Steve Gadet: Song Analysis

It is easy to argue that "music does bring people together. It allows us to experience the same emotions. People everywhere are the same in heart and spirit. No matter what language we speak, what color we are, the form of our politics or the expression of our love and our faith, music proves: We are the same" (Denver). However, not only does music bring us together as humans but also delivers an accurate depiction of society and it helps spread relevant ideas/. Additionally the ideas spread through music can help the audience construct upon their own personal experiences and learn from the experiences of others. According to Steve Gadet, "even if the process might be questionable, hip-hop is a cultural unifier. However, it does not erase

From the beginning, the song contains a powerful message that reads as it follows, "Light as a feather when I 'm floating through/ Reading through the daily news/ Measuring the hurt within the golden rule." Nujabes starts by depicting his stress free way of life. He states that he floats through life like a feather perhaps being dragged by the wind. He states that he reads the news measuring the hurt within the golden rule. The golden rule or ethic of reciprocity is part of many cultures. It suggests that one should not treat others in a manner that one would not like to be treated. In these lines Nujabes urges his audience to treat others the way they would like to be treated, or at least he states that this is a core of his moral principles. The preceding two lines "Centimeters of ether, I 'm heating the speaker/ Motivational teacher with words that burn people" are his way of saying that he is just warming up. Furthermore, he relates his vocabulary to "ether," a volatile flammable substance, in order to refer to it as a fire that burns people. The song continues with a subtle comment on the negative world events, "seeing the headlines lined with discord/ It 's either genocide or the planet in uproar/ Never good." Taking into account, the song was recorded in 2005 when tensions and violence in Iraq were at its peak and natural disasters, such as Katrina and the 2004 Tsunami in Thailand devastated the world. Perhaps he felt the need to state to his audience how news headlines are never good. Instead, they are always negative. The song then moves ahead to state that, "The rules of paradise are never nice/ The best laid plans of Mice and Men are never right" This brilliant play on words is utilized to make the point that things do not always go as planed. It is noteworthy to notice the mentioning of D. Nurkse 's collection of poems "The Rules of Paradise" about a man and his struggle to identify himself.