The year 2020 has opened the eyes of many on the social injustices that exist between races. The events of 2020 made me want to examine the trends that exist in songs that are written about these injustices.
My earliest choice is Tupac’s “Changes” which was released in 1992. Tupac’s approach is quite different than my other choices, and I suspect it has to do with the time period and how taboo of a topic racial injustices were in the 90’s. If you notice on the chart, Tupac’s is the smallest because his tone and diction are significantly different than the other songs I mention. Unlike Hill’s explicit contemptuous tone for the way that African Americans are treated, Tupac takes a sadder approach in getting his message across. Hill uses the line “Rapings and beatings and suffering that worsens” against the melody of Christmas song “My Favorite Things” to express her obvious frustration with society’s treatment of African Americans. Tupac on the other hand takes a sadder tone and considering the time period, I understand why. In this time period, African Americans were painted as criminals. With this in mind he uses lyrics like, “Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares/ One less hungry mouth on the welfare,” to get his point across.
In “Changes” Tupac’s diction is more laid back, not because he didn’t care about these enduring issues, but because the time period didn’t really allow for social change. Tupac had to adjust his word choice so he uses words like, “That’s just the way it is/ Things will never be the same/ That’s just the way it is.” His diction created a chorus that everyone is still familiar with today. If you also notice, “Changes” has one of the higher points in danceability, which I imagine was done purposefully. Tupac probably felt that the best way for the song to catch was by making sure it becomes popular, hence why the song is danceable, and the others are not. Lil Baby’s “The Bigger Picture” on the other hand literally starts with snippets of media coverage. Lil Baby’s real and honest diction is calling out for a more immediate social change because African Americans are living in a state of constant paranoia.
The last two songs, Eminem’s “Untouchable” and Childish Gambino’s “This is America” are unique as they take a satirical approach to America’s racial disparities. Eminem uses his position as a white rapper to emphasize how society views people like him as “untouchable.” He includes himself in the white narrative by singing, “And just in case a chase might ensue, we got that tried and true/ Pistol drew right at you, we’d be delighted to unload it/In your back, then walk up and lay that taser on the side of you.” Here he is making fun of the excessive violence white police officers use African Americans. Eminem’s satirical approach is obvious in his lyrics, but for “This is America” you need to watch the music video in order to truly appreciate Childish Gambino’s satirical approach. In the music video, Childish Gambino shoots down several different people, but the guns are always handled more carefully than the human lives it just took. I believe that “This is America” is a statement to people who put priority in their guns over the gun violence that is happening against African- Americans.
As can be seen in the infographic, each artist has taken a unique approach to how they view racial injustices. While each song is very different, one thing is for sure, they are all making a heavy political statement.
