ipl-logo

'By Nas Uplifting Song One Mic'

1263 Words6 Pages

Have you ever heard someone speak about how it felt to grow up in the ghetto? What it was like to be in the streets of your neighborhood just trying to have the world understand you? One Mic by Nas is an uplifting song about how it’s like to grow up in the ghetto in his neighborhood. He shows how white cops follow him and try to arrest him. Nas shows the situation in his country, Africa which is his background the part of Africa he is speaking about is Northern Africa. In the video he tries to portray how it would be to make changes in both America and Africa to overlook situations. In my personal opinion I feel as if Nas is trying to express his feelings and opinion upon the situations going on in his life and around the world for other black people. For example racism by police officers, white people towards black, drug use and violence. He grew up in NYC, which is where his song reflects on. Nas shows the horrible violence due to racism and also uses derogatory words such as “bitch” and “nigga” to show how it really is in reality and it’s not just …show more content…

Nas uses both words to empower people to show them men and women aren’t always the people they say they are. He is degrading those words because he using them to describe people who are fake and not true/loyal. “Bitches left me cause they thought I was finished, Should of knew she wasn't true she came to me when her man caught a sentence, Diamonds are blinding, I never make the same mistakes.” This piece of his song reminds me of a quote Andi Zeisler uses in her story The B Word, “Bitch is a word we use to describe any woman who is strong, angry, uncompromising, and often uninterested in pleasing men. We use the term for a woman on the street who doesn’t respond to men’s catcalls.” (Andi Zeisler). This quote refers back to what Nas is saying, because we use the word to describe the female in her many ways based on her personality which gives her the title

Show More
Related
1375 Words | 6 Pages

Intersectionalities in Straight Outta Compton Straight Outta Compton is the critically acclaimed and financially successful biopic following the pioneering rap group N.W.A. (Metacritic.com, 2015). Rising in the late 1980s and somewhat quickly disbanding in the early 1990s, N.W.A. has had a profound effect on the subgenre gangsta rap, and well as causing much controversy at a time during which drugs and gang violence heavily affected communities around the United States, including the city of Compton (Jennings & Esquivel, 2015). During N.W.A.’s career, the group prompted conversations on censorship, the First Amendment, and police brutality. N.W.A. would also prompt conversations on the use of derogatory terms like “fag” and “bitch,” violence in music, and overall misogyny and homophobia within the realm of hip hop. The movie itself only reflects the

Read More
996 Words | 4 Pages

The article Full Circle, by James McBride, is about his detailed observations of key areas in Dakar, Senegal. He uses his own experience from America to form a dominant view to reinforce his validity in his statements. This leads to his main point to fully take root that hardships have always inspired music and that rap/hip-hop, “It all comes home to Africa”. Rap has always been a genre used to show self-expression and “Rap doesn’t belong to the American culture, it belongs here. It has always existed here, because of our pain and the hardships and our suffering.”

Read More
188 Words | 1 Pages

Yes, I agree with your analysis of Mos Def's focus on black culture and its connection to hip hop culture in the song. Mos Def is emphasizing that his blackness is central to his identity and that hip hop culture is a way to express that identity. He notes that hip hop culture, like black culture, has roots in struggle and oppression, but has also become a means for empowerment and expression. Regarding the final lines of the song, I also agree that Mos Def is highlighting the victimization that black communities face. The line "hip hop will do whatever you say do, but Black, it can't save you" emphasizes that even though hip hop culture provides a means for expression and empowerment, it cannot erase the systemic inequalities and injustices

Read More
1330 Words | 6 Pages

The song outlines the struggles of being a lower- class African- American in  citizen today’s society. It is pointed out in one line that society has certain, needless expectations for its people. A line written by Dr. Dre (Andre Romelle Young) is, “It's crazy to see people be/ What society wants them to be, but not me/ Ruthless is the way to go, they know/ Others say rhymes that fail to be original…” (Dr. Dre.

Read More
1104 Words | 5 Pages

In saying this, he shows that he knows how emotional this situation is and that it's tempting to get bitter about it, he makes sure to remind African Amercans they need to be ethical about this. By being ethical he gets through to not only African American, but whites as

Read More
683 Words | 3 Pages

Some people make their song or any writing effective by using dictation or foul language. In the song “Hold up”, Beyoncé uses foul language to appeal to pathos/anger by saying, "I'm gonna f*** me up a b****", while holding a bat. In the song “Don’t hurt yourself” ft. Jack White, Beyoncé uses foul language to appeal to pathos/anger by saying, “Who the f*** do you think I am? You ain’t married to no average b****, boy, You can watch my fat a** twist, boy, as I bounce to the next d*** boy”. This appeal to pathos because she’s telling her man that if he keeps messing up, he can easily be replaced and this is similar to the message in her single

Read More
769 Words | 4 Pages

Although the movie does seem to want to get a point across about racism being relevant even in mainly black neighborhoods, it mostly furthers society’s institutionalized racist thoughts towards the black

Read More
392 Words | 2 Pages

“Beyond Beats and Rhymes” Summary This movie was a broad discussion about hip-hop music (or more specifically gangster rap) and what kind of social issues the music not only showcases but seems to promote. The producer of this film, Byron Hunt, interviewed people involved in all aspects of the hip-hop industry, including famous rappers, to try to get to the bottom of this. Some of the most prominent issues discussed in the film were the over-sexualization of women, gun violence, and anti- homophobic attitudes. Hunt would ask those involved in the industry about why they think these themes are so prevalent.

Read More
1882 Words | 8 Pages

Some of the main cores of Beat Street are the music, dancing, and graffiti art works – all of which are part of hip-hop culture. Scholars note that hip-hop as a movement originated in roots from African American traditions and are mainly used to express their culture as well as identity (Blanchard 24). Rap music, for example, comes from West Africa’s “nommo.” This idea refers to the power to deliver words to act upon objects and to bring it to life. The historical and traditional underpinning of rap, therefore, becomes representative of the rich and distinctive culture of African Americans.

Read More
946 Words | 4 Pages

Nowadays, everyone wears the identity with pride. The genre was a testament to triumphing over hardships, to having enough confidence in oneself not to let the world drag you down, and to rising above the struggle, even when things seem hopeless. Violence in rap did not begin as an affective agent that threatened to harm America 's youth; rather, it was the outcry of an already-existing problem from youth whose world views have been shaped by the inequalities and prejudice they have experienced. The relentless wave of heroic new rappers arriving on the scene formed the golden age of hip hop in the 1980s, a newfound voice which rose from the impoverished ghettos during the 1980s and inspiring a generation of black youth to fight the police brutality they faced on a daily basis.

Read More
1006 Words | 5 Pages

Williams argues that hip hop is “detrimental” to the black culture. He believes kids growing up in the hood assume that they have to meet the stereo type mentioned in hip hop. This is the music they listen to when growing up leading them to believe that should be their way of life. Anybody who acts different is “acting white” because they are not following the typical black culture stereotype. (Williams)

Read More
759 Words | 4 Pages

It 's being portrayed that being a man equals violence, poorness, being from the hood, can not be a sucker or you 're going to be tested, have your game face all the time, showing no emotion, and when they pick up a microphone they are a totally different person than who they really are. It was once said, ¨We teach boys to be afraid of fear, of weakness, of vulnerability. We teach them to mask their true selves, because they have to be a hard man. ¨Men want to have so much power, but they don 't have any power at all. The hip hop artist just has physical power over their body and how they display themselves, so they dress certain ways to get respect to feel powerful which also is hypermasculinity.

Read More
941 Words | 4 Pages

In the song, Tupac details his childhood poverty and his mother's addiction to crack cocaine but argues that his love and deep respect for his mother supersede bad memories. Tupac saw the urban decay all around him, not only in the buildings but also in the social norms and values he saw his people trending towards. Tupac wanted to change the world but died to do so. This song gives me the chills because it reminds me how I take things for granted. We should always thank and appreciate the ones who take care of us before it is too

Read More
731 Words | 3 Pages

And while that is true, the artist’s intent was not to glorify drugs, sex, and violence, but to just write songs about those topics to express what they see and give insight into what a day to day life is like growing up in their communities ("Hip-Hop and Rap Music" para 10). And although many songs were filled with negative sayings, there are many songs that contradict that statement. As previously stated, many rap artists that have written songs with positive messages. For example artists such as Public Enemy seen that they could use their platform to uplift the black community and talk about other important topics. In Public Enemy’s song “Give It Up,” the group stated “I never did represent doing dumb shit, some gangsta lying - I’d rather diss Presidents” (Public Enemy).

Read More
416 Words | 2 Pages

Another factor that contributed to the spatial pattern of Hip-hop around the world is protesting through hip-hop music. Rapper Artist, Tupac Shakur, rapped about gun violence in America. In his song “Trapped” he described how police cause violence as they use guns as their weapons to harass and arrest black people. He says in the lyrics, that they can’t put the black man down and he’d rather die than to be trapped in a living hell. Kanye West also protested about the conflict “blood” diamonds in his song “Diamonds” (featuring Jay-Z) which is against violence.

Read More

More about 'By Nas Uplifting Song One Mic'

Related Topics

Open Document