Jay Z is well known in America as a political activist through his rapping. In his memoir Decoded and his video “Run this Town” he is planning to mimic the idea of a revolution. In his memoir he is showing the lives of the oppressed through which he has lived through and seen in the Marcy housing projects. In this country the life of someone of a minority race (such as Native American, African American, etc.) are characterized by being invisible to the greater establishment. Iris Young’s “Five Faces of Oppression,” the idea of cultural imperialism helps to explain the ways that this shapes Jay-Z’s character and the oppressed cultures by the circumstances that these individuals are going through. In both Jay-Z’s video and his book, some form …show more content…
of agitation is described as in the chapter, “The Rhetoric and Strategies of Agitation,” to bring about public awareness to the issues of invisibility and anger towards the ideas of “the establishment” which is something that is very much ignored. The feelings of anger that are expressed in the book and music video are the same thoughts and feelings that Aristotle brings up about anger. Jay-Z, grew up in Brooklyn, New York, in the Marcy Houses, which is a housing project in the area’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. He came from a place where people have a twisted relationship with the government and because of that they are aware of the government from the time they are born. Jay-Z states, “In places like Marcy there are people who know the ins and outs of government bureaucracies, police procedures, and sentencing guidelines, who spend half of their lives in dirty waiting rooms on plastic chairs waiting for someone to call their name.” In other words, Jay-Z is trying to make a larger point here about the people who come from housing projects like “Marcy”; for example explaining the struggles low-income African Americans face with the authority. People in desperate parts of America are finding themselves caught up with the law more often than they are not. This signifies a clear lack of understanding from a Government who seems content to lock criminals up for a large amount of time and then let them go, without trying to discover the real reason as to why they are offenders. Housing projects are a great metaphor to show the relationship between the government and the poor folks. The government makes the problems of those oppressed seem invisible and unimportant. Invisibility is defined by the dictionary as impossible and not visible.
Jay-Z defined invisibility as the enemy in his memoir and the fight had multiple fronts. For example, in his memoir he talks about how the establishment was not going to televise the rap awards since rap was being treated as it wasn’t fit to be sitting in the company of the rest of the music community. He stated; “The larger point was, I wasn’t going to be a partner to my own invisibility.” Basically he made of point of not going to the award show until they started showing the respect that they the rap industry …show more content…
deserved. Iris Young’s, “Five Faces of Oppression,” helps to understand the mindset of where Jay-Z comes from. Young discusses oppression coming in five different faces: exploitation, marginalization, cultural imperialism, powerlessness, and violence. In these five categories, she conveys the individual’s reactions to the social groups and hence how the social constructs affect and shape the individual. Cultural imperialism plays a big role in shaping individuals in a group. Young addresses how a dominant group has the power to completely change the perspective of the individual’s view of their group. The major group can project what their opinion of normal is and can also create negative stereotypes about the oppressed people/race. This stereotyping can cause oppression and the feeling of being invisible because they are being defined from other forces that don’t have the group or the individual’s best interests in mind. There are also forms of agitation seen in both Jay-Z’s memoir and his music video.
While many strategies to show agitation are used, the one that Jay-Z uses is solidification. In, “The Rhetoric and Strategies of Agitation,” solidification has many tactics that reinforce the unification of its members which increases the response of group values and beliefs rather than using persuasiveness. This can be seen in the use of plays, funerals, songs, art, poetry, slogans etc. Jay-Z’s music video, “Run this Town,” is a form of agitation and solidification that he uses negates what society is trying to do to the oppressed people. This song serves a powerful rhetorical function and also show the listener the message of unity and strength in numbers. When Rhianna sings the line, “Who’s gonna run this town tonight?” and Jay-Z’s replies with “We are, yeah I said it, we are,” this shows that he is willing to fight for what he believes in and is willing to deal with the consequences that come with his actions. When Aristotle says, “Let anger, then, be desire, accompanied by pain, for revenge for an obvious belittlement of one’s self…” this relates directly to the feelings that Rihanna expresses through the tone and word choices of the following lines, “Life’s a game but it’s not fair / I break the rules so I don’t care.” The anger can be seen in what she says because she is basically saying that the rules aren’t made for the oppressed so we are going to break the
rules. From the above analysis the listener and reader can understand not only what the lines are saying directly but also the spaces in between. In addition, the reader can also see how Aristotle’s philosophy on anger is still extremely relevant because his ideas can be seen in the song and Jay-Z’s memoir. Lastly, these thoughts and feelings that the song, the memoir, and Aristotle’s philosophy all convey similar ideas and feelings that are in the minds of revolutionists.
In Fires in the Mirror, people from different communities in Crown Heights are interviewed on various subjects after the riot that erupted in 1991 between Jewish and Black groups, and in these interviews it is obvious that specific communities develop unique styles of language in order to unite all the members of their particular group. In several of the interviews a poetic form of language, rap, is used between members of the African American community to express feelings and emotions. Monique Matthews (Big Mo), an African American student interviewed in Fires says that she is trying to send out positive messages to the members of her community, and comments that the people who are sending out damaging messages “don’t understand the fundamentals of rap” (Smith 38). For example, in response to a supposed rap song by Big Daddy Kane called “Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy,” Big Mo writes, “Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy, But Whorin’ Ain’t Proper. Respect and Cherish the Original Mother” (Smith 37). With her rap, Big Mo is hoping to cause the men and women in her community to respect themselves and each other. Sonny Carson, another African American interviewed in Fires says that he is able to communicate with the young people in his community because he understands their rap culture. He says, “I understand their language…I speak their language. They don’t even engage in long dialogue anymore, just short words” (Smith 104). Carson’s ability to participate with the young people through rap allows him to have a better perspective on the tensions in Crown Heights. ...
Perry, Imani. 2004. Prophets of the hood: politics and poetics in hip hop. Durham: Duke University Press.
Andrea Smith’s “Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy” introduces an alternative framework for the organization of women and people of color (Smith 67). Such framework is non-singular, contrasting the previous which have proven to be limiting to these groups (Smith 67). Through the discussion of the three pillars which are separate, but interrelated and heteropatriarchy within society Smith provides a helpful starting point for organizers to break from systems of oppression and ultimately deconstruct White supremacy (Smith 73).
Although an effort is made in connecting with the blacks, the idea behind it is not in understanding the blacks and their culture but rather is an exploitative one. It had an adverse impact on the black community by degrading their esteem and status in the community. For many years, the political process also had been influenced by the same ideas and had ignored the black population in the political process (Belk, 1990). America loves appropriating black culture — even when black people themselves, at times, don’t receive much love from America.
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...
Manheim, James M., and Carol Brennan. "Kanye West." Contemporary Black Biography. Ed. Margaret Mazurkiewicz. Vol. 93. Detroit: Gale, 2012. Biography in Context. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.
This image is the author’s perspective on the treatment of “his people” in not only his hometown of Harlem, but also in his own homeland, the country in which he lives. The author’s dream of racial equality is portrayed as a “raisin in the sun,” which “stinks like rotten meat” (Hughes 506). Because Hughes presents such a blatantly honest and dark point of view such as this, it is apparent that the author’s goal is to ensure that the reader is compelled to face the issues and tragedies that are occurring in their country, compelled enough to take action. This method may have been quite effective in exposing the plight of African-Americans to Caucasians. It can be easily seen that Hughes chooses a non-violent and, almost passive method of evoking a change. While Hughes appears to be much less than proud of his homeland, it is apparent that he hopes for a future when he may feel equal to his fellow citizens, which is the basis of the “dream” that has been
In part fictional and part autobiographical novel “A Small Place” published in 1988, Jamaica Kincaid offers a commentary on how the tenets of white superiority and ignorance seem to emerge naturally from white tourists. She establishes this by using the nameless “you” depicted in the story to elucidate the thoughts they have when visiting such formerly colonized islands. This inner mentality of the white tourists reveals how tourism is still a form of oppression for the natives of such formerly colonized tourists as it continues to exploit them. I will be focusing primarily on page 10 of the text to illustrate this.
THE WAYS OF MEETING OPPRESSION IS AN ESSAY WRITTEN BY MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., ADDRESSING SEGREGATION THAT IS SPECIFICALLY DIRECTED TOWARD THE AFRICAN AMERICAN AUDIENCE. King’s primary audience is the African Americans, but also he has secondary audiences that he addresses, which are a combination of Christians or those who know of, or believe in the Christian views, as well as people in the legal system. He gives examples through his text that will demonstrate how he addresses mostly the African Americans, but also the various other audiences he is trying to reach to through his memorable speech. In his writing, he tells of three ways that they deal with oppression, and based on these he sends out a message to all who have read or heard his words. This message states what has been done in the past, as well as what should be done based on these past experiences. King chooses to speak to certain people through certain contexts and key phrases. In choosing certain phrases and also on how he states his words, he is successful in influencing all his audiences that he intended to persuade. The words that he carefully chose will tell how and why he wanted to focus on the primary and secondary audiences of his choice.
In Total Chaos, Jeff Chang references Harry Allen, a hip hop critic and self-proclaimed hip hop activist. Harry Allen compares the hip hop movement to the Big Bang and poses this complex question: “whether hip-hop is, in fact a closed universe-bound to recollapse, ultimately, in a fireball akin to its birth-or an open one, destined to expand forever, until it is cold, dark, and dead” (9). An often heard phase, “hip hop is dead,” refers to the high occurrence of gangster rap in mainstream hip hop. Today’s hip hop regularly features black youths posturing as rich thugs and indulging in expensive merchandise. The “hip hop is dead” perspective is based on the belief that hip hop was destined to become the model of youth resistance and social change. However, its political ambitions have yet to emerge, thus giving rise to hip hops’ criticisms. This essay will examine the past and present of hip hop in o...
Kelley, Robin. “Looking to Get Paid: How Some Black Youth Put Culture to Work.” Yo’ Mama’s Disfunktional!: Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America. Boston: Beacon Press, 1998. 43-77. Print.
Forman, Murray. “Conscious Hip-Hop, Change, and the Obama Era.” American Study Journal. American Study Journal. 2010. Web. 9 Mar. 2014.
Hip hop has multiple branches of style and is a culture of these. This essay will examine Hip Hop from the point of view of the following three popular music scholars, Johnson, Jeffries and Smitherman. It will delve deeper into their understanding of what hip hop is and its relation to the different people that identify with its message and contents. It will also identify the history of Hip hop and its transition into popular music. In particular this essay will focus on what hip hop represents in the black community and how it can be used as a social movement against inequalities faced by them. This will then open up the discussion for the how this has influenced society, and the impact it has had in terms of race issues which hip hop itself often represents through music.
2) Utilizing Glasberg and Shannon, Chapter 1 Introduction, and the works of Karl Marx explain to the reader the structures of oppression, in reference to power, politics and the state? Utilize the concepts of patriarch, racism and heteronormativity.
“There is no perfect relationship. The idea that there is gets us into so much trouble.”-Maggie Reyes. Kate Chopin reacts to this certain idea that relationships in a marriage during the late 1800’s were a prison for women. Through the main protagonist of her story, Mrs. Mallard, the audience clearly exemplifies with what feelings she had during the process of her husbands assumed death. Chopin demonstrates in “The Story of an Hour” the oppression that women faced in marriage through the understandings of: forbidden joy of independence, the inherent burdens of marriage between men and women and how these two points help the audience to further understand the norms of this time.