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Final Essay

1372 Words6 Pages

Music has the power to excel, the ability to heal, and it can definitely work as a creative outlet. For many years, celebrities, or just people in general, have used music to express how they feel. People have written songs about everything – heartbreak, love, hate, money, and most importantly, social movements. The songs “Give Peace a Chance”, “Get Up, Stand Up”, and “We Shall Overcome” all represent a movement of their time. We still see celebrities use their platforms to voice their opinion about social movements. When John F. Kennedy won the 1960 election against Richard Nixon, America was filled with hope. Americans were proud to have a young, handsome, and passionate man as the 35th president of the United States. Abruptly, the 1960s …show more content…

It is extremely rare when you will see an artist make a song about social injustices. However, some celebrities do use their platform to speak out about social movements such as Macklemore, 21 Savage, Dreezy, J. Cole, and Joyner Lucas. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ 2013 hit “Same Love”, can be called an LGBT movement anthem. In the song, Macklemore challenges other rappers for using gay remarks, comments on the bullying of gay adolescents, and ridicules religious people for opposing gay marriage so strongly. Macklemore also stated where he stands: “No freedom till we’re equal/ Damn right I support it.” (Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Same Love). I know several songs that can relate to the Black Lives Matter movement. 21 Savage’s 2017 single, “Nothin’ New” speaks on police brutality and the hardships of being black in America. The title reflects how events like the shooting of a black man or a drop out have become normalized and how insensitive today’s society has become. The song states “Anger in my genes, they used to hang us up with ropes/ Civil rights came so they flood the hood with coke/ Breakin' down my people, tryna kill our faith and hope/ They killed Martin Luther King and all he did was spoke” (21 Savage, Nothin’ New). Spar by Dreezy is another song that speaks on police brutality. Dreezy says, “Killers gettin' off innocent, when the clip showin' that he did the s***” (Dreezy, Spar). The hook of J. Cole’s “Be Free” says “All we wanna do is take the chains off/ All we wanna do is break the chains off/ All we wanna do is be free” (J.Cole, Be Free). Joyner Lucas’ “I’m Not Racist” is written by a white man. However, he incorporates both white and black perspectives in his song. The verse that is from a black person’s perspective says, “You don't know what it's like to be in a frying pot/ You don't know what it's like to mind your business/ And get stopped by the cops and not know if you 'bout to die or not”

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