JTerm Mixtape

1. 2Pac, Keep Ya Head Up. I chose Tupac Shakur's song Keep Ya Head Up because of the fundamental message within the lyrics: Keep Ya Head Up. The first verse of the song concerns keeping optimistic even when feeling alone with the odds against you. The first and second verses of the song touch upon the role of women, or specifically mothers. The lyrics praise of the role of women and demand for their respect. The third verse reiterates more ideas of resilience and positivity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V0cfqqRYSs
2. Post Malone, Go Flex. Although Post Malone’s Go Flex is braggadocious, it is unconventionally braggadocious. Instead of boasting about various designers and luxury sport cars, Post Malone just expresses his interest in going and showing off. The lyrics imply Post Malone’s addiction on to cigarettes to fight anxiety. The line in the hook, “And I’m stone cold with the flex,” refers to wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin, as Post Malone’s birthname is Austin Post. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQjsAJhsSw8
3. J.Cole and Missy Elliott, Nobody’s Perfect. This song falls into the love song category of hip-hop. The chorus of the song expresses that this girl, with all of her flaws, is the dream girl for Cole. The song goes in depth about the relations between Cole and this woman. I think what sells the song for me is the the featuring of Missy Elliot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Pt0RHz_tno
4. The Notorious B.I.G, Suicidal Thoughts. This song stands out so unique because there are virtually no other songs that are formatted the same way. Suicidal Thoughts, although somewhat encouraging or at least justifying a negative message, begins with a call from Biggie to a friend. The rest of the song, until the suicide, is like a regular conversion over the phone. The two talk over each other. Aside from the stylistically unique format of the piece, the lyrics are also well thought out and powerful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GygEAcFFMVs
5. Ludacris and Nicki Minaj, My Chick Bad. This is an overall fun and (at least for me) is an original song. Although the lyrics have no significant meaning they are incredibly quick and clever. I also felt the need to add a song with a Nicki Minaj featuring because I think she is greatly underrated. Nicki Minaj in My Chick Bad, as in other songs, writes lyrics with sharp rhymes and delivers them with a strong persona. The beat of My Chick Bad isn’t very intricate but gives an almost fighting feel to the song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqHliQijgvA
6. 50 Cent & LoveRance, UP!. Another song with unmeaningful lyrics, yet incredibly quick, clever and catchy. Even though I had heard the song prior, I really developed a liking for this song after watching Mac and Devin Go To High School with Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa. The song is part of the movie’s soundtrack. It is hard to believe that someone can disagree with the objectifying lyrics of a song so strongly, but still suggest it to others and love it as I do with UP!. The deliverance of the third verse is the most impressive throughout the entire song.
7. Chance The Rapper, Same Drugs. Contrary to popular belief, Same Drugs is not about drugs. Chance The Rapper clarified this in one of his tweets. Same Drugs reflects on a young Chance The Rapper and a love interest of his in which have grown apart. The song talks about how as they mature into adults they develop different interests. Chance The Rapper allegorizes Peter Pan in his lyrics in one of the verses during the doing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxc_egMgY80
8. Drake, Marvins Room. Like many of Drake’s songs do, Marvins Room falls into a category of love hip hop songs. I really like the intro to the song as well as Drake calls one of his exes. In the song, it is implied that Drake is drunk and is making a conventional drunk call to an ex; however, his lyrics would suggest that he thinks about this woman much more than just when drinking. Drake encourages his love interest to leave the man she is with because he can tell that she is unhappy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwyjxsOYnys
9. Kendrick Lamar and Drake, Poetic Justice. I thought Poetic Justice was a suitable song for the mixtape for a course centering around hip hop and poetry. Strangely for Kendrick Lamar, the lyrics to Poetic Justice directly concern poetry rather than satirize or comment on social issues. The lyrics draw a sensual meaning as, if you listening directly to the lyrics, a girl explains how her legs are like poems. Like many of his lyrics, Kendrick Lamar impressively allegorizes many different things in each of his lines. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyr2gEouEMM
10. Nas and Lauryn Hill, If I Ruled the World (Imagine That). This song is a great way to go out on the mixtape. Nas and Lauryn Hill rap about the social issues of impoverished blacks. The two express how they believe and have seen that in trying to escape the hardships of “the hood,” people have turned to negative resources, becoming gangsters and drug dealers. Lauryn Hill sings the majority of the chorus, exclaiming that if she ruled the world this would be one of the problems she fixed immediately. Like other hip hop artists, Nas and Lauryn Hill are trying to draw attention to an issue they have has not been addressed or fixed adequately. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW55FRXlPEs