad realities of the world, particularly the Hip-Hop world and that is why Jay-Z is my favorite artist.
Distribution: Artistic vs. Business
This article was very informative. It was easy for me to get caught up in it because it compared it to starting a business of my own, though not necessarily an independent record label. I never knew distribution companies played such a large role in the politics of recording a record being that its sole purpose is "to get a record from the pressing plant to the retail stores". However, what's even more interesting is the correlation between the artistic freedoms and the business sides of Hip-Hop.
According to my recent chat with my group not only would I be a contradiction to myself but I would also sound uninformed to say that there isn't a correlation between the two; because there is. It makes sense that it depends on what you say on your albums as to how much you make off of them. In most cases what you say will make or break your debut. In other words, your artistic freedom can be limited. As Wendy states in her article, "distributors frequently "take a chance" on records that they distribute, one because they are unfamiliar with the work of the artist and two they are unfamiliar with the genre and they don't take the time do the research. So when an album fails to sell after they took that chance it burns a bridge between the record label and the distributor.
Therefore, in this one example, of which there are plenty more, it is plain to see why there is such a strong connection between artistic freedom and the business side of things.
As far as the business side for rap vs break dancing seems one in the same to me. The both have inspired artists, inspired by old skool versions of themselves or by their own histories who look to gain fame through their skill. They both require skill and that extra "umph" to get noticed from the thousands of others just like them and they both will do what it takes in order to get where everybody wants to be. They both also have to follow certain guidelines to get where they want to be. For example in rap there is the issue of the lyrics and what radio stations, for example, will play. In break dancing there are the moves that everybody wants to see and what the movie production companies are paying you to do in their movies. Not necessarily what you want to do or wear.
According to my recent chat with my group not only would I be a contradiction to myself but I would also sound uninformed to say that there isn't a correlation between the two; because there is. It makes sense that it depends on what you say on your albums as to how much you make off of them. In most cases what you say will make or break your debut. In other words, your artistic freedom can be limited. As Wendy states in her article, "distributors frequently "take a chance" on records that they distribute, one because they are unfamiliar with the work of the artist and two they are unfamiliar with the genre and they don't take the time do the research. So when an album fails to sell after they took that chance it burns a bridge between the record label and the distributor.
Therefore, in this one example, of which there are plenty more, it is plain to see why there is such a strong connection between artistic freedom and the business side of things.
As far as the business side for rap vs break dancing seems one in the same to me. The both have inspired artists, inspired by old skool versions of themselves or by their own histories who look to gain fame through their skill. They both require skill and that extra "umph" to get noticed from the thousands of others just like them and they both will do what it takes in order to get where everybody wants to be. They both also have to follow certain guidelines to get where they want to be. For example in rap there is the issue of the lyrics and what radio stations, for example, will play. In break dancing there are the moves that everybody wants to see and what the movie production companies are paying you to do in their movies. Not necessarily what you want to do or wear.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Jay-Z's "American Gangster"
I'm sure by now ya'll have heard about Jay's album soon to drop on November 6th entitled American Gangster. Well there was an article on AllHipHop.com today referencing the move and categorizing his efforts. I would like to discuss a coupld points in this article and gain some insight on what you think about it.
From what I gather the article was about a listening party that Jay had at his club. The party was to promote the new album, not soundtrack, "American Gangster". It is an album that was "inspired" by the movie American Gangster.
It was suggested in the article that he didn't get the response that he wanted from his previous album Kingdom Come, so naturally he wanted his next piece of work to do better than the last. He wanted to do something that he knew people wanted to hear, and what better than something "based" on a hot, new, blockbuster.
Now, this may sound a bit bias because Jay-Z is my favorite hip-hop artist, but I love it! It hasn't even hit the shelves yet and I know I will be purchasing it, as I have all of his previous albums.
You have to admit Jay is one smart business man. Using this movie is a win-win for him. He states in the article and in other verses that he has grown up and he can't go back. I believe the "inspration" from this movie allows him to "go back" and relive his experiences and build an album based on them in order to not get harsh criticism from his fans and others. On a scale from One to Ten...he's GENIOUS!
What do you think???
Here's the link
http://allhiphop.com/blogs/features/archive/2007/10/08/18703929.aspx
From what I gather the article was about a listening party that Jay had at his club. The party was to promote the new album, not soundtrack, "American Gangster". It is an album that was "inspired" by the movie American Gangster.
It was suggested in the article that he didn't get the response that he wanted from his previous album Kingdom Come, so naturally he wanted his next piece of work to do better than the last. He wanted to do something that he knew people wanted to hear, and what better than something "based" on a hot, new, blockbuster.
Now, this may sound a bit bias because Jay-Z is my favorite hip-hop artist, but I love it! It hasn't even hit the shelves yet and I know I will be purchasing it, as I have all of his previous albums.
You have to admit Jay is one smart business man. Using this movie is a win-win for him. He states in the article and in other verses that he has grown up and he can't go back. I believe the "inspration" from this movie allows him to "go back" and relive his experiences and build an album based on them in order to not get harsh criticism from his fans and others. On a scale from One to Ten...he's GENIOUS!
What do you think???
Here's the link
http://allhiphop.com/blogs/features/archive/2007/10/08/18703929.aspx
"The B-Boy Kingdom"
I wanted to discuss the reading about "The Rise & Fall of the B-Boy Kingdom". Honestly, I never really got into the movement...it is a little before my time, but I was always interested in it. The reading allowed me to learn more about "The Kingdom".
What I knew about it prior to the reading was the style, meaning clothing, particulary the ADIDAS sneakers, some of the movements, known for spining on their heads, and the idea of "the crew", being down with a particular group for purposes of competition.
What I didn't know was how they got the name "B-Boy". It came from the idea that they were the break boys who would go out on the dance floor in the club or house party during the "break" segments of records. I also didn't know that they mostly originated from the Bronx though I knew it originated in New York. And I could have guessed that the crews were composed primarily of Latinos and African Americans.
The interesting part is the break out of the "B-Girl". Naturally it was expected to happen as the movement gained attention, but it also was interesting to read that the girls had to not only dress like the boys in order to get respect but also to just fit in with the movement. Even when the B-Girls broke out it wasn't as big a number as the guys.
This may have a simple answer, but why do you think the number of young women recruited into the movement wasn't as great as the young men?
What I knew about it prior to the reading was the style, meaning clothing, particulary the ADIDAS sneakers, some of the movements, known for spining on their heads, and the idea of "the crew", being down with a particular group for purposes of competition.
What I didn't know was how they got the name "B-Boy". It came from the idea that they were the break boys who would go out on the dance floor in the club or house party during the "break" segments of records. I also didn't know that they mostly originated from the Bronx though I knew it originated in New York. And I could have guessed that the crews were composed primarily of Latinos and African Americans.
The interesting part is the break out of the "B-Girl". Naturally it was expected to happen as the movement gained attention, but it also was interesting to read that the girls had to not only dress like the boys in order to get respect but also to just fit in with the movement. Even when the B-Girls broke out it wasn't as big a number as the guys.
This may have a simple answer, but why do you think the number of young women recruited into the movement wasn't as great as the young men?
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