The readings I have decided to discuss was Daphne Brooks The Right to Rock and Maureen Mahon’s Rock. These two readings connected as both covered the feminist side of music, mainly focused on rock and roll. In Mahon’s Rock, it discusses the a few types of rock and roll styles that female artist used, but unfortunately those styles were taken by male artist. These male artists took those styles, made it their own, and became famous off of them. An example of this would be when, “Dorothy La Bostrie wrote the lyrics for the well-known Little Rickie Song Tuttie Fruttie” (Mahon 558). Songs were not the only thing taken as mentioned, “Tina Turner taught Mick Jagger how to dance the Pony and he incorporated this and other Turner-esque mannerisms into his show” (Mahon 558). When it comes to women and rock and roll you have to know about Ellen Willis. Brooks The Right to Rockgives us a history of legendary male artist that got their talents from a mythical and magical guitar pick. The history only consists of male artist which leads you to assume that this genre was male dominated. This is where Ellen Willis comes in as she changed everyone’s perspective of men ruling rock and roll. Brooks acknowledged, “the doors that Ellen Willis kicked open in the sixties, seventies, and eighties” (Brooks 58). Willis was able to, “open dense equations of gender, class, power, and subculture music scene…like no one before her…and find a way from the inside to record, in her own words, the sound of liberation” (Brooks 59).
The “Home Alive” movement was formed due to unfortunate events, such as the rape and murder of Mia Zapata, that occurred in a small city. A main concern was staying alive while all this violence were happening against women. After seeing a violent act being done to a women with such a high stature in her community they feared it would could happen to everyone so some of her close friends created this “Home Alive” movement to teach women self defense free of charge. When defining self-defense they made it clear that it went further than just physical defense and was a means of doing what is necessary to stay alive. Like every new idea there always comes people who disagree, internally and externally, as the women shared some of these disagreements. One externally issue they faced were the wanting of the “Home Alive” movement in different areas, but the women in lead thought it was best to keep in the city it started. An internal issue they faced was the members allowed to participate in the group. The argument of whether or not the allow transgenders to participate was an issue that made some participants uncomfortable. “Home Alive” matters because it was formed by a group of women who took the initiative to stand against something they saw was wrong and make a difference world wide. They legacy of this Movement is the empowerment of women with knowledge and the use of their voice to stand up for themselves in turn lessening the chases of what happened to Mia Zapata from happening again. If I could make a documentary film it would be about J. Cole because to this day he is using his music to educate the younger generations on what this world brings and how each and every one of us can make our own difference.
Gloria Anzaldua’s poem, “To live in the Borderlands means you” Is compelling in the way that it expresses the struggle and constant perseverance to fit in. Anzaldua even states, “In the Borderlands…you are at home; a stranger…” (Anzaldua). Anzaldua is painting this picture of s groups of mixed people, “neither hispana india negra española ni gabacha, eres mestiza, mulata, half-breed caught in the crossfire between camps while carrying all five races on your back not knowing which side to turn to, run from” (Anzaldua). These mixed people are basically having nowhere to go and not sure who to turn to base on the fact that they are not accepted by any of their ethnic backgrounds. This poem is showing the struggle that comes with the acceptability of being made up of many different cultures. In all honestly, I was ignorant to the Borderlands and the situation of the people living there and I’m sure I am not the only one who has no knowledge of what seems to be an important part of history. The lack of urgency to acknowledge this piece of history provokes the thought that it isn’t important to society.
A self-defense group called “Home Alive”, another small but important part of history that you would think would be brought up often, was mentioned in Laina Dawes Interview is an, “organization that promotes alternative methods for women to protect themselves…”(Dawes). I agree with an interviewee, Leah Michaels, when she strikes the questions, “How is this not a huge thing? How do people not know about this at all?” (Dawes). Especially in today’s society with all of the issues of abuse, I don’t understand how this movement is haven’t surfaced once more. Again showing lack of importance to a movement in history such as this provokes the thought that women safety means little to society.
Ednie Kaeh Garrisons talk on resistance was very much compelling and opened up a new perspective. The formal definition of resistance is the event to prevent something from happening by actions or argument. There is constant resistance everywhere throughout the day and many different forms of resistance. A very powerful quote was mentioned by the lead singer of Bikini Kill, Kathleen Hanna, as she said “Resistance is everywhere, it always has been and always will be. Just because someone is not resisting in the same way you are (being a vegan, an ‘out’ lesbian, a political organizer) does not mean they are not resisting” (146,147). Garrison goes and shares a great example that gave me a new perspective of resistance. Garrison stated, “being told you are a worthless piece of shit and not believing it is a form of resistance” (147). My thoughts of resistance were always physical methods such as the ones mentioned by “Rebecca Walker, a young African American woman” as she voiced out and said, “I intend to fight back, I have uncovered and unleased more repressed anger than I thought possible” (147). I’ve noticed some of these different forms of resistance in Alice Bag Violence Girl. Two perfect examples of resistance were mentioned as she shared her experiences of domestic violence from her father. Bag showed physical resistance when trying to stop her father from hitting her mother. She shared, “…I rushed over and grabbed his arm…I tried to pull him back, but he pried my finger from his arm…” (19). Bag also shows us a form of verbal resistance when her father ordered her, “You spit on her!” but Bag resisted as she replied, “NO” (20). Resistance is everywhere, from large scale resistance to small scale resistance. It is sad but true, everyone has their own way of resistance and that’s something that will never change.
Citations
Ednie Kaeh Garrison, “U.S. Feminism-Grrrl Style! Youth (Sub)Cultures and the Technologics of the Third Wave.” Feminist Studies, Vol. 26, No. 1 (PDF)
The album DAMN. by Kendrick Lamar was released on April 14, 2017 produced by Aftermath Entertainment. DAMN. is an album that consist of changes throughout rich beats, enraged rhymes, and pure storytelling of Kendrick Lamar’s future as an American. Kendrick’s ability to tell stories through the rhythms and melodies of his songs has been one of his most lethal aspects of his music career. Through that story telling method he tries to paint a picture in the audience’s head of what his upbringing was like. DAMN. is a full story that can be played backwards from bottom to top. Doing so does not change the ending of the story but more so the feel of it. through that story telling method Kendrick leaves his audience with this theme of “wicked or weakness?”. If you look back at Kendrick’s older album To Pimp a Butterfly,he speaks on changing the world, but in DAMN. he focuses on changing himself first. I claim Kendrick Lamar’s album DAMN. is a self-evaluation of himself and his fear of damnation. I will be using different songs and lyrics from this album to support the claim that DAMN. covers Kendrick’s self-reflection of an immoral sinner, (wickedness) or a weak Christian (weakness) with a fear of damnation. If you look at the album title alone, by definition, damn means, “to be condemned by God to suffer eternal punishment in hell.
The album consists of fourteen tracks and if you split those tracks in half, you’ll see that half speak of Kendrick Lamar’s weakness and the other half his wickedness. BLOOD., YAH., FEEL., PRIDE., LUST., XXX., and GOD. all address his weakness while DNA., ELEMENT., LOYALTY., HUMBLE., LOVE., FEAR., and DUCKWORTH., address his wickedness. Playing the track forward will bring you to Kendrick’s death in DUCKWORTH. at the end, but if you play it backwards it will bring you to Kendrick’s death in BLOOD. at the end. In DUCKWORTH. Kendrick raps, “Whoever thought the greatest rapper / would be from coincidence? / because if Anthony killed ducky / Top Dawg could be servin’ life / while I grew up without a father and die in a gunfight”. As a result of DUCKWORTH. Top Dawg kills Kendrick’s father causing a fatherless upbringing resulting in Kendrick’s death from gang/drug related problems ultimately representing wickedness. In the songBLOOD. Kendrick sees a woman struggling and decided to help her and ultimately pays the price. He raps, “‘Hello ma’am, can I be of assistance? / seems to me that you have lost something / I would like to help you find it’ / she replied, ‘Oh yes / you have lost something / You’ve lost, your life’”. The blind women in this is a representation of Gods consequences for disobedience. Ultimately it is on the audience to determine whether Kendrick dies from his own wickedness or weakness.
Throughout this album Kendrick walks us through his thoughts of himself as each song on the album speaks on a piece of Kendrick’s life. He touches upon his black heritage in DNA. rapping, “I got loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA”. He also acknowledges the wickedness he sees as he reflects, “I know murder, conviction, burners / Boosters, burglars, ballers, dead / redemption, scholars, fathers, dead…”. YAH. covers his weakness to resist temptations as he acknowledges it’s, “first on my list, I can’t resist”. In ELEMENT. he recognizes the root of his hostility being that of his own weakness and fear. That slowly shifts into hopelessness in the track FEEL. as he expresses a feeling of overwhelming expectations that came from the fame and fortune, he encountered. The one song that plays a big part in the album is FEAR. The song initially starts off with a voicemail from his cousin carl. In that voicemail he left a scripture from Deuteronomy that said, “The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart”. In the book of Deuteronomy, it speaks of the laws of Moses and the breaking of this curse of damnation. In this track Kendrick takes us on a journey of three different fears as he grew up. He starts the song with, “Why God why God do I gotta suffer?” which leads him right into his different stages of fear. at a young age he shows us the fear of his parents. As a teen he fears an early death due to gang related events as he raps, “I’ll probably die anonymous/ I’ll probably die with promises”. The last fear he shares is his fear as an adult with all of the fame and fortune. The track YAH. also ties into the song fear as he mentions his cousin car again. He mentions carl in YAH. when he raps, “I’m a Israelite, don’t call me black no more / That word is only a color, it ain’t facts no more / My cousin Carl, my cousin Carol Duckworth / Said know my worth / and Deuteronomy say that we all been cursed”. This ties back into the song fear using these lines to show us his knowledge of and belief in this curse of damnation. Kendrick finish FEAR. by listing many of his fears. He rapped, “I’m talkin’ fear / Fear in losin’ loyalty for pride / ‘Cause my DNA won’t let me involve in the light of God / I’m talkin’ fear / Fear that. My humblness in goin’ / I’m talkin’ fear / Fear that love ain’t livin’ here no more / I’m talkin’ fear / Fear of that is wickedness or weakness / Whatever it is, both is distinctive”.
Using the different rhythms and lyrical flows Kendrick Lamar takes us on a journey of self-reflection. Confronted by his fears and emotions, Kendrick acknowledged his biggest flaws while educating us with his knowledge of the curse of damnation, spoken about in the book of Deuteronomy. Collectively this is Kendrick Lamars way of changing himself before trying to change the world.
jay.lyons.class 