Racism, classism, and internal conflicts are all symptoms indicative of a society with problems that affect some people more than others. The rapper Akala tackles all of these issues, using both personal experience and imitation of another person in his song “Find No Enemy,” released in 2011. He confronts the connotations of his mixed-race heritage in a society that’s supposedly post-racial, misconceptions about people groups like adherents of Islam or Africans, the bad sides of foreign policy, growing up around violence and drugs, people internalizing hatred towards their skin color, the “N-word”, white disdain of black culture, and conflicts on the global scale, like the Armenian genocide. Akala is a British rapper with a history of tackling social issues, and this song is no exception. Akala uses Aristotle’s Three Appeals of Ethics, Emotions, and Logic, as well as a tone near pleading, to convey his feelings, especially disdain, towards social issues in today’s life.
The song begins with soft notes from an electric guitar, some drawn-out and wailing, and a bass line that imitates it. The first few couplets of the song set the precedent that continues throughout the whole song, of uninterrupted verses, with no chorus or refrain to back it up. The first few couplets also immediately begin pondering the categorization of Akala because of his skin color, using words and phrases that make him doubt that the categories he’s placed in have much meaning, seen when he begins the song by saying “Apparently I'm second-generation black Caribbean / And half white Scottish whatever that means / See lately I feel confused with the boxes / Cause to me all they do is breed conflict” (1-4). This attitude of disregarding categorization based on outside opinion appeals to the listener’s sense of ethics, because the majority of the audience would feel that skin color shouldn’t have an effect on how one was treated. A few lines later, Akala goes on to say, “Why must I rob you of your humanity / To feel good about mine?” taking the perspective of one who judges based on skin color and asking a rhetorical question to illustrate the absurdity of racism, also appealing to the ethical sense of the listener. These are only two examples of Akala appealing to the sense of morality possessed by his listeners.
As most societal issues are personal for a significant portion of any given population, “Find No Enemy” also appeals to the emotions of the listeners. Some such populations include people of color, those against Western intervention in the wars of the Middle East, and those with a “rougher” upbringing. Akala’s rhetoric, or word choice, helps with this when he uses words or phrases connected to violence, such as “kill,” “hung you from trees,” and “whips crack.” For listeners with a deep understanding of modern history, lines 80 through 83 have an especially strong emotional connection, because “That was the word that was used to kill Kelso Cochrane and Emmett Till / That was the word that the conscience eased / And made people pleased to hung you from trees” refers to both the use of the “N word” in modern music, which many people of color like Akala oppose, and how it was used by the same white people who would lynch people of color, making it a very negative emotional reaction to many people. As such, Akala uses the emotional appeal of pathos to express his disdain for some societal issues that impact his listeners.
As this song is based in societal issues which cannot be solved with quantities or numerical analyses, the appeal of logos isn’t as present as ethos or pathos. That’s not to say that the appeal to logic is entirely missing, however, it’s just harder to recognize. Lines 21 and 22 touch on the unifying qualities of all humanity, saying “Are we not all the same under the skin? / I got a heart like yours that pumps blood and oxygen” shortly after a line wondering how anyone could be racist. The quote shows how Akala genuinely can’t understand why anyone would be racist from a logical standpoint, as it also touches on the fact that there is no biological difference between the races other than a few superficial things, like skin color and facial structure. This logical exposition shows how Akala is “fed up” with some certain viewpoints he references in “Find No Enemy.”
The tone Akala uses through the whole song remains the same, a near-indescribable tone of a mix of pleading and teaching, with a certain quality of being beaten down in certain lines. It almost sounds like he’s begging the listener to understand his viewpoint, without explicitly stating it. Lines 60 through 63, where “They can keep the charts, all I want is your hearts” is repeated, are perfect examples of the tone of pleading and teaching, as he reassures his listeners that his lack of mainstream attention or success means nothing to him, and his priority is still making music for his fans. His tone in the verse in lines 38 through 42, where he states “And if I'm honest I am just tired / If I'm honest I am just tired / Tired of everyday filling up my car and knowing that / I'm paying for the bombs in Iraq” is a good example of the quality of being beaten down, as he sounds like he is, as he says, tired of inadvertently helping fuel his country’s war machine by doing something as simple as getting gas for his car. Akala’s tone, with mostly negative connotations, helps to convey his disdain for some social issues he confronts.
The appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos, as well as tone, were all tools used by British rapper Akala to convey his disdain for certain societal issues, as well as confront them. Akala draws from his personal experiences when referring to racial issues, and broader historical themes and trends when it comes to other issues. The issues tackled by Akala in “Find No Enemy” only constitute a drop of water in an ocean, in that there are infinitely more topics he could’ve included.
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A Rhetorical Analysis of Akala’s “Find No Enemy.
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