“Man is not truly one, but truly two,” A split personality, completely distinctive from one another, coexisting in one individual. The song “Stan” by the American rapper Eminem creates a fictionalized dialogue between himself and a crazed fan named Stan. The song is an allegory expressing Eminem’s fear of losing himself to his alter ego ‘Slim Shady’ Which will eventually lead to his demise. The song is a series of messages in the form of letters between the fan and the artist. In the first verse, rain pouring heavily is heard while the song “thank you” by the British pop-star Dido, slowly crescendos. The rain signifies the emotional state of the fan, recognized as depression or agony. The sound effect of frantic writing gives off the impression of desperate need of help. Stan begins his letter expressing his admiration and commitment to Eminem “I got a room full of your posters and your …show more content…
Six-months without a response, Stans anger and misery grew making him believe the only solution is to kill not only himself but his pregnant girlfriend. His death symbolizes the final days of Eminem, his true-self becomes consumed by his alternate persona. In the final verse, Eminem attempts to give stan advice, without realizing stan has already committed suicide along with his pregnant girlfriend. He shows discomfort with stan’s behavior “You got some issues, Stan, I think you need some counseling/to help your ass from bouncing off the walls when you get down some.” hoping he is able to get to him before he does something crazy. As he continues to write the letter realization hits, “Come to think about it, his name was... it was you/Damn!” shocking him by this discovery. The realization signifies Eminem's mental fear of his inner self-overcoming him and not being able to do anything about it until it is too
Terrance Hayes’ poem, Mr. T is about a 1980’s pop icon and it describes his place in African American history. The poem starts out describing Mr. T but it soon becomes stern when it asks serious questions and then answers mockingly about this pop icons absurdity.
“A poem is true if it hangs together. Information points to something else. A poem points to nothing but itself” this quote by E.M. Forster alludes to the concept of metafiction in poetry as a whole. According to the Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms, “Metafiction is a kind of fiction that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction…[M]etafiction does not let the readers forget they are reading a work of fiction.” Some common metafictive strategies include a story about someone writing a story, a piece of fiction that references specific conventions of a story, or characters that are aware they are in a story or work of fiction. The poems, “Functional Poem by Mark Halliday and “The Poem You Asked For” by Larry Levis, embody various conceptions metafiction.
The theme of lines 1-5 in, ¨Untitled 1¨ by Tupac Shakur is that African Americans have been oppressed, over many generations. He describes the world, ¨as a ghetto, that they cannot leave,¨ referring to ghettos such as
Since the decade of 1920, America has been the setting for a progressive "Black Arts Movement." This African-American cultural movement has taken shape in various genres, gaining mass appeal, through multiple capitalistic markets. Even with the use of capitalism this cultural arts movement has stayed set upon its original purpose and direction, by aiding in cultural identity awareness. The knowledge of the duel-self through community awareness as it pertains to economic perceptions and other social boundaries or the metaphysical-self; what W.E.B. Du Bois coined as "twoness," or a division of one’s own identity as a African-American. (Reuben 2) A realization of the existence of two beings within one’s mental identity, where time alters attitude and identity through environmental influence of passing events. The discovery of the "New Negro" in the Harlem Renaissance marks the beginning of this essential philosophy contributing to the 1960’s Black Arts Movement and the Civil Rights Movement; continuing to be evident in current forms of black art, such as within the lyrics of hip-hop music. These revolutionary Ideals of reform have been voiced in the lyrics of many rappers of urban realism, like the New York M.C.’s Rakim, Run-D.M.C. and west coast rapper Tupac Shakur. Though this form of expression is opposed by most academic elitists and fundamental conservatives due to their vulgar expressions of sex and violence depicted within the genre of Hip-Hop; it in opposition actually presents an internal cultural conflict revealed through the redefinition of one’s own identity with poetic lyrical expressions of realism.
It begins with anaphora by repeating the phrase “I aint”. By doing this, he emphasizing all the ideas associated with him that he never did and directly points out the stigmatism he had to overcome, while also bragging about who he became. It is important for him to emphasize these points because these are activities that he could have easily gotten into and people would expect him to do. But yet he made it out of the struggle without stooping down to that level which is a major accomplishment. He then goes on to name some of the greats he grew up on and some of the greats of today. His audience will automatically know who these people are and they will know the level of respect they have as rappers. But, the last few lines of the song end with “but check your birth date nigga, you aint the God/ …nigga Cole the God” (lns. 64, 66). This epigram makes this line the pentacle of the song. Even after naming all these important people, he’s saying that they might be great but they’re not him. He has something that sets him apart from anyone before or after
heard this song he thought it would be a good idea to write a response to the song.
This song lacks logos but considering the context of the song, it would be unnecessary and inappropriate to add in any facts or resources. For the pathos aspect of the song, the artist uses the talk of drugs and the comparison to Peter Pan to affect the emotions of the audience. Both of these allow the audience to make possible connections as well as help them understand the emotions behind the story deeper. Along with these uses of rhetorical appeals, the acoustic sound of the song adds to the emotion of the song because it allows the listener to focus on the words and story with a slow tempo. The ethos for this song is the fact that the singer, Chance, is the one who personally experienced these emotions and this relationship. He is also the producer of this song. Overall this song is not only enjoyable to listen to but once you analyze the meaning it becomes a song you can relate to and enjoy on a more complex level. (Word count:
He discusses how his mom got him christmas presents and how he was shocked due to being from a very poor family due to not having the advantage of being white. He continues to say how his emotions are pouring out of him as in he is letting all of the stuff that he has gone through that was hard out and he is ready to let it all out for the best of his health. He mainly discusses the pain he has gone through and how it is hard growing up as a young black male. After this main song, he continues to open up on how he coped with this heartache that he has gone through.
The credibility given to Eminem for “keeping it real” lies in the lyrical contents of interest. The extensive use of imagery, relatable events, and feelings of empathy fuels an understanding emitted from his depiction of societal issues that teenagers closely relate to, which gives him credit for “keeping it real.” The importance of reality-based lyrics lies in the audience’s reception and relatability of the content. As Lynette Holloway notes, Eminem’s lyrics focuses on life calamities that attract a massive audience. With existential topics that challenge societal norms, and even bring up self-reflective questions in Eminem’s lyrics, it is undoubtable why his songs are so popular. This teenage-determined interpretation of “keeping it real”
It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others… One ever feels his two-ness, --an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body… this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self… In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. (The Blacker the Berry, pp. 8-9)
Many white rappers have had a difficult time making it in the black industry of rap. Eminem, the most recent white rapper to hit the mainstream has had his own share of difficulties in this industry and in his life as well. The poem written my Marshall Mathers, now known as Eminem, entitled "Life," displays Eminem's views on his life, and just life in general. Eminem has continued on the legacy of the contact zone between the white men in the black man's industry, this being rap.
The song I decided to do was Mockingbird by Marshall Mathers, more commonly known as Eminem. Eminem grew up in the ghettos of East Detroit. His father left him when he was as young as 18 months. His mother had to raise two children, him and his half brother, all by her self. Marshall had a tough life growing up. On average, he would switch schools every 2-3 months. This made it difficult to make many friends, and do well in school. He repeated the 9th grade three times, before he decided to drop out of high school. Many of Marshal’s lyrics are driven by passion, and are about his life. He has stated countless times that his success is a consequence of his abnormal and cruel childhood. His uncle introduced Marshall to rap at the age of ten.
“Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?” Recognized all around the hip-hop community, this popular phrase references the infamous rapper Marshal Bruce Mathers III. Alias Eminem, Marshal Mathers is special because he is arguably the most successful white artist in the hip-hop world. As an a-list celebrity, Eminem is highly admired and considered to be a big time star in Hollywood. His music involves a style of rap that many people relate to and love. However, there are also critics ready to analyze the message that Eminem is offering within his rap lyrics and crude tone. When performing for his fans, Eminem transforms into a passionate artist, and has been given the alternate nickname Slim Shady. It is evident that Slim Shady puts his whole heart into creating his music, through his drive for success. Examining his true accomplishments, some people wonder why Eminem has received so much praise and recognition. While some will make Eminem there idol, still others condemn him and blame his music for containing offensive material and the corrupting the youth in this generation. Are these people being fair with their assessments and accusations? How has Marshal Bruce Mathers III, alias Eminem, alter ego Slim Shady, affected the hip-hop culture as well as this generation in the 21st century?
lot of stereotypes being defied. The song is about getting out of the hood and
Eminem could be considered a symbol for many artists, because rap contains a very large teenager fan base. Eminem being as famous as he is, uses a format many rappers if not most use, which is profanity. Profanity is one of the main reasons rap could be seen as a ‘vulgur’ form of music. Now these uses of profanity could be harmful if people got used to swearing, but the real ignorance lies in ignoring the message of the music because of a certain swear word used. Eminem for example is constantly seen singing about his personnel life whether it be his domestic problems with his wife and kids or problems with other rappers. Now again for many it could be just another rapper ‘babbling’ about his life in the ‘ghetto’...