Made In America Analysis

This song is written by both Kanye West and Jay-Z, who are both African American rap artists. The purpose of Made in America is to highlight the gruelling past of African-Americans, such as the limited number of rights afforded to them as well as slavery. Moreover, the song also aims at informing the listener of the bright present and future for African Americans to look forward to. In the immediate beginning of the song, the listener notices a hook that sums up the understandings of the whole song. Kanye and Jay both make references to Martin Luther King Jr and his wife Coretta, as well as Malcolm X and his wife Betty Shabbaz, together they started the civil rights movement and ensured a prosperous lifestyle for black America as a whole.

Furthermore, the text is aimed at informing the listener of the lengths Mike would go to just to achieve his “American Dream”. The prelude of this song suggests to the listener a very patriotic theme, the listener is introduced to the song via the words “The American dream had a price tag to pay”, this statement highlights the struggles undergone by Killer Mike in order of achieving his “American Dream”. Furthermore, this text also pays reference to Martin Luther King, as Mike states “we all love Martin Luther King” due to the fact that he had immense power to turn the lives of African Americans around. These few lines right here have significance in terms of how African Americans considered the Bill of independence, it was critiqued as being contradictory due to the lives African Americans were forced to live, Mike feels strongly about this. However, even with their past lives and Mike living to ponder upon it, the lyrics in his song has a very patriotic theme. This is exemplified as Killer Mike utilises words such as “My American dream”, he associates America with being his, somewhat similar to it belonging to him. Mike’s American dream is based on individuals working to gain rank and not gaining rank due to the colour of their skin. “It 's American me, it 's American me, the alliteration utilised here is an indication of Mike telling the listener, he is indeed American regardless of his skin colour. Once more Mike quotes Malcolm X whereby he states “by any means necessary”, this implies to the listener that he is willing to go to any lengths to be considered American and further will go through all measures to live “his American dream”. Furthermore, in this instance Mike implies the theory of certain African American intellects, who stated that there was a stark contradiction in the ideals portrayed by the American