Celebrity success is often idolized as a magic solution in which all of an individual’s problems will suddenly be erased and furthermore, the new on-brought attention will bring positive and lifting influence to the individual. Unfortunately, success is often not the solution. In To Pimp A Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar discusses his path to success, as well as the disappointment and turmoil associated with fame to demonstrate that success does not alleviate depression.
Impoverished people have long been exploited, but the ghettos of the United States have been transformed into hot spots in which people are manipulated, used, and treated for less than they are worth. Kendrick Lamar emphasizes this unfortunate truth, as well as the transitioning
…show more content…
The “cocoon” represents the transitional point between a caterpillar and its transformation into a butterfly. Therefore, “cocoon” represents the transitional point between poverty and success, and illustrates a time of reflection and soul-searching before transitioning into success. A “butterfly” is the after-product of a caterpillar that has transitioned into its cocoon. The “butterfly” is the product of a long route of transitioning and growing into success and beauty. To have “wit” is to have intelligence and wisdom. “Wit” is a crucial characteristic for any individual who has reached success, because as success arises, often comes disregard for an individual’s past and therefore, staying true to one’s self, …show more content…
Kendrick Lamar in his song, “u,” explains his personal failure to remember and support his community when he writes, “Your trials and tribulations a burden, everyone felt it/ Everyone heard it, multiple shots, corners cryin ' out/ You was deserted, where was your antennas again?/ Where was your presence, where was your support that you pretend?” (“u” 46-50). “Tribulations” refer to the difficult periods of hardship in an individual’s life where patience and commitment are continually put to test. “Tribulations” are subjective to the individual and may seem trivial compared to the “tribulations” of others, such as the immense danger and lack of security people are subject to the ghetto. “Deserted” is the abandonment of an individual or community. “Deserted” is how many people feel after a close friend or family member has reached new success and seemingly forgot about whom their original friends and supporters were. “Antennas” refer to an essential sensory component of a butterfly, but furthermore can be understood as the sense of awareness an individual has. An individual’s “antennas” often seem to be disregarded after they have reached success, and consequently, the people around them feel abandoned and unimportant. “Support” is the attention and care an individual has for others, especially in time of need. “Support” for
One of the most critical observations about the state of our sociological health is observed by MacGillis of the Atlantic’s article entitled “The Original Underclass”. That is that the social breakdown of low-income whites began to reflect trends that African American’s were primary subjects of decades ago such as unemployment, and drug addiction.
...ll. The inner city has many complications the fact that most are African American is a mere coincidence. If we as a nation are capable of fixing all institutions and structural issues we could bring the slums out of poverty. The cycle of unemployment and poverty is a terrible cycle that cannot only be judged by race and cultural values. When reading this book keep in mind the difficulties, any family or person could go through these tribulations. There are many arguments and sides to each problem; this is another one of those. The battle for inner city poverty, and the factors that go along with it, has not been finished. Wilson brings out a different aspect which could help people expand horizons and come up with better solutions.
Walls and Carter both showed resilience despite of their environment. It is a well-known fact that exposure to fame too early in someone’s life can create problems later on and Carter, becoming famous
This movie was very sad but depicted the many social problems of struggling black communities in the early 1990’s. We learned in Adler, Mueller, & Laufer how criminal behavior as a result of frustrations suffered by lower-class individuals deprived of legitimate means to reach their goals are
...up the pockets of poverty that crime will be eased. Breaking up pockets of poverty is a geographical project that is not an easy fix. In order to explore how the city ended up with these pockets of poverty, we must go back many decades and begin with racial segregation.
More often than not, the homeless are viewed as weak and helpless. They are seen in movies as street beggars, and are vehicles of pity and remorse to touch the hearts of the viewers. Moreover, the media trains its audiences to believe that homelessness comes from the fault of the person. They are “bums, alcoholics, and drug addicts, caught in a hopeless downward spiral because of their individual pathological behavior” (427). In reality, it is the perpetuating cycle of wealth that keeps them in at a standstill in their struggles. The media only condones this very same cycle because it trains the masses to believe that people are poor due to their bad decisions. This overall census that the poor are addicts and alcoholics only makes it easier to drag their image further through the mud, going as far as calling them “crazy.” This is highlighted in shows such as Cops, or Law & Order. With the idea that these people are bad news it is easy to “buy into the dominant ideology construction that views poverty as a problem of individuals” (428). Although some of the issues of the poor are highlighted through episodic framing, for the most part the lower class is a faceless group who bring no real value to the
Currently there are about 600,000 people who live in the South Bronx and about 434,000 who live in Washington Heights and Harlem. This area makes up one of the most racially segregated areas of poor people in the United States. In this book we focus on racially segregated areas of poor people in the United States. In this book we focus on Mott Haven, a place where 48,0000 of the poorest people in the South Bronx live. Two thirds of the people are Hispanic, one-third is black and thirty-five percent are children. There are nearly four thousand heroin users, and one-fourth of the women who are tested are positive for HIV. All of this, and much more in one little area of the South Bronx. In the middle of all this chaos and confusion are children. Children who have daily drills on what to do if gunshots are heard, children who know someone who has died of AIDS, children who have seen someone been shot right in front of their face wondering if its their father, children who long to be sanitation workers, and children who die everyday. The lives of these children almost seem lost with depression, drugs, and death all around them.
Around the world, America has a respectable reputation, which is providing equality and fair treatment to all of its citizens. Yet sometimes some groups of people may not always receive fair treatments especially many color communities. The communities don’t always receive the necessary funding or help from the government in order for the community to thrive in the future. Due to a lack of resources many residents are not receiving job opportunities, proper education or guidance. Many African American communities are embedded in a never ending cycle of poverty and criminal activity. Gang Starr’s “Code of the Streets” and 2Pac “Changes” exposes the experience of living in low-income communities, witnessing conflicts there and determining the
In The Working Poor: Invisible in America, David K. Shipler tells the story of a handful of people he has interviewed and followed through their struggles with poverty over the course of six years. David Shipler is an accomplished writer and consultant on social issues. His knowledge, experience, and extensive field work is authoritative and trustworthy. Shipler describes a vicious cycle of low paying jobs, health issues, abuse, addiction, and other factors that all combine to create a mountain of adversity that is virtually impossible to overcome. The American dream and promise of prosperity through hard work fails to deliver to the 35 million people in America who make up the working poor. Since there is neither one problem nor one solution to poverty, Shipler connects all of the issues together to show how they escalate each other. Poor children are abused, drugs and gangs run rampant in the poor neighborhoods, low wage dead end jobs, immigrants are exploited, high interest loans and credit cards entice people in times of crisis and unhealthy diets and lack of health care cause a multitude of problems. The only way that we can begin to see positive change is through a community approach joining the poverty stricken individuals, community, businesses, and government to band together to make a commitment to improve all areas that need help.
On April 10, I watched the TED Talk of the Christian and social justice rapper, Lecrae. He claimed that good and bad isn’t always black and white. Specifically, he claimed that heroes and villains are subjective terms. As he said, “heroes are sometimes more villainous than we think and sometimes our villains are more heroic than we give them credit for.” Lecrae relates this to hip-hop music when he introduces its timeline. He stated that beginning in the ‘70s and ‘80s, hip-hop was a narration of a struggle, but the ‘90s began a new type of story within the music that seemed to glorify the stigmas created by the media. He elaborates on his theory using the timeline that shows drug trafficking into American neighborhoods increasing as unemployment
The movie City of God, showed the incredible world of gang youth in the undeveloped area of Rio de Janeiro, where gangs ruled the streets and young children were initiated into murder before they were teenagers. The urbanization of the third world is creating sub-cultures that are filed with chaos and run by crime, most of which is the result of drugs and other illegal activities. In his article Race the Power of an Illusion, Dalton Conley says, “the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s really marks both an opportunity and a new danger in terms of racial relations in America. On the one hand, the Civil Rights era officially ended inequality of opportunity. It officially ended de jure legal inequality, so it was no longer legal for employers, for landlords, or for any public institution or accommodations to discriminate based on race. At the same time, those civil rights triumphs did nothing to address the underlying economic and social inequalities that had already been in place because of hundreds of years of inequality.” (Conley, 1). Though the Civil Rights movement was able to get equal rights for blacks, it could not stop the brutality that still plagued them. The urban setting is so overcrowded that the people are living on top of each other.
Throughout, the documentary one can come to the conclusion that most of these African- Americans who live in this area are being judged as violent and bad people. However this is not the case, many of them are just normal people who are try...
The torn down neighborhood, graffiti on the walls, gun shops and abandoned houses are what people living on the wrong side of 8 miles in Detroit saw in their everyday lives. Social disorganization theory according to Freda, Mueller, and Laufer (2013) is “A theory of criminality in which the breakdown of effective social bonds, primary associations, and social controls in neighborhoods and communities is held to result in the development of high crime areas” (p. 124). In the movie 8 Mile (Curtis Hanson, 2002) B-Rabbit lives in 8 mile where he is surrounded by delinquents that commit crimes, bums around the neighborhood and the alcoholic drunk of a mother he lives within a trailer park in the duration of the movie. He is a blue collar worker who does a lot of physical labor in a steel cutting factory where he tries to make a means to help support his mom and sister. But what he really hopes is to be a rapper, make a demo and sign to a label. So he goes where all other rappers go to get noticed, the “Shelter.” Rappers go and have battled to become a highly valued individual in the residential district. With such a large population that attend and participate in those battles there are less chances of any of them being sought out for a record deal. Others that lived outside of the 8 mile district thought less of the people that did live in that location. Even though they stayed together as people from the 313 there was always a better neighborhood or somebody who had it better. So who better to pick on than the white boy who survives with his alcoholic mother in a trailer, taking care of his sister, playing in a distasteful factory, and failing against the “Leaders of the Free World?” He was the perfect target just like many others th...
Did you know Robin Williams committed suicide from depression? Despite their fame and fortune many celebrities may not be as happy as they seem. According to a recent study, true happiness comes from having close relationships and connection s to the community which most celebrities can't have. Fame is not great because it causes stress/anxiety, causes drama/ no trust, and also can make them go crazy and make dumb decisions.
When Brittany Murphy died, when Lindsay Lohan was jailed, when Britney Spears shaved off her hair, the question was asked – what have we done to these kids? We all love rags to riches stories, but it seems that the people are almost as fond of riches to rags – or let’s say, stardom to failure. What happens when a successful young performer becomes a has-been star? The high-profile troubles of celebs like Michael Jackson and Gary Coleman reinforces the truth that nearly every kid who has worked in the entertainment industry has struggled as an adult. Although some may argue that several child stars have gone on to have stable and successful careers as adults, our contention here is that a lot of celebrities who were exposed to the limelight at a young age become scarred for life by their early success and fame and tend to compensate for the childhood they were deprived of during their later years in life.