What does rap music tend to be about? First thing that comes to a person’s mind: sex, money, murder, women, drugs, and anything illegal you can think of. But, what’s ignored is the content which surrounds the swears and inappropriate deeds. Tupac said it best. In a 1994 BET interview on the topic of black on black violence, Shakur spoke of scenarios in which young black men are situated in the ghettos of America, “It’s not that he wants to kill. He does not want to die”. It’s this desperation that the media construes to people that is left unheard.The importance of vulgarity is the immense power it carries. Unfortunately, this is something The impact of these dangerous words and things hit harder than anything else, and that’s exactly what they’re putting out there.
In Dead Man’s Tetris by Flying Lotus, Snoop Dogg says “could’ve been the drink, might have been the smoke, in light of all that he was considered dope”. The usage of contraband in this sense is speaking of a man who is no longer alive, either from alcohol poisoning or drug overdose. Regardless, in the end, he was “considered dope,” which has multiple meanings. Dope is a (usually derogatory) term to refer to relatively strong drugs. This puts on the assumption that all this man was remembered for was doing drugs. Dope could also refer to his intelligence, not only because he is dead, but because of the situation in which led to his death was all his own. Drugs destroyed him. Dope could also mean he was remembered well by his people for doing these “dope” things. This meaning highlights this trend of fear in black communities. Thug behavior is embraced because the guys who do what the dead man did are afraid. They’re afraid that their actions have consequences, so they relish in the fact he went out in this way. It’s dope to run away, and regardless of how it may seem at first, this is lighting substance abuse in a negative light. It’s not the first song to hit this note.
Kendrick Lamar rocked the charts a few years ago with his hit single “Swimming Pools (Drank)” The hook of the song glorifies drinking with catchy lines like “I got a swimming pool full of liquor and they dive in it”. From the chorus, Lamar sets off a song with the anthem of the glorification of alcoholism, but indeed proves the opposite. The song takes place at a party Lamar’s at in his teenhood. There is so much alcohol it overwhelms him. If he drinks anymore (which is apparently “only 2 or 3 shots”) he thinks he’ll “drown in the poison”. Already the song explains through its verses and marketing that it’s all about facades. Kendrick, wanting to impress his friends and party-goers, pretends to want to get intoxicated, but actually doesn’t, much like the song’s presentation. This is reaffirmed with the next line, where Kendrick says “I think that I’m feelin’ the vibe”, referring to the party through alcohol. The key word is “think” which highlights the theme of uncertainty this song associates with drinking, not even close to encouraging it.
To be more recent, Future’s recent “Mask Off” is something most old white people want to avoid. Immediately, they are met with the obnoxious barraging of unintelligible lyricism and vulgarity. Less than half of the song are unique words, with the most prominent noun used on the track being “percocets”, a hard drug. But within these words most interestingly is the line “chase a check, never chase a bitch”. Simplicity aside, the meaning of this line is to go after money and quantifiable things over the subjective. Things like love and a woman are no match to a lot of money and a lot of women. Future teaches his audience how to count, and his blunt, but telling vocabulary shows the other side to the melancholy of black culture, accepting it as it is and the importance of having more. The simplicity is accepting all of these drugs and violence in the world these rappers grew up in.
In conclusion, it is to be known that point of the so called “bad influences” that rap adorns are just seen through the wrong lens. The place these rappers came from, their experiences living in poverty, in gang fights, substance use, and racism should not be viewed under a lens of the protective quality, but one seeing strength, impact, and reflectiveness.
“I’m not on the outside looking in, I’m not on the inside looking out; I’m in the dead fucking center, looking around.” - Kendrick Lamar, “Ab-Soul’s Outro”
Works Cited
“FUTURE - Mask Off Lyrics.” Directlyrics,www.directlyrics.com/future-mask-off-lyrics.html. Accessed 13 May 2017.
Flying Lotus. “Dead Man's Tetris Lyrics.” Azlyrics, Azlyrics,www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/flyinglotus/deadmanstetris.html. Accessed 13 May 2017.
Kendrick Lamar. “Ab-Soul's Outro.” Azlyrics, Azlyrics,www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/kendricklamar/absoulsoutro.html. Accessed 13 May 2017.
Kendrick Lamar. “Swimming Pools Lyrics.” Azlyrics, Azlyrics,www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/kendricklamar/swimmingpoolsdrank.html.Accessed 13 May 2017.
BETNetworks. “Tupac Shakur: ‘God Has Cursed Me To See What Life Should Be Like.’” YouTube, YouTube, 19 Sept. 2016,www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIl3k9C7HGo. Accessed 13 May 2017.
HuffPostLive. “Geraldo Rivera: Hip-Hop Has Done More Damage To Black People Than Racism.” YouTube, YouTube, 19 Feb. 2015,www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqES8vQE-ZA. Accessed 13 May 2017.
This is my best 2fer because I'm very passionate about it, much like my other one. It has more of an argumentative tone, but does not slip into the personal. It hits harder. I like it.
Amelie is a french film made in 2001 about a strange girl with an affinity for observing and playing with sand. She finds this man who is obsessed with pictures, and she starts pulling strings in order to get with him. She makes an entire scheme including pictures and cryptic messages to get to him. This is similar to Shakespeare’s Taming of the shrew in that Lucentio comes up with a similar scheme that also ends up wor Courtship is portrayed through these pieces of media in time as being all about acting like someone you’re not in order to achieve marital goals.
“How can I paint this picture when the colorblind is hanging with you?”
Doubt is entwined in our DNA like the bones to our skin, hidden by layers of fat and muscle. I do not believe there has ever been a moment in the span of human sentience where there was not uncertainty in the world. A species lacking of instinct, traded for control and freedom, leaves them without a proper place in the world with options so open.
Hey that’s just like me, approaching my adulthood without direction! My life looks like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, except the top is four and a half inches from the ground. There’s a lot of things you can see if you just pay attention to people. If you just take into account that they are a person, and everything they do becomes so much more childlike and malnourished of maturity. I can see their fear, or maybe that’s what I like to tell myself in order to feel stronger.
As an artist I do this a lot. Sometimes I take pictures of things to refer to later, or maybe I’m in the middle of class and use someone standing at the board for gesture practice. I look at the characteristics of these people and after all of this staring and studying it leaves me in an almost constant state of over analysis and distant thought. Body speaks a lot more than the word. The alphabet is an abstract concept of passing information, pushing thoughts through a filter of audible shapes and sounds someone else decided on, to the ears and mind of the listener. It’s even stranger that we think in our spoken language. Somehow that makes the idea of safety of the mind a little less safe, an intrusion. Words don’t have to mean what they mean. They can lie. They string long like pinocchio noses and dusty fables. The body tells the truth to me. Because if I can see you in all your nakedness, stripped of all emotional coverage, I can see that we all came from the same place.
I’m talking to someone and they snap me into focus. I’m not entirely sure what we were talking about before or what I was thinking about beforehand, as if I had just awoken from an eventful dream, yet too eventful to remember the events after. Drifted from life or something. That reminds me.
When my mom told me that a someone close to me from my childhood (our parents were close, close enough that I call his mother “auntie”) had died, I felt the same. I really didn’t know what to feel. Not even emptiness. It was more like, apathy. I think I was scared, actually, like pushing away the grief of another in order to avoid it for myself, to push myself far enough from death as possible. Which is funny because I spend so much time floating away from life, in daydreams, yet I still just as equally push myself off of death. Like water limbo, and his scythe is an oar to keep me between. Maybe it’s because I haven’t seen him in a while, last time I saw him he was about, my age. He was finishing college, it was his last year. His heart failed playing ball on the court with some friends. He had some heart problems I didn’t know about. I have so many thoughts on this but none at the same time.
Cool. But that doesn’t effect me, We move in on the same direction we’ve always been moving. Collectively, as a planet. I can’t do much about it, I’m technically forced to keep moving by whatever forces are keeping the earth together, regardless of how I feel the gravities of the situations.
Celebrities are an important part of modern American life . They’re everywhere, and many of them don’t live normal lives anymore because of paparazzi. This is alluring, of course, almost everyone wants to be the center of attention. As a result, celebrities actually do crazy things to get the attention of the press. This is a problem for their fans. Celebrities have great influence over their fans, so their careless decisions negatively impacts their fans’ body image and futures.
In 2005, a study was conducted on 229 teens, 183 undergrad students, and 289 adults in order to see how deeper interest in celebrities correlates with body images of the subjects tested. There were multiple tests used, including the Celebrity Attitude Scale, and the Attention to Body Shape Scale. Results showed that female teens that worshiped celebrities more intensely were more likely to have poor body images of themselves. This proves that celebrities and their promotion of a slender physique negatively impacts how teens see themselves and their weight. This extends to eating disorders. Eating disorders like anorexia are a sort of body dysmorphia where the anorexic has this idea that they are always too fat and they need to be skinnier. According to the South Carolina Department of Health’s website, Anorexia is the 3rd most common chronic illness in adolescents. Looking at most of the celebrities, there is a trend of very slender physiques being common, especially in women. More young women suffer from an eating disorder than males. This connection is supported by the first paragraph.
There are also problems with teens’ futures, and how the glorification of the wealthy and famous lifestyle has discouraged the youth from wanting to work harder. In 2010, a survey was done in the UK of 1,000 16 year olds. It simply had one question, “What would you like to do for your career?” 54% answered that they wanted to become a celebrity. When those children that answered in that way were asked exactly how they were going achieve this goal of becoming a famous person, 21% of the children studied said they would do so by appearing on a reality TV show, and 5% even said they were planning on dating a celebrity. The larger percentage consisted of those who did not even know how to become famous and those that believed they had the talent to become a celebrity. These answers show that children and are looking up every day at screens with rich, famous people on it, that seemingly are able to do whatever they want. These children don’t even know what they want to do, but they know they want to become famous. More than half of those 1,000 children wanted to be famous as a career, which isn’t really a career, there seems to be something lost in translation when people think famous, that there isn’t any work involved. By contrast, Only 15% of those teens said they wanted to pursue a medical career. if there are more people that want to be “famous” rather than helpful and beneficial to society, there is a problem with the media.
Finally, substance abuse. Many celebrities talk about and glorify drug usage like it’s safe, maybe safe for them, they have nothing to lose. Meanwhile teens’ bodies aren’t meant for this sort of thing, it’s very dangerous. Lots of celebs go to rehab , and that is not a good example for the children. Drugs like Xanax were popularized by celebs a lot and is a common theme in many pop songs. All in all, celebrities can be pretty bad influences on the youth. Encouraging and indirectly causing more self image problems in teens, blinding them in their career choices, and making drugs look cool.
Works CIted
Maltby, J et al. “Result Filters.” National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Feb. 2005, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15826331. Kershaw, Alison. “Fame the Career Choice for Half of 16-Year-Olds.”The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 17 Feb. 2010, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/fame-the-career-choice-for-half-of-16-year-olds-1902338.html. Farr, Kristin. “Is Celebrity Obsession Bad for Us?” KQED Education, KQED INC., 20 May 2014, https://ww2.kqed.org/learning/2014/05/20/is-celebrity-obsession-bad-for-us/. “South Carolina Department of Mental Health.” Eating Disorder Statistics, South Carolina Department of Mental Health, http://www.state.sc.us/dmh/anorexia/statistics.htm.
Ever since Charles was a little boy, he loved reading. Diary of a Wimpy Kid entertained him through middle school and was the gateway into more advanced reading. The interesting cartoons in the book told him that reading does not always have to be boring. He always hated books like non-fiction that would throw words at you in an extremely boring way, but he realized that all he wanted from books was to be engaged.
Motivation was a big problem for charles concerning reading. He didn’t read much. He still doesn’t read much, but he tries. Right now, he’s reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and he loves it. His favorite character right now is a character in the book, the main protagonist: Junior. Junior is an Indian boy living on a reservation. The book is very similar to Diary of a Wimpy Kid, with the medley of childish cartoons and real problems. This one is much darker as it deals with a lot of the struggles people on a reservation have. This works for Charles. As he gets older, he moves onto more advanced reading. Maybe he’ll read a lot more too.
In order to properly understand this poster, one must understand the meaning behind the two different sides of it. The left portrays the North, seemingly gung-ho about equality at first (“The divide is too strong”), but dwindling down later to being more against it. The right side portrays the South, against Reconstruction since the beginning. By showing them come together, I’m showing how their ideas became very similar by the end of the era, which lead to the end of assigning states to being either North or South (concerning politics) being relevant.
North started with Lincoln saying “Hey, these guys are pretty hype to get their freedom. I suppose I should fight for it too!” Then, after all of that business, slaves are freed and given whatever they want (to an extent…). After a while, though the Union began to lean on the more Southern view, seeing Black men in Congress as incapable. This eventually leads to the end of Reconstruction, mostly due to a change in presidents. In the end, anyway, they ended up feeling like a more passive-aggressive Confederacy.
This effectively shows the beginning of a long period of legalized segregation, as there is no more Union or Confederacy going at it, meaning that race becomes an even more prevalent topic. Black men getting positions in places of importance such as Congress or the Senate probably has something to do with it. This moves further into racism in general later in history. Here, a group of people who once believed in African-Americans’ abilities, saw that they weren’t what they expected, and removed many of the privileges given to them, making a prejudice against a certain race, properly justified or not, prominent in the future.
Nuestras clases son historia, español, inglés, bioquímica, matemáticas, tecnología, arte, teatro, ingeniería y almuerzo. La clase de favorita de Seyni es historia porque es interesante. La clase favorito de Mohamed es inglés porque nuestro profesor es chévere. La clase de favorita de Athalia es matemáticas porque es fácil. En la clase de historia necesitamos una computadora y un libro. En la clase de inglés necesitamos el libro y un lápiz. En la clase de matemáticas necesitamos la computadora y la calculadora. Nuestras clases son muy interesante y aplicado. A menudo estamos de vago en las clases.
Nuestros tengo mucho bien profesores en SLA. Señorita Manuel es nuestros de profesora espanol. La señorita Jonas es nuestros historia profesora. Señor Kay es nuestros inglés profesor. La señorita Thompson es nuestros matemáticas profesora. La señora Hull es nuestros tecnología profesora. El señor Kamal es nuestros el ingeniero profesor. La señorita Manuel es muy divertida y enérgica y su clase es muy interesante. La señorita Jonas es muy interesante y inteligente y su clase es muy complejo. El señor Kay es muy divertida y su clase es interesante. La señorita Thompson es muy inteligente y interesante y su clase es importante. La señora Hull es muy informado tecnología inteligente y su clase es complejo. El senor Kamal es interesante y su clase es divertida. En la total clases, nuestros participar activamente, tomar pruebas, trabajar duro y lo pasar bien.
SLA es una experiencia de aprender interesante. Nos gusta las libertad en nuestra escuela. La libertad en nuestra escuela es súper importante para los estudiantes y los profesores. Los estudiantes aquí tienen el almuerzo dondequiera. Usamos la tecnología siempre en las clases. Que es por qué nos encanta los Chromebooks más de SLA. Otros estudiantes en otras escuelas no tienen las computadoras para hacer trabajo. Sin embargo, nuestra escuela tiene las para hacemos la tarea, estudiamos, y hablamos con profesores. Todo de la escuela horario es muy ordenado y facil (si tu prestar atención). Para describir SLA, hablamos es bastante único, libre, y siempre inteligente.
Nuestros clases son historia, español, inglés, bioquímica, matemáticas, tecnología, arte, teatro, ingeniería y almuerzo. La clase de favorita de Seyni es historia porque es interesante. La clase favorito de Mohamed es inglés porque nuestro profesor es chévere. La clase de favorita de Athalia es matemáticas porque es fácil. En la clase de historia necesitamos una computadora y un libro. En la clase de inglés necesitamos el libro y un lápiz. En la clase de matemáticas necesitamos la computadora y la calculadora. Nuestros clases son muy interesante y aplicado. A menudo nosotros estar de vago en los clases.
Nuestros tengo mucho bien profesores en SLA. Señorita Manuel es nuestros de profesora espanol. La señorita Jonas es nuestros historia profesora. Señor Kay es nuestros inglés profesor. La señorita Thompson es nuestros matemáticas profesora. La señora Hull es nuestros tecnología profesora. El señor Kamal es nuestros el ingeniero profesor. La señorita Manuel es muy divertida y enérgica y su clase es muy interesante. La señorita Jonas es muy interesante y inteligente y su clase es muy complejo. El señor Kay es muy divertida y su clase es interesante. La señorita Thompson es muy inteligente y interesante y su clase es importante. La señora Hull es muy informado tecnología inteligente y su clase es complejo. El senor Kamal es interesante y su clase es divertida. En la total clases, nuestros participar activamente, tomar pruebas, trabajar duro y lo pasar bien.
SLA es una experiencia de aprender interesante. Nos gusta las libertad en nuestra escuela. La libertad en nuestra escuela es súper importante para los estudiantes y los profesores. Los estudiantes aquí tienen el almuerzo dondequiera. Usamos la tecnología siempre en las clases. Que es por qué nos encanta los Chromebooks más de SLA. Otros estudiantes en otras escuelas no tienen las computadoras para hacer trabajo. Sin embargo, nuestra escuela tiene las para hacemos la tarea, estudiamos, y hablamos con profesores. Todo de la escuela horario es muy ordenado y facil (si tu prestar atención). Para describir SLA, nosotros hablamos es bastante único, libre, y siempre inteligente.
Los queridos en mi vida. Sí, mi vida. ¿Entendido? ¡Bueno, vamonos!
Me llamo Mohamed. Yo trabajar solo. Yo soy artístico, y creativo. Mi cumpleaños el 16 de diciembre. Asisto a SLA. Soy perezoso y siempre aburrido. Cuando tengo tiempo libre, me gusta jugar vídeo juegos, depende del dia, basquetbol y dibujar. Yo soy tremendamente bien en basquetbol (algo...).
Se llama Abdulai. Es mi primo. Tiene once años. Tiene ojos cafés y el pelo negro. Es muy, muy alto (casi de mi altura!). Asiste a Hardy Williams Academy Mastery Charter School. Le gusta jugar videojuegos. Es un mentiroso y un poco loco. Ay, ¡es un mentiroso profesional!
El nombre del grupo es KGB. Asisten Hardy Williams Academy Mastery Charter School. Que (principalmente) Consiste en cuatro compañeros, Blayr, Anthony, Kleron, y Antonio. Ay, y Christian. Christian, yo creo, no es en KGB más. Ellos juegan basquetbol; KGB en ante todo de basketball. No se sí KGB existe hoy. Ellos juegan basquetbol bien, aunque.
Somos Mustapha y Mohamed. Mustapha es mi hermano, y nos encanta jugar vídeo juegos (yo soy mejor, aunque). Tenemos cumpleaños en diciembre (yo tengo más años, aunque).
¡Gracias, Gracias! ¡Gracias por tu atención! ¡Eres hermosos! ¡Todos ustedes! ¡Adios, mi amigos!
....
Net neutrality is basically the principle of an open internet, in which all data is treated equally, being sent and being received, concerning what you have access to and the speed it is accessed (actual internet connection issues based on location or other variables aside). The thing is, though, that having net neutrality in place means that ISPs (Internet Service Providers) cannot take in more revenue by charging users for access to certain sites or faster speeds whilst using them. Of course, this leaves them upset. Recently, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) have started to ease away from net neutrality, with certain policies being put in place and such, but it's not a complete change. Although, this doesn't mean it isn't possible to do so, and every teen should be aware of what would happen if there was.
Say, net neutrality wasn't in place anymore due to some FCC regulation and you're really bored today. So, you hop on the computer, search up on Netflix and...waiting. ¨That's strange,¨ you'd think, ¨This never happened before...¨ Suddenly, a window pops up on the screen trying to convince you to pay for Comcast's new ¨fast lane¨ internet service. ¨Well, my internet is pretty slow...¨ So, you go ahead and pay for the ¨fast lane,¨ hoping it'd help you out. ¨Hey,¨ you'd think, ¨This internet connection is exactly the same as it was before the FCC's new regulations!¨
Huh, it makes it seem as if ISPs are using their control over your internet in order to make a quick buck... If net neutrality is left behind, then that means companies limiting your connection and access to certain sites based on either how much you pay them or how much that particular site's owner pays them. They believe that since it takes too much money to have giant piles of information piling in from huge streaming sites like Netflix, we should pay for it, even considering that people are paying for internet in the first place! And I know y'all teenagers love your Netflix, so this is serious business. This is a matter of the freedom of the internet and how you experience it, so it's important for all teens who regularly use the internet to truly understand the idea of net neutrality and what's up with it.
Sources:
1) https://www.aclu.org/net-neutrality
2) http://www.savetheinternet.com/net-neutrality
3) http://www.theopeninter.net/
