Hand On Your Gun Analysis

A Poetry Analysis of ”Hand on Your Gun” by Lowkey
“Hand on Your Gun” is a rap song from 2011 written and performed by the English rapper Lowkey. The title does not speak for much but it does give the addressee a hint about the subject of the rap. From the title, we can assume the rap is about guns and perhaps about protecting oneself. Without further information or reading the text, it is hard to tell more than this and the speaker’s view on weapons is still unknown. Once read and analysed, the stand of the rap is distinct.
The speaker’s voice is serious and argumentative. For an instance, the argumentative voice is showcased in verse 1 line 12: “They call it warfare but your wars aren’t fair”. This line is not only a play of internal words

1/2, l. 16). There is a stronger use of metaphors in the text however, with examples like, “Power is a drug and they feed the addiction” (v. 1, l. 3) and, “Heard of many mercenaries getting’ with the clever pimp” (v. 2, l. 10). Particularly hyperboles have not been used sparingly and a great example is by the end of both verses, line 15, “If you try to speak out they will stamp on your tongue”. What the speaker means to say is that you are not allowed to speak up against the antagonists of his rap but not that they will literally stamp on your tongue. It creates a visual image and could be considered a metaphor since it compares someone making you quiet with stamping on your tongue. To be expected, there is only a single case of an understatement: “State of the art darts leave more than your face scarred”. State of the art darts are not just innovative darts but missiles, bombs etc. and they do leave more than your face scarred; they will most likely kill you.
Hence, “Hand on Your Gun” contains four of the five kinds of figurative language possible. Unsurprisingly, considering we are analysing a rap, which is known for the use of figurative language in order to create strong