For the last 30 years, rap music has become a medium for artists to use powerful lyrics to send secure messages through self-expression. The rap genre has become a means of expressing themes of solidarity, freedom of speech, tolerance, and outrage against social injustices. Rap music is a source of self-expression that artists use to deliver meaningful messages through tone, artistic style, experience, and powerful lyrics. Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Alright’ shows that although he has become a well-known and highly respected artist in the hip-hop industry, he proceeds to experience ethnic subordination in a country that believes discrimination has been left in the past. The loud and chastising lyrics convey messages about drug abuse and his anger at the police, which continues to target minorities in senseless acts of police brutality. Similar to Tupac Shakur’s song ‘Changes’, he raps about the problems that African American communities face, such as poverty, racism, and violence. Shakur also mentions the possible solutions to social problems experienced by African Americans. As well as Eminem’s ‘White America’, he addresses being a white rapper in America and the negative attention that he has gotten from becoming successful in rap, while being one of the first white people to do so. Similarly, Eminem discusses the constant discrimination he faced within the music industry due to the genre being predominately African American. All of these artists share similar ideals that communicate racial issues for different purposes, the tone of their lyrics, and the intended audience, which varies with the music’s content and how the message is interpreted.
All three artists and their songs, Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Alright’, Tupac Shakur’s ‘Changes’, and Eminem’s ‘White America’, share similar ideals protesting against racial issues seen throughout their different personal experiences. Kendrick Lamar has many lines in ‘Alright’ that point to police violence against African Americans. Such as the line, “And we hate po-po / Wanna kill us dead in the street for sure”. The lyric relates explicitly to police brutality tying it directly to police violence against oppressed communities while connecting the song to the Black Lives Matter movement. Similarly, Tupac Shakur describes the relationship between race and police brutality in ‘Changes’ by stating, “Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a negro, he’s a hero”. Tupac describes social problems in African American communities such as the state of police brutality, gang violence, the influence of drugs, while expressing the idea that changes need to be made. In a different perspective, Eminem, being white and one of the biggest rappers of this generation, sees how differently he gets treated due to his race and how unfair it is to have such an advantage for such an outrageous reason such as race. He stands for a racial stereotype, that the only reason he sells albums is that he is white, while stating that “Let’s do the math: if I was black, I woulda sold half”, as well as the line “I’m like my skin is it starting to work to my benefit now?”. Eminem’s purpose of this song is to address the criticism that he received from the government, the white community, and the music industry. Furthermore, each musician shows similar messages displayed in their songs while each artist used different styles of tone in their music; the different tones helped each song to express different purposes of protest.
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Each artist uses varying styles of tone to express different feelings behind the purpose of what each artist is protesting. Tupac Shakur and Kendrick Lamar display an uplifting and a positive-sounding tone behind darker lyrics, while Eminem’s tone was furious and blunt in his song ‘White America’. As a window into reality, Shakur depicts an inside look into the dark reality that is how many African American people deal with life every day in his song ‘Changes’. Shakur provides a variety of melodic musical elements helping facilitate the tone of the song. As Shakur raps, his tone is calm and relaxed throughout the song. The tone that Shakur brings to the song through his voice is defensive, although he raps calmly the lyrics portray how angry he is with the world around him along with the environment that many oppressed live in stating, “I see no changes all I see is racist faces/ Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races/ We under I wonder what it takes to make this/ One better place”. The value of change encourages ways to address complex social issues, such as racism, while leaving behind a feeling of hope through change. In contrast, Lamar addresses a similar message in his song ‘Alright’. Lamar speaks amongst police violence and violence in African American communities due to the unnecessary ease of access to guns. Lamar uses a mesmerizing rhythmic repetition of the chorus “We gon’ be alright”, which makes an effective protest chant deeply linked with Black Lives Matter and the battle against police brutality of oppressed ethnicities. Eminem’s tone delivers differently from Shakur, and Lamar in his song ‘White America’. Eminem expresses his anger through his aggressive lines as he sporadically draws on an angry tone. Therefore, Eminem delivers a powerful message by responding to his critics as well as the government. He also fights for the authoritative right to freedom of expression and symbolizes the censoring of it by swapping the American flag with the content advisory label. These three songs use different tones to help convey the messages that the artists are sending out to their intended audiences.
Intended audiences play a crucial role in the perceived message that each artist conveys through their lyrics. Tupac Shakur attempts to offer solutions or ‘changes’ to various corrupt issues that go on daily within minority communities. Furthermore, Shakur uses a melodic and meaningful way of delivering his song. Kendrick Lamar speaks about similar issues in the community that he grew up in, which results in a different delivery of the song ‘Alright’ to the audience due to his uplifting beat and protest orientated hook. Although Lamar and Shakur speak of similar issues, Lamar is speaking of more recent acts of police brutality in recent years, whereas Shakur spoke of these issues as he states, “We ain’t ready, to see a black President”. Shakur wrote the song ‘Changes’ in 1992 and it was re-released in 1998 after his passing in 1996. Coming from different generations, Lamar has directed his music towards more current events in oppressed cultures, which the lyrics of his song ‘Alright’ have been picked up and used by the Black Lives Matter movement during protests. Both Lamar and Shakur have similar audiences, the oppressed communities around the world, even though coming from different periods in time, the messages of Shakur’s 1998 song ‘Changes’ still serve relevant to a similar audience today. Whereas Eminem’s song ‘White America’ is directed at a different kind of audience. This song was intended for all of the people that put down his music, his critics, and the government. Although Eminem’s intended audience is not directed toward the same audience as Shakur or Lamar, each song represents freedom of speech in different ways. Shakur might have written ‘Changes’ in the late ’90s, Lamar’s song ‘Alright’ is still intended for a similar audience, and Eminem’s ‘White America’ still reach an audience worldwide today, having the importance of their messages be heard by millions no matter who is listening.
Each song that was written by these artists is significant as they embody the importance of freedom of speech. Freedom of speech allows these artists and many more to express themselves, especially oppressed cultures that are not heard by the government or by the people. Shakur, Lamar, and Eminem all were able to apply freedom of speech to express their messages that needed to be heard. The genre of rap has evolved continuously over the past decades into a new form of free speech and protest. Without this medium, artists such as Kendrick Lamar would not be able to express their concerns and have their voices heard. Censorship in rap music would, therefore, undermine the progress that the genre has made since the style reflects expression and the ability to speak out about current issues in society.
These three artists, Kendrick Lamar, Tupac Shakur, and Eminem, all share similar ideals that express concern for racial issues with different purposes, the tone of their lyrics, and the intended audience that varies with the content of the music and the interpretation of the message. Lamar discusses current issues of discrimination in oppressed communities, whereas Tupac Shakur discussed similar discrimination in the ’90s to modern-day discrimination. Thus, Eminem spoke about how he faced a different type of racial discrimination from the government, the people, and the music industry. Eminem was under constant scrutiny by the people because of the content in his music, but because he was white every lyric was looked at under a microscope like he states in ‘White America’, “And they connected with me too, because I looked like them/ That’s why they put my lyrics up under this microscope”. Because Eminem is white and the first major white rap artist, white people decided to take Eminem as their own, which birthed the disapproval of his music by white people, which he was blamed for corrupting the white youth. Both Shakur and Lamar took to their communities and oppressed communities worldwide with their music promoting a sense of hope and comfort among their audience. All three artists using their unique style, from harmonious melodies to fast-paced angry lyrics, the artists were all able to contribute to a broad audience spreading essential messages. Rap music promotes freedom of expression, and without that, many people’s voices would be silenced, and the progression being made toward essential issues would not be advancing in the direction they are today. To that end, the rap genre as a whole is vital to many people, different communities, and societies around America because rap allows artists to convey essential issues within America today.
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