Considered their masterpiece, the song Dance With The Devil is a five-minute rap that describes a young man named Billy Jacobs who spirals into a world of drugs and violence due to the world’s corruptive atmosphere. Although the song is the story about one person, the message speaks to all of humanity about the extremes that result from our inner feelings of greed and selfishness. Dance With The Devil is an accurate depiction of how devilish feeling lurk beneath all individuals and we can all relate to its message by revaluating how we respond to our greed and selfishness. Many are unfavorable towards the songs graphic story as it portrays how evil and cruel humans can be. The five-minute rap is not exactly one that can be played while eating at a restaurant or going shopping.
For far too long the American mantra has been “Hip hop causes violence!” Presidential candidates, senators, even our current president has placed blame on hip hop for staining the moral fabric of our country. School shootings, domestic violence, children being lost in a world of drugs is all placed on the shoulders of hip hop musicians and their soul deep lyrics. Studies have shown that those prone to violence do listen to a heavier style of music than adult contemporary and light jazz, but their home life was lacking. Their parents were either already into drugs and drug dealing, they always witnessed violence in their home and surroundings and they were never guided down the right path. Their parents took little to no interest in them as they were seen as a “mistake” and most came from single parent homes.
The narrator’s environment reveals the despair in being an African American. The narrator thinks of his brother saying “He had been picked up, the evening before, in a raid on an apartment down-town, for peddling and using heroin.” This is already a sad fact. When someone has to turn to illegal crimes it shows a major issue. To make matters worse the narrator states “these boys (his students), now, were living as we'd been living then.” The state and condition that led to Sonny to a life of drugs and crime isn’t unique. In fact it is almost perpetual to all in the community.
This all too often comes in the form of rap idols and gangs. The message of most rap lyrics, specifically gangster rap, is reflective of the hopelessness that pervades the black and urban community, and justifies an outlaw lifestyle. The Observational Learning Theory directly ties to the influence of rap and media since it emphasizes the importance of observing and modeling the behaviors, attitudes and reactions of others. These observations then become a way of learning
All in all Dyson's main points to his argument is understanding how rap came to be, the negative and positive images that gangsta rap portrays to the black community, and acknowledging that rap music shows true beliefs about growing up in bad black neighborhoods. Rap originated from the early '70s during the Rosetta stone of black culture. Jobs were being losses in the inner cities. Lack of social services in predominantly black rural areas opened up drugs and violence in black communities. Therefore rap came to be the main way of expressing social oppression in black communities.
The novel takes place in Chicago. Bigger after interacting acting with his friends and family (in a negative manner), he then goes to receive a job offer from the Daltons, a wealthy and white family. The novel then goes on to show how the conflicting emotions, the need to be submissive and the need to assertive, collapse into a violent spiral in which Bigger murders two women. This collapse is due to the fact that Bigger can’t deal with the conflicting emotions (submissiveness and assertiveness) and the
In the book Monster written by Walter Dean Myers, it focuses on the important issues of basic stereotypes pertaining to young black males. Steve’s battle to prove his innocence within the novel is the statement being addressed against the prejudice justice system. The statement being addressed is the fact that a teen is being accused of murder while trying to clear his name in both the legal and social setting in life. Steve is a 16 year old male who claims to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, and in fact is a victim to an inaccurate eyewitness account. He has to deal with the most frightening nature of the justice system facing the death penalty.
Living in the ghetto is a time of darkness and despair for most black families and for a majority of the people it is a way of life and death. In “Sonny’s Blues, Baldwin captures the lives of one particular African American Family tumultuous life in Harlem during the era of segregation with conflict and secrets that almost destroy the family structure. The analysis of the Narrator’s character helps to understand the theme of acceptance through the art of listening. As the story unfolds, the Narrator is alternating between unbelief and fear over his estranged brother’s troubles and the acceptance of his [brother’s] lifestyle. “I read about it in the paper, in the subway, on my work, I read it, and I couldn’t believe it and I read it again.
The cycle continues with Grange’s son, Brownfield, as he brutally abuses his wife and children—murdering his wife in the end. Ruth, Brownfield’s daughter, is able to beat the odds and break the sequence of domestic abuse and racism. Several factors prompt the victimization of women illustrated throughout the novel. The main force is the need for male dominance and power, a desire that results from societal oppression (racism), which the African American men face in the South. All of the characters victimized by racism, as well as domestic violence, are negatively impacted.
As the result, the poverty was inherited to next generation repeatedly. Roger represents the group of the poor black men. His face was “dirty” and he was “frail and willow-wild” in his clothes. In addition, he tried to steal money from Mrs. Jones illegally. About these problems, the writer tried to enlighten the poor black men through Mrs. Jones’ words although it is faint and indirect.