I think the main purpose of this song is to clear the confusion and give his take on the black and white diversity in America. There are multiple moments in the song where a black male and a white male express their emotions as if they were representing their races. The musical genre of this song is rap, the genre itself is derives politically from hip hop. It was developed in 1980s as a way of using rap to create a political activism.

In the song, they discussed their stories and the rebuttal from each side. The white male said

Yellin’ “nigga this” and “nigga that”
Call everybody “nigga” and get a nigga mad
As soon as I say “nigga” then everyone react
And wanna swing at me and call me racist ’cause I ain’t black

this basically means that why would black people complain about saying the n-word even though they use it themselves and then the black male responded later in the song with

We shouldn’t say it but we do, and that just what it is
But that don’t mean that you can say it just ’cause you got nigga friends
Nigga, that word was originated for you to keep us under”

He admitted that blacks shouldn’t be using the words as is, but they do and there is a double meaning under when white males say the word and that it was because whites used it originally to undermine blacks. There are also a lot more different situations that they exclaimed in the music relating the the divide between blacks and whites adding different political standpoints and different point of views in general. In the song, they used a beat to keep the music constant throughout the whole song to emphasize the lyrics more than the background.

The political protest music I picked is “Fuck tha Police” by N.W.A. I think that the artist created this piece of music because during the time they lived in there were a lot of racial tensions between law enforcement and minorities. This song’s purpose was to expose law enforcement for police brutality and racial profiling. The music genre that this piece is associated with is Hip-Hop. I think that Hip-Hop has always been political, rap was invented to highlight injustices that happen in communities in which people have felt neglected. From what I have noticed there are many political campaigns that have famous hip-hop artists involved so they can increase the fan base and the relationship between hip-hop and politics.

In the first verse Ice Cube said, “A young nigga got it bad ’cause I’m brown..And not the other color, so police think..They have the authority to kill a minority.” Racial profiling and discrimination reached a high in the late 80’s after the appearance of crack in 1986. By Straight Out of Compton’s release in 1988, there were 762,718 yearly arrests for drug possession, almost twice as many as the 400,000 in 1981. The 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act, supposedly targeted the African American community because the percentage of crack cocaine users were African American. I think the musical characteristic that is useful for a political protest would be the song’s chorus, “Fuck tha police!”. The chorus highlights the purpose of this song and it isolates who they artists want the music to influence.

• Just a Girl- No Doubt was created to point out gender stereotypes and this carries a political meaning because it is said that she is a girl which makes her allowed to do certain things and certain things are restricted from her because it is trying to say how society is making her stand lower than men, but she knows her worth. She realizes that she is seen as vulnerable just because she is a girl. Also, one reason why this was sung was due to her being frustrated at her father being overprotective due to her gender. This song was a representation of a feminist anthem and noticing the power through your sexuality, mostly women. When she says, “I’m just a girl”, adding “just” shows how a girl is degrading. It is putting girls into a category to show that all girls all the same type and are seen the same way. Yes listeners, including me, added their own interpretation to the song, but even Gwen Stefani agrees with it. There was another lyric that said, “this world is forcing me to hold your hand,” trying to indicate that just because she is a girl, she cannot be fully independent. The chorus in the background was saying, “I’m just a girl, little ‘ol me/ Don’t let me out of your sight/ I’m just a girl, all pretty and petite/ So don’t let me have any rights.” It was from men and it is trying to mock the fact that they are lower and they can’t be left alone. They need assistance and support from others. Also this song is pointing out the dangers of the world and that women can not leave the house freely, they always have to stop or put into fear that something might happen to them.
• The genre of this piece of music is Alternative/Indie, Pop. Indie is a word that is short for independent. When people talk about indie in music, they mean music that is made by people independently from major record labels, but this genre of music is not necessarily political based, although some songs may be. Pop does not really have political based songs either. Guitar, bass, keyboard, drums, xylophone, violin, etc. I feel like the guitar and the drums were the most powerful because it helped to get a meaning ahead and it shows the anger through the way those instruments were played. It helped give a sense that all the fear was taken out through the use of the instruments.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHzOOQfhPFg

The song that I decided to write about is “Formation” by Beyoncé. This song was brought out in 2016 and with it, Beyoncé became the face of the Black Lives Matter movement. The song is tied to this movement due to the lyrics and the music video. The lyrics talk about how Beyoncé is proud of her diverse background and she is proud of who is as a human. The music video showed elements like paint on walls saying “Stop Killing Us” and her standing on top of a New Orleans police car, also bringing into light the effect of Hurricane Katrina. The article about Martin Luther King Jr. also correlates with the Black Lives Matter as it goes to further extend his preachings and ideology. The kid dancing in front of the police also goes to show this movement. This song is considered to be pop and bounce music, which is native to New Orleans. Pop and bounce music isn’t typically political. One musical tool that makes this a useful tool for political is the beat. It has a fast-paced beat, making it catchy and very energetic.  

For Blog  # 8 the prompt is to find an artist who has created music for a political purpose. A female artist that constantly creates music to bring awareness to Feminism as well as bringing awareness to sexuality is Zolita. Zolita or otherwise known as Zoe Montana Hoetzel is a 25-year old female singer/songwriter born in New York. When analyzing her lyrics in her pop-sing “Fight Like A Girl” it is clear she has a very distinctive message to those against feminism. The musical genre that she is associated with is Pop Music. There are many other artists within this genre that use it to express their emotions and discuss their political standpoints. Her lyrics state “If you didn’t know I fight like a girl I fight like a girl (x2)”. When she was asked the meaning if this lyrical line she states “To me fighting like a girl is a powerful magical women and men are so afraid of powerful women”. This line in itself represented both a positive and negative connotation of a women. Many times the word ‘power’ fits hand in hand with the word ‘evil’. And a woman can become spiteful and evil when she isn’t being acknowledges or if her rights aren’t being defended properly. She also states “Boy, I’ll make you see I got the power of Kali in me and everybody is about to believe It’s a woman’s world”.  In this line Zolita mentions Kali who is a powerful Hindu goddess of life and destructions.   This line can be seen as a women’s livelihood because she brings life into this world yet may times she isn’t viewed or valued as anything other than a women whose responsibilities are associated with the upkeep of a home and raising children. A musical characteristic is rhythm. In the background the listener can hear the beats which reminds me of marching.

The piece of political protest music that I chose is Chains by Usher ft Nas and Bibi Bourelly. This song was released back in 2015. The video that was released with the music helps to accentuate the meaning behind the lyrics. The purpose behind the music is to shed light onto the devastation of police brutality and racial injustice. The music did not have a usual music video but instead it was a compilation of pictures of individuals popping up following their name and ages and devastating stories as to how their lives were taken due to the wrongdoings of police officers. It was pretty evident as to what the purpose and end message of the music is. The genre of this music is R&B/ soul and overall this genre of music derives from African American culture; usually has a lot of meaning to it. It may not be a directly political genre but it can go hand in hand (especially with the song I chose). 

There are powerful lyrics that are sung and rapped throughout the music. Nas raps “We got a problem that needs some acknowledgment. I am no prison commodity, not just a body you throw in a cell. For any reason, just to bother me.” The meaning behind these lyrics are shining light into a problem that seemingly no one is willing to talk about and propose a solution to. Nas also says that  individuals are not a commodity (material) of prison that are just thrown into a cell. This is sending the message that people of certain color and races are not just animals that can be treated like they belong behind bars. Usher also says “Don’t act like you saving us, it’s still the same. Man don’t act like I made it up. You keep blaming us, let’s keep it one hundred. You gave the name to us, N****.”  The meaning behind this is that the police who kill innocent people are saying it’s their fault when in reality it’s the racist mentality that is pulling the trigger on people who have done nothing wrong. A musical characteristic that was present in the piece would be the very upbeat and fast rhythm. This is an important part of the music because it  adds the sense of adrenaline that pumps up the listener and makes the accommodating lyrics stand out. 

The song I chose was the Blacker the Berry by Kendrick Lamar. This song was associated with the black lives matter movement. The purpose of the song was to expose the government on how they treat African Americans and show people how his and many African Americans’ lives are. The listeners kind of added their own meaning to the song because not everyone who listens to the song comes from the same place or the same experience. So the audience can have their own interpretation. The musical genre that this song is associated in is rap music. This genre isn’t political usually but it can be depending on the artist. Certain artists in the rap game like to make songs that make people dance or sing. But other artists like to make music that has deep meaning to the song. The lyrics that are relevant to politics are “ I mean, it’s evident that I’m irrelevant to society. That’s what you’re telling me, the penitentiary would only hire me”. Kendrick Lamar was trying to get at the problem of mass incarceration in America and the injustice in politics. The musical characteristic that I hear is the crescendo. Most of the song was playing on the volume to get the attention of the audience.

Revolution by Helly Luv released 2015

Helly Luv’s “Revolution” was a way of political protest. This song was created as a response to ISIS putting her on a hit list for her other song “Risk It All” as she was deemed “too scandalous for a woman”. She created this song as a way to call for peace and a way to state that they were all united as one. The music video ends and then a small behind the scene clip pops up of her explaining that the music video was filmed on an active ISIS war zone and that they were 3 km or about 2 miles from ISIS themselves, and you can hear guns and bombs going off in the background. This song is a piece of protest as it calls for the end of a war and for peace to reign instead. Throughout the song you can hear drums that sound similar to what you would hear in military drumming, which fits with the theme of the song which is to fight back for peace.