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MAKE AMERICA WOKE AGAIN


By: Emmanuel Koutsouras

Music is a powerful thing, it brings people together, makes them feel emotions, and in some cases has been used as a tool for activism. The 1967 song by Aretha Franklin “Respect” was a massive hit. All aspects of the song combined to make a powerful, universal message. Recording engineer and producer Tom Dowd said that “It could be a racial situation, it could be a political [or gendered] situation, it could be a manwoman situation. Anybody could identify with it. It cut a lot of ground.” (Muhanji, Straton, 2005). Hip-hop has been used most commonly in recent history as the primary genre for which you can find activism. Hip-hop has transformed the popular landscape of modern youth identity and created a new form of self-expression. In three decades hip-hop has expanded from a Bronx youth subculture into a global commodity, driving a multibillion-dollar industry that reaches into music, fashion, movies, and much more. That's not all. Hip-hop has also given voice to generations of rappers, who have tapped its special power to grab people's attention and convey a message through their rap. 
Image result for tupac performing

 These are the kinds of rappers that are typically referred to as "conscious rappers". Such as Kendrick Lamar, NAS, and of course 2pac. The ones to really kick off activism in hip hop was the group N.W.A. in the late 1980s. Formed of Compton, CA natives Ice Cube, Eazy-E, MC Ren, DJ Yella, and Dr. Dre. In an interview the group did, Ice Cube said “N.W.A. changed music…we made it alright for artists to be themselves” (Billboard, 2015). It was evident in their music that they were portraying themselves authentically.


A prime example is the song “Fuck tha Police”. Considering they are from “the hood” it can be deciphered from the title that this song is a vicious protest of police brutality. This paved the way for MCs to realize the power they have as a performer.  

The desire to be a leader in a movement, not just a pop star passing through, must be there, the knowledge of the situation and circumstances must be there, and the dedication to stay with a cause must be there. Rappers need to keep the fact of the immense power they have as entertainers, so they can make their voices heard. There’s an outstanding opportunity right now for people to use their microphone and make a difference, but only if they’re truly engaged. 

A perfect example is the rapper Logic, he always preaches peace, love, and positivity. There was a song he released in early 2017 called "1-800-273-8255". It is a song which touches on the issue of suicide, which is why the title of the song is the number for the suicide prevention hotline. In a video he did explaining the meaning behind the lyrics, he said that fans would come up to him and say his music has saved their life. He said he was not even trying to help anybody, but he realized the power he has and decided to see what would happen if he was actively trying to help people (Genius, 2017). 
The effect this song had on society was a greatly positive one, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline and a 100,000 increase in their monthly calls from 300,000 (Zioosk, 2017). This just further affirms that artists have a powerful platform for activism, and if they keep realizing it, some truly amazing things can happen. 

References: 
Billboard. (2015, August 13). Kendrick Lamar sits down with N.W.A (FULL EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJyss8iTWVw&t=595s 
Genius. (2017, April 27). Logic "1-800-273-8255" Official Lyrics & Meaning | Verified. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOJTg9cL5bM&t=95s 
Muhanji, Cherry & Straton, Jack C. (2005). ‘Activism through music’, Portland State Univeristy, Inventio—Creative Thinking about Learning and Teaching 7(1) 
Zioosk, B. (2017, July 13). Logic's "1-800-273-8255" Single Has Had a Profound Effect on Suicide Prevention Awareness. Retrieved from https://djbooth.net/features/2017-07-13-logic-1-800-273-8255-effect-on-suicide-prevention 
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Comments

  1. KHNovember 2, 2018 at 10:58 AM

    Emmanuel,

    Bit of mixed bag here.

    On the upside, you've taken a page from Kidd's work on the relationship between art and activism and put that to good use here. Your attention to the progressive potential of hip hop is welcome and offers several brief but revealing examples of the genre's social change orientation. All good.

    However, several glaring errors undermine your effort. First, you haven't quite mastered our house style. You should use "normal" not the "small" font. Second, the essay is littered with problems of punctuation, especially in and around quotations. Likewise, you haven't quite mastered APA reference style. Then there's your misspelling of Tupac.

    More substantively, the essay's organization and structure isn't as clear and logical as it might be. While the opening bit about "Respect" is timely, given the recent passing of the "Queen of Soul," it seems out of place in a post primarily concerned with hip hop. And even this discussion seems a bit disjointed.

    In other words, perhaps you are trying to cover too much ground in such a short piece. Rather, you (and your readers) are better off if you focus your efforts more narrowly. Seems to me, an essay that addresses art and activism could examine Logic's track in some detail, instead of folding this discussion into a broader (but far less cohesive) discussion of the likes of NWA and other seminal hip hop acts.

    Finally, I appreciate your efforts at incorporating multi-media into your posts. That's cool! But again, in such a short post you might be better off using just a single clip.

    In sum, this has the makings of a much longer essay. But for this format, it comes across as a bit scattered and incoherent. Keep these posts "lean and mean."

    25 pts.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousNovember 17, 2018 at 2:06 PM

    Emmanuel,

    I liked the topic you chose to write about and it is something we talked heavily on in class, but you added a new twist to it. We think a lot of times concerning activism in the media to be on facebook, twitter, etc. but at least I personally do not realize the impact songs have concerning activism as well. As Professor Howley said, the two videos were a bit much for this short blog post, but on the other hand, it really helped me understand what you were saying even better. You talked about how rappers have to keep up to date on what's going on so that they write about it and have a voice on it. They need to realize their power and make sure they use it correctly- which it seems as if most of them are. I also wrote a whole essay on how Logic's song "1-800-273-8255" and how it had an effect on suicide prevention and overall awareness of the hotline and suicide- which is a prevalent problem for our age group. I think you made some excellent points in your post, good job!

    ReplyDelete

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