In J. Coles album “4 Your Eyez Only” Cole discusses matters such as violence, his and his friends dreams, and drugs, but the main focus of the album is racial inequality. Throughout the ten songs on his album, Cole is able to express events in his life that helped sway his mind on controversial topics. In “4 Your Eyez Only” the main theme is racial inequality. One song that best portrays this theme is “Neighbors.” In one line of the song, Cole raps “ Black in a white man territory, Cops bust in with the army guns, No evidence of the harm we done, Just a couple neighbors that assume we slang, Only time they see us we be on the news, In chains, damn.” In these lines, he is recalling an event; his white neighbors assumed that Cole and his friends were selling drugs in order to get where they were. Eventually Cole’s neighbors reported him and the Swat team came and raided his house. They found no drugs. “Neighbors” is not the only song on the album that highlights racial inequality, but it is a commendable example. …show more content…
The album is mainly written in the perspective of one of Cole’s friends, so we are able to see how his friends problems have affected Cole. In the song “4 Your Eyez Only” Cole raps “My pops was killed too, So I know how you feels, Maybe you hate me, Maybe you miss me, Maybe you spite me." In these lines, Cole is addressing his dead friend's, daughter. His friend's name was James McMillan. McMillan died at age 22, but asked Cole to tell his
Kim Addonizio’s “First Poem for You” portrays a speaker who contemplates the state of their romantic relationship though reflections of their partner’s tattoos. Addressing their partner, the speaker ambivalence towards the merits of the relationship, the speaker unhappily remains with their partner. Through the usage of contrasting visual and kinesthetic imagery, the speaker revels the reasons of their inability to embrace the relationship and showcases the extent of their paralysis. Exploring this theme, the poem discusses how inner conflicts can be powerful paralyzers.
It seems like everything he does in the story he is also thinking about his parents. This story is very realistic because everyday lots of children are being mistreated by their parents and are ending up to be the same way as Cole. I think the author of this book wants us to think about that and realise that the situation Cole is in is an actual thing, and not just some made up idea. This is one of the reasons why I am enjoying this book so much. This book makes you think about the actions Cole is making and is sometimes unpredictable what Cole is about to do.I think later on in the book Cole will realize the mistake he made by burning all of his materials they supplied for him and now he will have to try to make a new shelter and put a lot more work into trying to survive then he would if he would have just kept the supplies he received. In conclusion so far I would recommend this book to almost anyone. I think almost anyone would have a good time reading this book this book is realistic, it is action packed, makes you think all the time about what is going to take place next and most importantly it is an interesting book that makes you actually want to read it and not make you so bored that you space off, so I
The systematic oppression of the underprivileged is an unescapable loop that keeps people chained. J Cole’s album, 4 Your Eyez Only, shows the difficulties of escaping a difficult lifestyle. J Cole, a young North Carolina based rapper, focuses on the consequences that come with choosing to live a life of crime. Although living this lifestyle is wrong, many are forced into this life and tend to glorify it because it is all they know. J. Cole challenges this notion while also realizing the oppression he is facing while trying to escape the life. He chooses to tell the album from the perspective of his dead friend, who chose this lifestyle. Although this album is dark, it has an underlying tone of hope.
The tone of the lyrics perfectly exemplifies Louis’ contemplation or his inner dilemma as a black man. In his lyrics, Louis examines his identity as a black man and declares that his only sin was his skin. The strong statement behind Louis’ lyrics served to
In conclusion Boyz N the Hood is a solid example of the everyday struggle and the lack of urban planning. The lack of planning leads to poverty and low income families flooding these areas and ghettos. The low income and poverty is the direct cause to crime and gang violence, which affects the families and the generations to come. The lack of father figures and horrible youth environment is no place for kids to grow up in. This whole cycle leads to bad behavior and a continual problem that will take generations easy to fix.
At the beginning of the song J Cole calls himself "Hollywood Cole" which to him translates to House Negro, because in the video J Cole plays the role of the house slave. The first scene shows J Cole going into the kitchen and shaking hands with one of the male slaves and looking over the shoulders of the women cooking a full course lunch for their master and his guest. In this scene the typical women stereotype
The underlying message was shown using these methods as well as by expressing it through the language in the lyrics. Examples include Doug E. Fresh saying, “This is all about, no doubt, to stop violence.” (Self Destruction) which very clearly states the important message that was being portrayed. Another example is when Ms. Melodie says, “The violence in rap must cease and seckle.” (Self Destruction) This lyric points out the violent culture that exists in the rap community and how it can be detrimental to society. Many modern hip-hop and rap songs with messages get dismissed either due to the harsh language or because many people do not want to hear the harsh realities of the African American struggle. Another unique aspect of this song that appeals to the audience is the point of focus. “Self Destruction” focuses on an internal view of the issues and relies on self-examination in order to solve these issues. This aspect makes the song unique because it does not lay blame on others. Instead of pleading for help from others, the songwriters decide to take the approach of rebuilding their own communities from the inside. This aspect really makes the song stand out amongst many other similar songs. This song truly is able to appeal to the reader in a fresh and interesting way by using logical, ethical, and emotional
. These words were spoken by one of music’s most memorable icons. The majority of Tupac’s raps and poem were about the social injustices in the ghettos of America. Many of his songs are actually about Tupac’s own experiences growing up in the slums from the east coast to the west (McQuillar). For instance in the heart breaking song “Dear Mama” Tupac brings to light the struggle for single mothers trying to raise a family. Although he calls his mother a “crack fiend” in the song he acknowledges how tough it was trying to raise a hot-headed son. Tupac’s lyrics where largely subjected towards many social subjects including violence, which initiated the number one hit, “Changes”. The purpose of “Changes” was to show how Tupac realizes that some things in our society will never change. It also shows that people have to accept the fact that there will always be violence, police brutality, and poverty in society (2pac Bio). As repeated multiple times by the unforgettable line “Some things will never change”. The song instantly went to the top charts in the US and throughout Europe (2pac Bio...
Cole’s musical idols, which greatly influenced his musical style. His style captures the attention from younger generations and the adolescent population, whom also came from an uneasy childhood and along the way lost motivation. “I 'm here to spread a message of hope. Follow your heart. Don 't follow what you 've been told you 're supposed to do.” (Music times, 2014) Through this message, J. Cole constantly portrays to be an ambition seeking activist. He hopes to project hope in those who are struggling by sharing his life challenges and voicing how he overcame
One way in which Hip-Hop addresses these social issues is through lyrics of Hip-Hop songs. There are many artists who have songs that contain lyrics that both outwardly and subliminally state the issues that minority communities face. One such artist is J.Cole. In many of Cole’s songs, you can...
There’s multiple emotions that shine through the lyrics of Kestner’s song, but the most prominent emotions are sadness, love, and pleading out/asking for help. In the lyrics of the song it states, “And tried to act strong; Oh, broken hearts and scars in only places she could see.” Kestner is speaking about the girl in the song puts on a masquerade of happiness to others when she really alone inside. Also, it says how she fell into depression and self-harm because of all of the people who hurt her. Next, she loved her son greatly
...;. To all my brothers in the streets / I know u feel you have to hustle cause your peeps gotta eat / Makin moves right and exact; don't wanna see you layin' flat / Don't wanna see ya catch a bullet black / If we don't build we'll be destroyed / Thats a challenge we face in the race of poor and unemployed (Gangstarr "In Memory Of")This song by Gangstarr is about life on the streets and what one must do to survive on the streets.
J. Cole has always written songs with powerful messages. From the “Lost Ones” to “Crooked Smile”, for the younger audience and grown audience to examine their own lives. There has not been an artist to write like Cole since Tupac. To understand J. Cole you would have to know his background. Born in Frankfurt, Germany and relocated to Fayetteville, North Carolina. His father served in the army and his mother German. At the age of twelve Cole started rapping and at fifteen he took more seriously till he was later signed to Jay Z’s label Roc-Nation. Since being signed to Roc-Nation Cole has dropped two Mixtapes and released three successful albums that have gone platinum. The song “Be free” was released in Mid-August of 2014. “Be free” was
The film stars Tom Hanks, who plays a dying AIDS victim who is wrongly fired from his job at a prestigious law firm. Springsteen’s song, “The Streets of Phila- delphia,” is a haunting, powerful tune that captures the pain and tragedy of AIDS The film, and the “Streets of Philadelphia,” helped to provide a much-needed and more sympathetic understanding of the AIDS epidemic. Demme also used other music throughout the movie to enhance and imprint its message.The movie Philadelphia was the first mainstream film to deal with the issue of AIDS. Although the filmmakers had to water it down a lot to get the film made. If they showed the true horror of AIDS, nobody would pay to see it. But this song captures the pain, the loss, and the loneliness that was AIDS for those of us who lived through it.Demme wanted people not familiar with AIDS issues to see his film. He felt Springsteen and Young would bring an audience that would not ordinarily see a movie about a gay man dying of AIDS. The movie and the song did a great deal to increase AIDS awareness and take some of the stigma off the disease. It showed the true horror of AIDS, nobody would paid to see it. But this song captured the pain, the lost, and the loneliness that AIDS causes for those who had lived through it. However, the song is very straight forward, You don't have to do a lot of deep thinking to understand the meaning. The lyrics are literal for
In this album is like an emotional roller-coaster. In No Hard Feelings, Dreezy makes you feel hurt, angry, and “chill”. Throughout the album, she puts how she is feeling about her love life. She is angry with her boyfriend because she is cheating on her. “B**ch wake the f**k up. Why the f**k just see this b**ch Kas at ya n**ga crib?” (Dreezy. No Hard Feelings. 2016. CD). In this lyric, you can tell that she is about to blow up on her boyfriend. Putting her emotions in the album, makes it feel more connected and the person listening to it and connect with her too.