Tiffany Muse 11/17/19
After writing my annotated bibliography I learned a lot about the genre of hip hop music and the commonalities among the songs that are apart of that genre. Some of these commonalities include the overall tone of the song/ lyrics, the particular audience the artists were targeting, as well as the overall message and outcome the artist was trying to convey in each song. Most of the songs in the genre of hip hop music tend to have a very direct, colloquial, and cautionary tone. Most of the music in this genre are relaying a message and often times refer to telling the story of living a harsh and dangerous life and that living a life like that is real and should be avoided, which results in the directness of all the horrors that are faced and experienced. They do this while also providing a warning to those that have not experienced the same to know how the other side lives and to avoid it to better yourselves. Artists in this genre are able to relay this message through their colloquial tone which allows people to easily understand what they are trying to say while also not feeling like anyone is above or below the other, it provides the feeling of a conversation to either learn and understand something that you are not used to, or feel a sense of familiarity so that it is easier to relate to if you can. This also goes towards reaching out to their audience of people who have experienced something similar to people who are unaware and in the dark of this harsh reality. Artists in this genre tend to focus on the emotion to allow people to relate and have a better understanding of where they came from the struggles they went through. Hip Hop music is used by many artists to have an outlet to discuss and bring light to the various problems that are faced in impoverished communities, and through this tactics they are able to achieve the goal of being a representative for uncommon problems for some but very common problems for others. By doing this they are able to start a conversation about the harsh reality so many people are so blind of and to help improve the lives of those that are struggling and are forced to resort to other means of getting by. The genre of hip hop music taught me a lot, however I would still like to more about the actual process of making a hip hop song that is able to reach so many people as compared to the ones that do not garner as large of a traction.
As a result of this assignment I was able to learn a lot about myself as a writer. I was able to learn how easily I was able to analyze different songs to the point of having my own interpretation and claim of each song while also being able to support it using evidence from the song. I found that I was able to use simple seemingly straightforward lyrics and break them down and analyze them to be something more. This was shown when I used “Where Ya At” by Future and Drake. They constantly used the line “where ya a** was at?” and from that line alone I was able to gather the emphasis that came from this line and it’s repetition to convey the message of being used and wondering where certain people were before they made in the industry and became successful which reveals how people are not always loyal and may be with you for an alternative motive. Although I found this to be a strength of mine I would like to grow as a writer in the sense of brainstorming and being more imaginative in the early stages. This is something that I often struggle with and in order to improve I would need to not be too focused on the overall assignment and allow myself to let go and be more open to free thinking so that there are less limitations on myself and what I can write about to convey a certain message or share a particular belief.
