Critique 1:Hip Hop causes violence

I would not say I agree with the title of this chapter, that hip-hop causes violence, but I can see where you can infer a correlation. There is no guy with a gun to your head telling you that you have to be violent after you listen to a rap Lil Wayne song. Rappers have the freedom of speech and can say whatever they like. However, the issue occurs when people don’t have a mind of their own and they take lyrics to heart, especially kids. I don’t think kids should be listening to gangster rap until they’re mature enough to see that this is just someone expressing him or herself, not something to go and do yourself. I like rap, I like the beat and I like the passion from some artists, but I would never let that passion influence me in my decision making of what is right and wrong. And just because Rick Ross says he’s done illegal things, the fact of the matter is that he was a correctional officer. Rap certainly does not cause violence but it certainly does not prevent it. There are definitely lyrics out there promoting violence especially towards police officers but that doesn’t mean the lyrics are based off true facts and even if they were, the rappers intention probably is not to make the listener shoot a cop. The high levels of unemployment unfortunately gave reason to the violence that did occur, people had to resort to dangerous and illegal activity to put food on the table. The poor housing situation also gave rise to violence, while blacks were segregated in certain areas their “slums” became an intense catalyst for a sense of community, but when those were taken away to build other institutions, homelessness and violence increased. It is almost unfair of “the boss’” to say rap causes violence when they caused the trauma that caused the violence.

Imitation #3 (70's): Carole King, Nightingale

Nightingale

Carole King

Like some nightbird homeward winging
He seeks that shelteredness
Like the sailor's lost horizon
He needs some place to rest
The songs that he's been singing 
No longer make much sense
And those strangers' cold perceptions
They've killed his confidence

This poem is about a soldier coming home to get that comfort he misses and some time off. He's been fighting so long that he no longer knows why or what he is fighting for. During the 1970s when this poem was written the Vietnam war was still in effect, the hippie movement was gaining popularity and they strongly emphasizes peace and happiness going against the war. This poem uses literary techniques like internal rhyme, simile in use of "like",literal meaning, tone, and narrative poetry describing this soldiers journey. The audience is the president, generals, and all soldiers. Carole King is trying to explain how the soldiers are tired of this long war that many American's did not support at the time. Soldiers were not coming back to America with warm welcomes from civilians but they yearned for the comfort of their famiies. The soldiers should see that the war does not make much sense anymore and that's why their confidence is down, they do not believe in the war they are fighting. This is an example of a critique of the soliders morale and attitudes during the Vietnam War. The line scheme is abcdabed.



 

Imitation 2 (60's) Beatles, Strawberry Fields

Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields forever
Living is easy with eyes closed
Misunderstanding all you see
It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out
It doesn't matter much to me
Let me take you down, cos I'm going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung aboutStrawberry Fields forever

The Beatles are taking about all the trouble going on in the 1960's. During the 60's the Vietnam War was being fought and the American people did not support the government on the war and the citizens just wanted peace, also the civil rights movement was in effect and drug use was increasing. The Beatles are speaking to the American public in critiquing the government and society of the time. The Beatles say "let me take you down coz I'm going to strawberry fields", in what I interpret in meaning, come get high with me and we can escape all these problems, we will just close our eyes to shield us from the pain. Nothing mattes and nothing is real when you are high, there is nothing to stress over. Things will be okay. The Beatles use of language consists of rhyme, figurative meaning, and lyrical poetry. The rhyme scheme is abcdedfag. Not much of the lyrics rhyme besides lines 4 and 6. The Beatles don’t directly mention the societal problems in this mellow song but definitely address them in the lyrics.

Imitation 1 (20's):Langston Hughes, Bowery Blues

Samantha Weiss

Langston Hughes' "the Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" is about the challenges and obstacles blacks faced in 1926. You can tell how uncomfortable blacks were in just the first line, "I want to be a poet- not a Negro poet". Why can't a Negro be a poet? Because in 1926, it was only socially acceptable for whites. This Hughes piece is a confessional and a critique. Hughes tells us in detail the situation in his area at the time but also critiques society, especially other blacks, for not supporting their own art. Hughes used literary elements like literal meaning, lyrical poetry, tone and narrative poetry. This was a time before Brown vs the board of education, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil rights movement. They were surrounded by discrimination and taught to think that anything white was better. White was "beauty, mortality, and money". Black culture was one not to be embraced but Hughes discusses how the best negro artists are the ones that are not afraid to be themselves. Race is such an overwhelming part of black culture during the Harlem renaissance that they were totally taken over by white thoughts. Langston Hughes hoped for a change in the way people saw negro art, not s a sideshow attraction to laugh at, but one to embrace and share around the world. During this time period black art started to increase and they got the attention they deserved. The role of race is a constant struggle for the artist, it is their limitation. Their creation will be judged by the public on how race is portrayed in their society. The listener s affected by the race issues because they are being told what to, and what not to embrace as apart of their culture. The artist struggles because their own people don't support their culture. 

I am hurt
I am scared
I want to live
I want to die
I don't know
Where to turn
In the Void
And when

- Kerouac

This segment of Jack Kerouac's poem Bowery Blues, he is talking about how he is lost and does not know where to turn. This was written in the beat generation after world war two, popular in the fifties. The beat generation he is apart of refers to the change in culture interested in drug use, changes in expressing sexuality, moving away from materialism and embracing lively and animated lifestyles. Referring to New York City, he discusses in the poem how no church, guru, or advice helps him in figuring himself out. This poem is an example of a confessional; he makes it clear he is lost in the concrete and buildings of the city. Life is asking where he has been and what took him so long. He is going through troubled times. The rhyme scheme is A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H. There is no rhyming in this section. Jack Kerouac uses alliteration, "I..." at the beginning of his lines. He also uses end rhyme; with short blunt verbs finishing his lines. Internal rhyme is used by the format he creates for the section, direct short statements. Literal meaning, rhythm, and stanza are also used. You can feel the tone in his lack of insight and hopelessness. He is lost with no direction.