A Rhetorical Analysis Of BOW DOWN, Macklemore

One of the more prominent criticisms of hip that Rose points out is that there is a large amount of misplaced blame in the world of hip hop. She writes, “increasingly, too many of hip hop’s supporters point to structural racism to explain the origins of the problem but refuse to link these structural forces to individual action and to the power of media seduction” (p. 73). In this section of the second chapter, Rose is explaining that those who defend commercial hip hop are taking a more-or-less one-dimensional approach to their arguments by solely blaming structural racism and overlooking the

In Joan Morgan’s article “Fly-Girls, Bitches and Hoes: Notes of a Hip Hop Feminist”, she shows the way rap music has changed through it popularity. The widespread appreciation of rap had negative impacts upon the black community. Morgan talks about this through her Feminist point of view. She focuses the topic on what rap music says about the African American culture in Hip Hop. Rap music and Hip Hop were invented through the pain of African Americans. Hip Hop and the Rap industry use sexism and machoism to express the long years of oppressive pain they went through by the hands of the white people. Especially for the black brothers who continue that oppression by using provocative words that degrade the black sisters. Morgan states that blame isn’t only on the brothers

Macklemore’s song, “Same Love,” with Ryan Lewis, featuring Mary Lambert, tells the younger generation about discrimination against gays, homophobia, and inequality. The song calls out people who want freedom, where our country came from, and what are religion says to show how if we don’t accept gays, there is a lot we can never have. Macklemore is disappointed with the way hip hop and rap talk about gay people without realizing how difficult they are making gay’s lives. It is also great when Macklemore practically asks religious people how exactly they do not support gay rights, and why they believe it is wrong because God is supposed to love everyone. Macklemore gives his honest opinion on how he feels everyone should be equal, and there are no “buts” or “ifs.” I stand by his opinion about love being love no matter what. Macklemore’s song, “Same Love,” he talks about societies false ideas of gays, the way the term “gay” is used in hip hop music, and that we are not equal until we allow gay rights with a huge change at heart.

During the documentary a scene was shot at BET’s Spring Bling and a young male pointed out that women are determined to be b****** or women by the way they dress. Sexism is an issue that to society is not seen as important compared to the large number of black males incarcerated. The issue should be just as important if not more because one in four African American women is raped after the age eighteen. Most women who are called a b**** or another demeaning name think that it wasn’t referred to them, and either way is still unacceptable. Hip Hop is not being represented by men, which is why the decision of their lyrics is said the way that they

“He don't smack that ass and pull your hair like that” is a rather vulgar and demeaning statement, yet it is freely sung in Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke, a song that was in the top ten on the Billboard list of the most popular R&B/Hip-Hop songs in 2013. Because hip-hop is a very large part of the African American culture, and many speakers of African American English (AAE) are portrayed through these songs, women are often highly influenced by the objectification of their bodies in hip-hop songs. Since the emergence of the hip-hop genre in popular culture in the 1960s and 70s, women’s bodies have been sexually objectified through this music. Although the impact of the sexualization of women’s bodies in hip-hop songs is still very

Ben Haggerty, better known as Macklemore, is one of the most popular artists in the hip hop industry. He is best known for recognizing issues within society and using his influence to make a difference. The hip-hop industry has a huge impact on the youth. It influences the way people speak, act, and think. Constant discrimination towards race, gender and sexual orientation takes place among popular songs which encourages audiences to also act in discriminatory ways. “Same Love” was released in 2012 as part of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s The Heist album. The song, produced by Ryan Lewis and featuring Mary Lambert, discusses the false predispositions of homosexuality within today’s society. “Same Love” uses ethos, pathos, and logos to focus on issues of discrimination based on sexuality, gay rights, and marriage equality.

Macklemore reiterates that idea with the lyric: “A world so hateful some would rather die than be who they are.” Self-destruction is easily connected to repressing your inner personality, gender, and sexuality. By doing this, a conflict is created for gay, lesbian, and transgender people all over the world. Religious texts have stated that "persons currently can be only as male or female.” Discipline in creating a vision of femininity lies in the relentless suppression of women to social messages that highlight and defend the principles of the patriarchy. Women were seen as sexual beings: Women’s standard body language, a language of comparative strain and compression, is unspoken as a linguistic part of establishing hierarchies. A woman’s sexuality was seen as their most valuable quality and men enforced them. These ideals of presence, conduct, and gestures are put into place for men and women. Then, women over time try to take these ideals and use them in their everyday behavior. The idea of identity is defined

XXXTentacion used rhetorical communication about controversial topics such as: racism, police brutality and gun violence. Racism towards African Americans have been a problem for the last few years, but it gets worse as lives are being taken by violence. Innocent people get killed every day by frauds and fraudulent murders are alive and free while the deceased innocent people suffer from injustice. Banning sex toys and endorsing concealed guns are an example of irony on the term “obscene”. The act of violence doesn’t just happen in the fictional genre, it also happened in real life and violence doesn’t have race, gender or religion. How most people feel about the topics regarding racism, gun violence and police brutality are offended and narrow

Known for his hit song “Thrift Shop,” Ben Haggerty, recognized by the public as Macklemore, occasionally strays from the upbeat, catchy music about sex and partying that can be found on our radios to serious topics such as gay rights with “Same Love.” Macklemore pairs with Ariana DeBoo in his new album This Unruly Mess I’ve Made to create the song “Drug Dealer,” which focuses on the problem of prescription drug abuse in America. According to CNN, drugs have been the leading cause of death in our country since 2009, surpassing even car accidents and shootings (Christensen & Hernandez, 2016). In “Drug Dealer,” Macklemore uses provocative, detailed lyrics about the effects of prescription drugs and his own experience with drug addiction to persuade

Ben Haggerty, stage name “Macklemore”, crafted his moniker after a superhero he made growing up. It’s clear to see now that not all superheroS have THE MOST predictable powers. MACKLEMORE’S power lies in his activist through hip hop. It’s with his catchy beats and lyricism that he first hooks US in, but the more WE start to listen, the sooner WE discover hidden treasures. From songs recounting his struggle with substance abuse, the fight against homophobia, and the dangers of branding, Macklemore showcases a facet of very personal struggles. He brings them out and into the open but not just issues he’s had in his past, but issues he notices in his PRESENT. In his song “White Privilege II”, he calls out himself, celebrities, and all of white

The best example of there being a misconception in this song is in in the third line. Macklemore says, “I told my mom, tears rushing down my face.” (Macklemore, line 3).A little background, when Macklemore was in the third grade he thought that he was gay. The point that he was crying so much about thinking that he was gay made the point that he was either taught or grew up thinking that being gay was a bad thing.

As stated in the course textbook by Gebreamlak, “‘Macklemore has become the voice of a community to which he doesn't belong in a genre that already has a queer presence waiting to be heard by mainstream audiences’” (Ward, 2017, Chapter 6, “Policing Homophobia in Hip Hop,” para 5). Artists and listeners have openly spoken about how Macklemore does not have the experience to address such issues as if he is a part of them such as misogyny, homophobia, or transphobia when he is a white, cisgender male, middle-class rapper instead of a member of the LGBTQ community where these issues are very real for. To elaborate, the documentary pointed out that being a gay male of color is a lot more challenging than just being a gay male since African culture,

This song is about the struggles society creates for people identifying as a homosexual and discusses equality and discrimination of people that like the same sex. Macklemore was driven to write this song because of the issue of equal marriage right and the use of ‘gay’ as degrading word in society and in the hip hop industry. He wanted to set an example for others in the music industry, and help change the stereotypes of homosexuality. As Macklemore writes in his song ‘a bunch of stereotypes all in my head’ this shows that society riddles our brains into thinking that it isn’t alright to be gay, when really it is. These stereotypes make it hard for people to feel accepted about their sexuality. This song discusses how gay is used in an insultive way as quoted in the lyrics; ‘If I was gay I would think hip-hop hates me, Have you read the YouTube comments lately, "Man that's gay" Gets dropped on the daily, We've become so numb to what we're sayin'’ These examples show the connection of love, but in a different way to what we would usually expect. This song has a different view on the connection of love compared to other books with the theme of love, as it is about homosexuality rather than heterosexuality. In my opinion I think what Macklemore is trying to convey is very smart, and I believe that there should be equality on who you love. I also thing that the words such as ‘gay’ shouldn’t be used with such negative connotations, and I’m sure many others in our society would

The pop rock band Maroon 5’s new hit single Animals from their fifth studio album V is their 10th song to reach the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. At first glance it appears to be just another unoriginal pop rock song; melodic, repetitive. But as we look at the press that surrounds both the song and its music video we find a controversy surrounding sexual violence and objectification. There can be no question of a need of such discussion in regards to the themes that Animals the music video brings to light. That being said, the question in this discussion should not be whether it promotes these topics but rather if it does a good enough job of making the audience critically aware that these problems exist. This will be done by looking at the video and its song from a radical Feminist perspective. Bell Hooks defines Feminism as, “ a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression." And the first step of ending these things is showing how they are a part of our culture which this video does brillintly.

“Same Love”, (The Heist, Track 5, 2012) by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, is an extraordinary melody. This song is a Hip-hop song that was getting major radio play and winning multiple awards, that clearly defends and praises enthusiastically same-sex love, while at the same time, expressing hip-hop’s history of homophobia. The song is basically pointing out the fact that discrimination against homosexuality is obscene. In the beginning of the song, the character is having an inner conflict with himself because he is trying to interpret whether or not he is gay. Based on the lyrics, the character knows that homosexuality is a sin, and in the bible, God is very clear that it is a sin. For instance, in the third line Macklemore states "The right