Albert Dennie
10/5/08
Eng 201A 1-2:50
Barack Obama Reflection
I think that Barack Obama’ s main point was to ensure the people of America that we’ll prevail through this time of change and that it takes spending a little bit of money to make some money. As President-Elect Barack Obama made his speech I felt as if this man, this human being is listening to what the middle and lower-class people are saying and he is trying to make a difference. I believe he will make changes because he speaks of keeping dreams and hopes alive and one day make a change for the people that he represents, Democrats. He took the main people in his life and campaign and gave wonderful love and a shot out to some of them. He attacks his issues with emphasis for a change. I believe that he will attempt to do everything he says he is going to do but, you have to realize that this nation is in a great deficit and will we be able to bounce back? Barrack can’t be superman but I know this, he has the heart of most Americans and he proved that he belongs in office. Every time he was attacked by Sen. McCain’s campaign he did not respond with a put down as Palin showed she can do. He simply approached the problem head first and spoke up for the people who cannot be heard. He spoke of giving money to everybody whether there middle, low, or even upper class. He wants everything to be equal and affordable. It is not fair to us citizens who do not sufficient funds to suffer while the wealthier get wealthier. We have preached this for years, decades and now there is a change! Barack Obama is the way! The structure of his speech was compelling. After he gave his shot out to the people that helped him the most he got into what he was going to do. He speaks of reaching our nation’s dreams and goals as one. “One nation one people”.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Eng201A
Professor Sabir
MW 1-2:50
Group Assignment
Give me a Pen and Paper
Cast:
Vinson Lieu as “Big Tray Dee”
Josh James as “Mos Def”
Lisa Ryan as “Toni Morrison “
Albert Dennie as “Tupac, Dyson, Narrarator”
Poem: If I Fail
Setting: A talk show that Michael Eric Dyson hosts.
Summary: In chapter 4 of Dyson’s Holler if You Hear Me, numerous artists try to define the term “Thug Life”. There are so many justifications of the word and its true value it has on society. Also, Tupac has his ups and his downs, his constructed criticism and his bad criticism, but most of all this chapter shows how he overcomes everyone’s opinion and molds it into what he is today an Icon! Even though people opposed to Tupac’s music there were others who embraced him.
Dyson: Good afternoon welcome to the Dyson show, today we will discuss ch.4 from my book Holler If You Hear Me. I am going to have a guest show host: Mos Def and we are going to have a few special guests. The guest show host will have a live interview with Tupac from jail via satellite link.
Commercial
Dyson: Welcome back. I’d like to welcome hip hop luminary, Mos Def.
Mos Def: Thanks for having me on the show Dyson!
Dyson: I’d also like to welcome special guests from The Eastsidaz, Big Tray Dee.
Big Tray Dee: Good afternoon Dyson, Mos Def.
Dyson: I want to know Mos Def, your views of Tupac? “Tupac’s art as a hip hop emcee was acquired taste among the genre’s cognoscente, even as the masses embraced him through huge record sales and he gained international noriety as a symbol of rap’s fortune and follies.”(Dyson 106)
Mos Def: “Tupac did not for instance posses the effortless rhythmic patterns of Snoop Dogg, the formidable timing and breathe control of the incomparable K.R.S. One, the poetic intensity of Rakim, the delt political rage of Chuck D, the forceful enunciation of M.C. Lyte, or the novelistic descriptions and sly cadences of Notorious B.I.G.- the mathematician of flow”(Dyson 106)
Big Tray Dee: “I’m real critical and skeptical about lyrics or what people say and how they put it from an artistic standpoint.” (Dyson 105)
Dyson: Tray Dee, what do you have to say about Tupac’s method of creation, highlighting in the process what made him such a big force in hip hop?
Big Tray Dee: “It would be maybe like thirty percent of his songs that I really wouldn’t feel all the time I would be like “That’s all right”. But, [his songs] wound up in my head because they grew on me, and I would see where he was coming from. I had to get that feeling or be in that mood to really relate to what he was saying at that particular time, on that particular song. He showed me how he made music through his heart and through his spirit, showing me that you have to have a certain vibe and continuity. You r not going to appeal to everybody”
Mos Def: “I wasn’t a big Pac fan when he was out, but I’ll tell you why people loved him. Because they knew him! Despite him being viewed as a “gangster rapper”, Pac ranged freely over the landscape of hip-hop, pursuing themes that bled through a number of rap’s subgenres, among the conscious rap, political hip hop, party music, hedonism rap, thug rap, and ghetto centric rap.”
Dyson: Let’s go to commercial and when we come back special guests Toni Morrison will be here.
Commercial
Dyson: Welcome back I’d like to introduce guest speaker Toni Morrison.
Toni Morrison: Hello everybody.
Dyson: “Rap is viewed as a barometer of what ails black youth. It is apparent that a great deal of bitterness and anger clutter the disputes between rap’s advocates and its critics. It is equally obvious that black youth have been under attack for many quarters of our culture. In hip hop, as with most music, that is nothing new.”
Toni Morrison: “All art created by young people are despised by adults. If it’s young, it always has to fight…, and what shakes out of that of course is the best.”
Dyson: Your view of hip hop is admirably international giving [you] an appreciation of the genres inspiring, and subversive, global reach. (Dyson 116)
Toni Morrison: “Just seeing what happened to it in Europe is astonishing. When I was in Frankfurt- the center of rap music in Germany- I got some unbelievable rap disc from a Turkish girl who was singing in German. What unifies hip hop throughout? Nobody admits it. The fact that it is ails the music you can’t sit down to [be] what really gets you up, it’s what made it so fetching.”(Dyson 117)
Dyson: Morrison, “You are completely ware of the controversial subject matters broached in hip hop.” (Dyson 117)
Toni Morrison: “It is always up for grabs and sexuality and violence. (Dyson 117)
Dyson: ok we will go to commercial and when we come back guest show host Mos Def who will interview Tupac via satellite.
Question:
Mos def: What are you trying to tell the people through your music?
Answer:
Tupac: “Most of my music tells the truth. I’m just trying to speak about things that affect me and about things that affect our community… Sometimes I’m the watcher, and sometimes I’m the participant, and sometimes it’s just allegories or fables that have an underlying theme.”
Question:
Mos Def: Has hip-hop caused or reflected the violence we should detest.
Tupac: “It’s the violence in America,” What did the USA just do, flying to Bosnia? We ain’t got no business over there.” America is the biggest gang in the world. Look at how they didn’t agree with Cuba, so… they cut them off.”
Professor Sabir
MW 1-2:50
Group Assignment
Give me a Pen and Paper
Cast:
Vinson Lieu as “Big Tray Dee”
Josh James as “Mos Def”
Lisa Ryan as “Toni Morrison “
Albert Dennie as “Tupac, Dyson, Narrarator”
Poem: If I Fail
Setting: A talk show that Michael Eric Dyson hosts.
Summary: In chapter 4 of Dyson’s Holler if You Hear Me, numerous artists try to define the term “Thug Life”. There are so many justifications of the word and its true value it has on society. Also, Tupac has his ups and his downs, his constructed criticism and his bad criticism, but most of all this chapter shows how he overcomes everyone’s opinion and molds it into what he is today an Icon! Even though people opposed to Tupac’s music there were others who embraced him.
Dyson: Good afternoon welcome to the Dyson show, today we will discuss ch.4 from my book Holler If You Hear Me. I am going to have a guest show host: Mos Def and we are going to have a few special guests. The guest show host will have a live interview with Tupac from jail via satellite link.
Commercial
Dyson: Welcome back. I’d like to welcome hip hop luminary, Mos Def.
Mos Def: Thanks for having me on the show Dyson!
Dyson: I’d also like to welcome special guests from The Eastsidaz, Big Tray Dee.
Big Tray Dee: Good afternoon Dyson, Mos Def.
Dyson: I want to know Mos Def, your views of Tupac? “Tupac’s art as a hip hop emcee was acquired taste among the genre’s cognoscente, even as the masses embraced him through huge record sales and he gained international noriety as a symbol of rap’s fortune and follies.”(Dyson 106)
Mos Def: “Tupac did not for instance posses the effortless rhythmic patterns of Snoop Dogg, the formidable timing and breathe control of the incomparable K.R.S. One, the poetic intensity of Rakim, the delt political rage of Chuck D, the forceful enunciation of M.C. Lyte, or the novelistic descriptions and sly cadences of Notorious B.I.G.- the mathematician of flow”(Dyson 106)
Big Tray Dee: “I’m real critical and skeptical about lyrics or what people say and how they put it from an artistic standpoint.” (Dyson 105)
Dyson: Tray Dee, what do you have to say about Tupac’s method of creation, highlighting in the process what made him such a big force in hip hop?
Big Tray Dee: “It would be maybe like thirty percent of his songs that I really wouldn’t feel all the time I would be like “That’s all right”. But, [his songs] wound up in my head because they grew on me, and I would see where he was coming from. I had to get that feeling or be in that mood to really relate to what he was saying at that particular time, on that particular song. He showed me how he made music through his heart and through his spirit, showing me that you have to have a certain vibe and continuity. You r not going to appeal to everybody”
Mos Def: “I wasn’t a big Pac fan when he was out, but I’ll tell you why people loved him. Because they knew him! Despite him being viewed as a “gangster rapper”, Pac ranged freely over the landscape of hip-hop, pursuing themes that bled through a number of rap’s subgenres, among the conscious rap, political hip hop, party music, hedonism rap, thug rap, and ghetto centric rap.”
Dyson: Let’s go to commercial and when we come back special guests Toni Morrison will be here.
Commercial
Dyson: Welcome back I’d like to introduce guest speaker Toni Morrison.
Toni Morrison: Hello everybody.
Dyson: “Rap is viewed as a barometer of what ails black youth. It is apparent that a great deal of bitterness and anger clutter the disputes between rap’s advocates and its critics. It is equally obvious that black youth have been under attack for many quarters of our culture. In hip hop, as with most music, that is nothing new.”
Toni Morrison: “All art created by young people are despised by adults. If it’s young, it always has to fight…, and what shakes out of that of course is the best.”
Dyson: Your view of hip hop is admirably international giving [you] an appreciation of the genres inspiring, and subversive, global reach. (Dyson 116)
Toni Morrison: “Just seeing what happened to it in Europe is astonishing. When I was in Frankfurt- the center of rap music in Germany- I got some unbelievable rap disc from a Turkish girl who was singing in German. What unifies hip hop throughout? Nobody admits it. The fact that it is ails the music you can’t sit down to [be] what really gets you up, it’s what made it so fetching.”(Dyson 117)
Dyson: Morrison, “You are completely ware of the controversial subject matters broached in hip hop.” (Dyson 117)
Toni Morrison: “It is always up for grabs and sexuality and violence. (Dyson 117)
Dyson: ok we will go to commercial and when we come back guest show host Mos Def who will interview Tupac via satellite.
Question:
Mos def: What are you trying to tell the people through your music?
Answer:
Tupac: “Most of my music tells the truth. I’m just trying to speak about things that affect me and about things that affect our community… Sometimes I’m the watcher, and sometimes I’m the participant, and sometimes it’s just allegories or fables that have an underlying theme.”
Question:
Mos Def: Has hip-hop caused or reflected the violence we should detest.
Tupac: “It’s the violence in America,” What did the USA just do, flying to Bosnia? We ain’t got no business over there.” America is the biggest gang in the world. Look at how they didn’t agree with Cuba, so… they cut them off.”
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Eng201AProfessor Sabir MW 1-2:50Group Assignment Give me a Pen and PaperCast:Vinson Lieu as “Big Tray Dee”Josh James as “Mos Def”Ryan Richey as “Toni Morrison “Albert Dennie as “Tupac, Dyson”Setting: A talk show that Michael Eric Dyson hosts.Summary: In chapter 4 of Dyson’s Holler if You Hear Me, numerous artists try to define the term “Thug Life”. There are so many justifications of the word and its true value it has on society. Also, Tupac has his ups and his downs, his constructed criticism and his bad criticism, but most of all this chapter shows how he overcomes everyone’s opinion and molds it into what he is today an Icon! Even though people opposed to Tupac’s music there were others who embraced him.Dyson: Good afternoon welcome to the Dyson show, today we will discuss ch.4 from my book Holler If You Hear Me. I am going to have a guest show host: Mos Def and we are going to have a few special guests. The guest show host will have a live interview with Tupac from jail via satellite link.CommercialDyson: Welcome back. I’d like to welcome hip hop luminary, Mos Def.Mos Def: Thanks for having me on the show Dyson!Dyson: I’d also like to welcome special guests from The Eastsidaz, Big Tray Dee.Big Tray Dee: Good afternoon Dyson, Mos Def.Dyson: I want to know Mos Def, your views of Tupac? “Tupac’s art as a hip hop emcee was acquired taste among the genre’s cognoscente, even as the masses embraced him through huge record sales and he gained international noriety as a symbol of rap’s fortune and follies.”(Dyson 106)Mos Def: “Tupac did not for instance posses the effortless rhythmic patterns of Snoop Dogg, the formidable timing and breathe control of the incomparable K.R.S. One, the poetic intensity of Rakim, the delt political rage of Chuck D, the forceful enunciation of M.C. Lyte, or the novelistic descriptions and sly cadences of Notorious B.I.G.- the mathematician of flow”(Dyson 106)Big Tray Dee: “I’m real critical and skeptical about lyrics or what people say and how they put it from an artistic standpoint.” (Dyson 105)Dyson: Tray Dee, what do you have to say about Tupac’s method of creation, highlighting in the process what made him such a big force in hip hop?Big Tray Dee: “It would be maybe like thirty percent of his songs that I really wouldn’t feel all the time I would be like “That’s all right”. But, [his songs] wound up in my head because they grew on me, and I would see where he was coming from. I had to get that feeling or be in that mood to really relate to what he was saying at that particular time, on that particular song. He showed me how he made music through his heart and through his spirit, showing me that you have to have a certain vibe and continuity. You r not going to appeal to everybody”Mos Def: “I wasn’t a big Pac fan when he was out, but I’ll tell you why people loved him. Because they knew him! Despite him being viewed as a “gangster rapper”, Pac ranged freely over the landscape of hip-hop, pursuing themes that bled through a number of rap’s subgenres, among the conscious rap, political hip hop, party music, hedonism rap, thug rap, and ghetto centric rap.”Dyson: Let’s go to commercial and when we come back special guests Toni Morrison will be here.CommercialDyson: Welcome back I’d like to introduce guest speaker Toni Morrison.Toni Morrison: Hello everybody.Dyson: “Rap is viewed as a barometer of what ails black youth. It is apparent that a great deal of bitterness and anger clutter the disputes between rap’s advocates and its critics. It is equally obvious that black youth have been under attack for many quarters of our culture. In hip hop, as with most music, that is nothing new.”Toni Morrison: “All art created by young people are despised by adults. If it’s young, it always has to fight…, and what shakes out of that of course is the best.”Dyson: Your view of hip hop is admirably international giving [you] an appreciation of the genres inspiring, and subversive, global reach. (Dyson 116)Toni Morrison: “Just seeing what happened to it in Europe is astonishing. When I was in Frankfurt- the center of rap music in Germany- I got some unbelievable rap disc from a Turkish girl who was singing in German. What unifies hip hop throughout? Nobody admits it. The fact that it is ails the music you can’t sit down to [be] what really gets you up, it’s what made it so fetching.”(Dyson 117)Dyson: Morrison, “You are completely ware of the controversial subject matters broached in hip hop.” (Dyson 117)Toni Morrison: “It is always up for grabs and sexuality and violence. (Dyson 117)Dyson: ok we will go to commercial and when we come back guest show host Mos Def who will interview Tupac via satellite.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
"Me Against The World"
Thesis: Poverty Creates Killers and Thieves!
Will he wake up the next day Tupac asks himself? The life he is living is not the best out there and he says so in his song “Me Against The World”. Growing up in the ghetto as it is referred to be hard because there is constant disregard for each other and so everyone in the community becomes private from one another. When tension rises, they resort to violence and it is passed to their children who view that as something that is necessary.
The constant disregard for Law Enforcement shows that this person has been in trouble with the law but why? you ask. It is because Tupac had a point that he wanted to make and he probably felt like they were the enemy and that they were oppressing him. He is not able to rest because the world around him is deteriorating into destruction and that he is going to “constantly move to make millions.” Even though he says that he is making millions he also expresses that he is “ dough-less I’m seein mo reasons for me to precede with theivin”. There is a lot of thieving going on amongst the ghetto or the lower class projects. If the children view this than they are going to want to do it, and if they like it they will most likely carry it onto their children and it is like a cycle.
In the ghetto it is hard because there are most likely single-parent homes and the father is not present. The child will most likely not do what their parent says and goes to do what they want regardless the consequences. This will lead to further problems and maybe even criminal problems. The girls are most likely to get sexually and verbally abused and the boys feel like there are no men in my everyday life so I am the man of the house and I got to do what I got to do! He will go get associated with the wrong crowd and pick up habits that will bring him in a significant amount of money but it is through robbing, stealing, killing, selling drugs, etc.
Will he wake up the next day Tupac asks himself? The life he is living is not the best out there and he says so in his song “Me Against The World”. Growing up in the ghetto as it is referred to be hard because there is constant disregard for each other and so everyone in the community becomes private from one another. When tension rises, they resort to violence and it is passed to their children who view that as something that is necessary.
The constant disregard for Law Enforcement shows that this person has been in trouble with the law but why? you ask. It is because Tupac had a point that he wanted to make and he probably felt like they were the enemy and that they were oppressing him. He is not able to rest because the world around him is deteriorating into destruction and that he is going to “constantly move to make millions.” Even though he says that he is making millions he also expresses that he is “ dough-less I’m seein mo reasons for me to precede with theivin”. There is a lot of thieving going on amongst the ghetto or the lower class projects. If the children view this than they are going to want to do it, and if they like it they will most likely carry it onto their children and it is like a cycle.
In the ghetto it is hard because there are most likely single-parent homes and the father is not present. The child will most likely not do what their parent says and goes to do what they want regardless the consequences. This will lead to further problems and maybe even criminal problems. The girls are most likely to get sexually and verbally abused and the boys feel like there are no men in my everyday life so I am the man of the house and I got to do what I got to do! He will go get associated with the wrong crowd and pick up habits that will bring him in a significant amount of money but it is through robbing, stealing, killing, selling drugs, etc.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Albert Dennie
Eng 201A 1-2:50
9/26/2008
Hip Hop = Violence
Violence has surrounded the world let alone the communities of minorities the most. In the new generation hip hop referred to as gangsta rap, artists do not take the time out to promote positive albums meaning the lyrical content that is exercised. It is expressed that record executives only want what will sell. But, what sells? Is it the violence within the lyrical content that attracts its listeners? This paper will consist of three points about hip hop: the first point that will be made is how has hip hop influenced society before gangsta rap? the second consists of how it is viewed amongst societies new generation? And the third and final point that will be made is what can we do as a society to bring back the real meaning of hip hop?
In the early days of hip hop the music was exhilarating. It had a meaning and there was no violence or disrespecting of women, let alone the exploitation of both. Mcee’s as they were called simply rapped about everyday life in a positive way. There was no so called “beef” that turned into street violence. If another rapper felt like they were being dissed they would battle. The meaning of battle can be described as dancing or freestyle rapping against there opponent with numerous people surrounding them in the park applauding it. As I listen to the original hip hop the beat is body motivating and Run Dmc, a talented hip hop artists does not use verbal obscenities in his music or videos. In the 1986 hit “Tricky” by: Run Dmc he, describes how tricky it is in the society he lives in as far as corporate America. He does not speak of robbing at gun point or kidnapping, etc…
You can detect love and a sense of meaning in this original music.
In the year 2008 over 3 decades have gone by and hip hop has taken a turn for the worse. The meaning of this so called gangsta rap is not a good one. Artists feel that they should only rap about sex, drugs, violence, and the exploitation of all three is what is selling records. Record executives also believe that if you do not make an album that the people want to hear than we will not sign you to a record deal. Artists put these albums out knowing the outcome and reactions of society but continue to still exploit. They put these albums thinking nobody is going to do what I say; they just want to hear it. Well, I’m sorry to say that this new generation doesn’t know any better. As I listen to new music from new artists all I hear is “I own this block” or “if you don’t like it I will shoot your hood up” or “I’m going to slap that women and make her sell her body for money”. Not saying that these artists do not have a message, it’s just that the message that is being displayed is not a good one and is viewed by most minorities in poverty because that’s where most of the music is aimed at. I believe you can rap about where you are from or where you have came from but it is how u exploits it. So many crimes come from music, television, and video games. The violence that is exposed is viewed by people who intake the information negatively and don’t realize the consequences because they are not given. There is a difference between Nas, who is a prominent rapper but speaks with a positive meaning, opposed to DMX, who is a rapper but his meaning is negative. I believe that you can say that Nas would be hip hop because he speaks of how we can make the world a better place if we all make a change starting with ourselves and not settling for this society that the corporate America has made for us. I say DMX is the opposite because, he talks about how he has lived in poverty and what he had to do as a child but, he is not in poverty anymore so why not send a positive message now that you have made it out the “hood” as it is referred to. You can get a sense of hatred and oppression and animosity towards the world in DMX’s music while NAS posses a positive outlook on life, happiness, and bringing back the African American culture.
My third and final point is how can we turn gangsta rap back into hip hop? I believe we can bring back hip hop. I believe we can start at the record executives company’s. I feel that if we as a people strike against offensive music than artists and the companies who represent them will have no choice but to make a change to the message it displays and the content that it is displaying. We can also listen to the music and not react negatively but, react intelligently meaning know the consequences for actions stated in the music. Instead of rapping about armed robbery lets rap about how we can start groups and clubs that our youth can receive positive guidance. If artists give positive music a chance, they will see that people actually like listening, and they might get people to put down guns, and stop using verbal and physical violence to sell music. If there were more artists such as; Lauryn Hill, Mos Def, Common, Nas, Erykah Badu I believe that hip hop will still posses a positive meaning and will not equal violence. Until we do so we as listeners are vulnerable and susceptible to this music called “gangsta rap”.
So now that I have shown how music was, how it is now, and maybe a solution to the messages it promotes it is up to us as listeners to want a change and to make a change. We are the stepping stone for a change. Executives will have no choice but to change the music we are protesting against to music that we want to hear because we are the audience. I myself love to listen to the various different messages of various artists of rap but, I have come to realize that if I do not like it than I can turn the station or turn it off. If more people turn off negative music and only positive music is promoted than record company’s have no choice but to listen and make a change!
Eng 201A 1-2:50
9/26/2008
Hip Hop = Violence
Violence has surrounded the world let alone the communities of minorities the most. In the new generation hip hop referred to as gangsta rap, artists do not take the time out to promote positive albums meaning the lyrical content that is exercised. It is expressed that record executives only want what will sell. But, what sells? Is it the violence within the lyrical content that attracts its listeners? This paper will consist of three points about hip hop: the first point that will be made is how has hip hop influenced society before gangsta rap? the second consists of how it is viewed amongst societies new generation? And the third and final point that will be made is what can we do as a society to bring back the real meaning of hip hop?
In the early days of hip hop the music was exhilarating. It had a meaning and there was no violence or disrespecting of women, let alone the exploitation of both. Mcee’s as they were called simply rapped about everyday life in a positive way. There was no so called “beef” that turned into street violence. If another rapper felt like they were being dissed they would battle. The meaning of battle can be described as dancing or freestyle rapping against there opponent with numerous people surrounding them in the park applauding it. As I listen to the original hip hop the beat is body motivating and Run Dmc, a talented hip hop artists does not use verbal obscenities in his music or videos. In the 1986 hit “Tricky” by: Run Dmc he, describes how tricky it is in the society he lives in as far as corporate America. He does not speak of robbing at gun point or kidnapping, etc…
You can detect love and a sense of meaning in this original music.
In the year 2008 over 3 decades have gone by and hip hop has taken a turn for the worse. The meaning of this so called gangsta rap is not a good one. Artists feel that they should only rap about sex, drugs, violence, and the exploitation of all three is what is selling records. Record executives also believe that if you do not make an album that the people want to hear than we will not sign you to a record deal. Artists put these albums out knowing the outcome and reactions of society but continue to still exploit. They put these albums thinking nobody is going to do what I say; they just want to hear it. Well, I’m sorry to say that this new generation doesn’t know any better. As I listen to new music from new artists all I hear is “I own this block” or “if you don’t like it I will shoot your hood up” or “I’m going to slap that women and make her sell her body for money”. Not saying that these artists do not have a message, it’s just that the message that is being displayed is not a good one and is viewed by most minorities in poverty because that’s where most of the music is aimed at. I believe you can rap about where you are from or where you have came from but it is how u exploits it. So many crimes come from music, television, and video games. The violence that is exposed is viewed by people who intake the information negatively and don’t realize the consequences because they are not given. There is a difference between Nas, who is a prominent rapper but speaks with a positive meaning, opposed to DMX, who is a rapper but his meaning is negative. I believe that you can say that Nas would be hip hop because he speaks of how we can make the world a better place if we all make a change starting with ourselves and not settling for this society that the corporate America has made for us. I say DMX is the opposite because, he talks about how he has lived in poverty and what he had to do as a child but, he is not in poverty anymore so why not send a positive message now that you have made it out the “hood” as it is referred to. You can get a sense of hatred and oppression and animosity towards the world in DMX’s music while NAS posses a positive outlook on life, happiness, and bringing back the African American culture.
My third and final point is how can we turn gangsta rap back into hip hop? I believe we can bring back hip hop. I believe we can start at the record executives company’s. I feel that if we as a people strike against offensive music than artists and the companies who represent them will have no choice but to make a change to the message it displays and the content that it is displaying. We can also listen to the music and not react negatively but, react intelligently meaning know the consequences for actions stated in the music. Instead of rapping about armed robbery lets rap about how we can start groups and clubs that our youth can receive positive guidance. If artists give positive music a chance, they will see that people actually like listening, and they might get people to put down guns, and stop using verbal and physical violence to sell music. If there were more artists such as; Lauryn Hill, Mos Def, Common, Nas, Erykah Badu I believe that hip hop will still posses a positive meaning and will not equal violence. Until we do so we as listeners are vulnerable and susceptible to this music called “gangsta rap”.
So now that I have shown how music was, how it is now, and maybe a solution to the messages it promotes it is up to us as listeners to want a change and to make a change. We are the stepping stone for a change. Executives will have no choice but to change the music we are protesting against to music that we want to hear because we are the audience. I myself love to listen to the various different messages of various artists of rap but, I have come to realize that if I do not like it than I can turn the station or turn it off. If more people turn off negative music and only positive music is promoted than record company’s have no choice but to listen and make a change!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Some of the qualities i believe that makes a good writter are; knowledge of correct english, getting all the facts of what they are writting about, not just finding information and jotting it down but taking all context into your own interpretation. some writters i think write from the heart and that has to do with feelings. you can't write something about feelings if the feelings you are talking about is not how u feel. in your work i believe you must be honest!
Monday, September 15, 2008
Revised Changes Essay
Albert Dennie
Eng201 A 1-2:50
9/13/2008
College Success = Success in Life
I’ve been out of school for five years and have worked on and off at various retail stores as well as warehouses. I was seventeen then and not sure what I wanted to do with my life. Five years later, I know this is not it!
One evening I was sitting in the living room watching TV. And this Everest College comes on the screen yelling “get off the couch and call xyz…” So I got off the couch and went to my computer and applied for admissions to the nearest college which, happened to be the College of Alameda. This was early august 2008. The college sent me an email confirmation upon my approval for admittance a day later. After that, I was advised to schedule an Assessment Exam to see what I remembered and didn’t from five years ago. I was kind of tensed but this wasn’t a pass or fail test. When I got my results I walked over to the counselor’s bunker where I spoke with a counselor who referred me to Brenda Bias, one of the teacher’s in the Transformative Learning Center, Sspire. She told me that the program would required that I maintain no lower than a C-average and above, and participate in college tours, information sessions pertaining to colleges, writing classes and other activities I need to obtain a four year degree.
College can help people make better decisions by broadening their minds to things unknown. A way I think college can help is by getting to students to open a book and “read between the lines (Adler 376)”. In “How to Mark a Book scholar Mortimer Adler points out that students need to “annotate” when we are reading and for a better understanding. So far college is helping me pay attention to words I did not know. I have picked up Tupac Shakur’s Holler If You Hear Me and I have read into it and got an understanding before it was assigned in class to read.
The first step in my transformation was leaving the TV. alone. Before the Everest College experience, I’d already felt that my mind needed to be nourished with knowledge. I felt like I didn’t know a lot of words and I needed to know the meaning and how to use them in context. I wanted a better job of course; I had to get more education. I believe that now that I am older I need education the most. I need education for a better understanding on life.
Eng201 A 1-2:50
9/13/2008
College Success = Success in Life
I’ve been out of school for five years and have worked on and off at various retail stores as well as warehouses. I was seventeen then and not sure what I wanted to do with my life. Five years later, I know this is not it!
One evening I was sitting in the living room watching TV. And this Everest College comes on the screen yelling “get off the couch and call xyz…” So I got off the couch and went to my computer and applied for admissions to the nearest college which, happened to be the College of Alameda. This was early august 2008. The college sent me an email confirmation upon my approval for admittance a day later. After that, I was advised to schedule an Assessment Exam to see what I remembered and didn’t from five years ago. I was kind of tensed but this wasn’t a pass or fail test. When I got my results I walked over to the counselor’s bunker where I spoke with a counselor who referred me to Brenda Bias, one of the teacher’s in the Transformative Learning Center, Sspire. She told me that the program would required that I maintain no lower than a C-average and above, and participate in college tours, information sessions pertaining to colleges, writing classes and other activities I need to obtain a four year degree.
College can help people make better decisions by broadening their minds to things unknown. A way I think college can help is by getting to students to open a book and “read between the lines (Adler 376)”. In “How to Mark a Book scholar Mortimer Adler points out that students need to “annotate” when we are reading and for a better understanding. So far college is helping me pay attention to words I did not know. I have picked up Tupac Shakur’s Holler If You Hear Me and I have read into it and got an understanding before it was assigned in class to read.
The first step in my transformation was leaving the TV. alone. Before the Everest College experience, I’d already felt that my mind needed to be nourished with knowledge. I felt like I didn’t know a lot of words and I needed to know the meaning and how to use them in context. I wanted a better job of course; I had to get more education. I believe that now that I am older I need education the most. I need education for a better understanding on life.
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