This weeks reading was very interesting to me. They were about Chicano’s in a primarily white institute. Most the time these things are not talked or learned about but just ignored and forgotten. The owner is a chicano and her name is Martha Gonazalez. Her lectures and research are a main staple of the webisite. You can learn a lot from this website about Chicano music and art. She has represented Chicanos everywhere by what she has done with her life and this is what intrigues me the most. People can now look at her for motivation and inspiration. She points out on her website that Chicanos have had an influence on every single music category pretty much. These are the things that are not learned about and I think people should speak and learn about how influences impact the next version of music.
The home alive collection formed because of things that were happening in the city at the time. Things such as rape and assault on women. They were asking how they were supposed to get home alive with all these rapes and violence happening against women. They defined self defense as doing as much as they can to defend themselves. Not just physical self defense but verbal and other ways and anything that keeps them alive. One of the tensions that came from is was people who knew Mia and they felt as if Home Alive was trying to turn her into a poster child for this and they didn’t like that. They also faced tensions in the group like long discussions and arguments on topics, one topic being if they should allow men or transgender people in the self defense classes. Home alive matters because the founders were regular people and they saw an issue and decided to take action, not just stand by and watch others get murdered and raped, they wanted to do something about it. It also matters because I don’t think that women are taught enough self defense but rather told what to do and what not to do, which should not be the case. I would make a documentary on Tupac Shakur because he tried to make a bigger impact on the world and the communities than many people know, and his impact is stil alive today.
In Black Youngsta’s song titled “strength” on his album titled 223 he raps about many problems not only in his life but being black in America. The song is 2 minutes and 26 seconds and in his chorus he talks about people in his own life that have showed strength to him and he asks God to give him, his family and his friends strength to overcome things. Not only is he worried about his life but black people in America. Throughout the song, topics such as racism, Flint Michigan water, and overcoming adversity are all hit on. This song is not only for black people but people in general who need to listen to something to lift them up from a dark place and realize they have strength.
This song is important to me because it created an impact on my life at a point when I needed an uplift. When Black Youngsta starts the song by naming people in his life who have strength, he reminded me of people in my life that I have seen have strength also. My mom, sister, grandma, and brother have all showed me strength and I realized that through this song. By him stating people who he had in his life, it really allowed me to see how these people have effected my life. During my junior year of high school, I got hurt during football and was hurt that I could not finish the season with my teammates and was lost without being able to play. The first time I heard this song I only knew the artist as someone who only made music that was funny and not serious. This song reminds me of the times when I was searching for strength and needed to fight through my circumstances to overcome it. I was able to overcome it but I knew when I was having a bad day at this time in my life, I could turn on this song to create positivity and remind me just how much strength I can have.
Also, even though it was a few years ago, police brutality and racism is alive today. He touches on these social issues that are happening in America. These are also important to me and it struck me at a point when I was just starting to realize how America came to be and how police brutality effects us as black people.
When I turn on this song today, it brings back memories of strength, adversity and overcoming it. This moment in my life in junior year of high school really shaped me to who I am today and I know that I will be able to get through anything life throws at me.
There is one main connection between “Close To Home: A Conversation About Beyoncé’s ‘Lemonade’ and “How #BlackLivesMatter started a musical revolution”. This connection is that both of these reading are related to making people uncomfortable. In the piece about Beyonce, Regina Bradley says,”I think what made folks uncomfortable was the fact that she was pulling from not only a blues tradition, but a southern black woman blues tradition.” This made people uncomfortable because they are not used to seeing black women in the main stream and using older black women’s music to create it. In the black lives matter text, the author says, “That kind of musical statement, the sound of black sonic dissent, has a history to it that stretches across the centuries and could surely make a mixtape for the ages”. Protest music also makes people uncomfortable because it brings up issues in society that people try to avoid. Both of these texts have to do with making people uncomfortable. This is intriguing to me because music can have an impact on societal issues in the world.
There are a few strong connections between Kevin Youngs writing titled “Final Chorus”, and Labennet Oneka’s “Histories and “her stories” from the Bronx: excavating hidden hip hop narratives”. One of the main connections I see in the two is that they are both speaking on how people are being portrayed in hip hop. Things such as how women are portrayed and how black people are brought up are two connections I make. In “Final Chorus” the author says, “Hip Hops focus on both its poor roots and its inevitable rich future knows this: one raps of being rich in order to become rich” (315). He is stating that the things people rap about may not be true, but they are rapping about it to hopefully become true one day. Not everything a person says is going to be true in hip hop. The link to rapping about money and thinking that makes a man a man is what he is talking about. Well in the other article Oneka states, “With women’s roles erased and women’s narratives stifled, one might listen to the “official” creation story of hip hop and think that it is therefore no wonder that hip hop developed into an overtly masculine cultural form”. Both of these quotes and articles pinpoint that there is a common theme of hip hip, masculinity.
There are a few strong connections between Kevin Youngs writing titled “Final Chorus”, and Labennet Oneka’s “Histories and “her stories” from the Bronx: excavating hidden hip hop narratives”. One of the main connections I see in the two is that they are both speaking on how people are being portrayed in hip hop. Things such as how women are portrayed and how black people are brought up are two connections I make. In “Final Chorus” the author says, “Hip Hops focus on both its poor roots and its inevitable rich future knows this: one raps of being rich in order to become rich” (315). He is stating that the things people rap about may not be true, but they are rapping about it to hopefully become true one day. Not everything a person says is going to be true in hip hop. The link to rapping about money and thinking that makes a man a man is what he is talking about. Well in the other article Oneka states, “With women’s roles erased and women’s narratives stifled, one might listen to the “official” creation story of hip hop and think that it is therefore no wonder that hip hop developed into an overtly masculine cultural form”. Both of these quotes and articles pinpoint that there is a common theme of hip hip, masculinity.
The album To Pimp A Butterflyby Kendrick Lamar was released in 2015 at a time where police brutality and racism was prevalent in the United States. Kendrick Lamar created an album that touched not only police brutality and racism, but things such as self-love, depression and also inequality in the music industry. Through his lyrics, melodies and a sound that most people haven’t heard, and thought was “weird” when it came out, he created a classic album that will be listened to forever. Because he touched on all these things that matter in the united states, we can see just how far he has come in his musical career. The meaning of the title To Pimp A Butterflyis left to the listener to be interpreted. By doing this, Kendrick Lamar was able to draw in listeners and there is no wrong answer to what it means. By taking a look at the song titles and lyrics, we can create our own interpretation of the album. I make the following claim that Kendrick Lamar’s album To Pimp A Butterflyis used to address inequality, racism, police brutality and self-love in America. I will use examples of songs, lyrics and the whole album to support my argument that To Pimp A Butterflyaddresses major issues in America.
The fourth track titled “Institutionalized”, is one that struck me as a key to the album. The reason being is there is many meanings to this term. It could people being in prison while I took it as black people in the United states not having equality and even though we may not be physically in the prisons we are trapped inside our own bodies. We are looked at differently because of things that we cannot change and that is how I took this song. In this song Lamar also addresses inequality in the music business and says, “I can just, alleviate the rap industry politics”. Meaning that the industry is based on politics and if people like you in the industry then you will rise, if not then you will fall. Another track on this album titled “Alright”, explains what it is like being black in America. His quote of, when you know, we been hurt, been down before, When my pride was low, looking’ at the world like, where do we go, and we hate Popo,
want to kill us dead in the street for sure, I’m at the preacher’s door My knees getting’ weak and my gun might blow but we gon’ be alright” symbolizes more than what’s on the surface. Here he is addressing all the pain that black people have gone through in this country. Not only with police brutality at the moment, but racism too. Kendrick Lamar uses this song to let everyone know that no matter what is thrown at us, we will overcome it. Both of these songs paint the picture to what Lamar is pointing at. Through these songs, he points out that racism is alive and black people have gone through a lot and still do to this day.
Lamar points out that black people in the music industry have not gotten due credit, this is the case in many instances. In Maureen Mahons article titled, “Listening for Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton’s Voice: The Sound of Race and Gender Transgressions in Rock and Roll” She points out “Thornton’s voice, demonstrating her influence on two rock-and-roll artists and telling the story of a well-recognized but little-known figure who traversed the genres of rhythm and blues, blues and rock, having an impact on all three.” She points out here that people stole her voice and even some of her own lyrics, she never got credit for what these white male artists stole. This is exactly what Lamar means when he said, “alleviate politics”. Also, in Maureen Mahon writing titled “Rock” she says, “Rock n Roll advanced through the efforts of both black and white artist, but in the beginning, rock n rolls leading performers were African American”. Blacks were not given credit in the beginning of this genre and Kendrick Lamar wants credit because these people did not get it. In the reading, Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe Inducted in Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Class of 2018there is a quote that says Rosetta Tharpe was an “early pioneer of electric guitar, and developed a dazzling showmanship that involved intricate finger picking and teasing, daredevil sleights of hand.” She never got her credit for this and being a pioneer. Now, Kendrick Lamar wants his credit as he says throughout his album.
Before this album no artist had made an album like this. Not only did he create something original, he also touched upon things that mattered in lives today. Things such as racism, police brutality, and self-love were all touched on by the artist and that is why the album will go down in history. He revolutionized what rap music was about and what could be talked about. Every single record on To Pimp A Butterfly hits on a social issue in America. His audience of black people, police force, and racist people could all be impacted by this album.
Maureen Mahon, “Listening for Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton’s Voice: The Sound of Race and Gender Transgressions in Rock and Roll,” Women and Music, 15, 2011, 1-17. (PDF)
Maureen Mahon, “Rock,” The Music of Black Americans: An Introduction. Eds. Mellonee Burnim and Portia Maltsby. 558-584 (PDF)
There are many connections between How Rock and Roll became whiteand Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe Inducted in Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Class of 2018. One of the connections that I drew from the two is how Sister Rosetta Tharpe never got her credit that she truly deserved while in the other reading, rock and roll became white because they stole songs from black people and used and sung them as their own. These two are relatable in my eyes because it is an example of how Rosseta Tharpe never got her credit for being a pioneer of Rock and Roll, “She was an early pioneer of electric guitar, and developed a dazzling showmanship that involved intricate finger picking and teasing, daredevil sleights of hand.” She has not got her credit until 2018 and is finally being inducted into the hall of fame decades later. White artists have ripped off black music as the article How Rock and Roll became whitestates. This is striking to me because most people would never know that and it amazes me that these white artists have gotten away with it. How can people rip off certain artists and get away with it especially without any credit to those given artists. The fact that people can get away with it has to do with race in my opinion. The reason that these artist never got their credit is because they were black and the reasons the artist who did the credit were because they were white.
jay.lyons.class 