For the past couple of days, I've been wondering what the meaning of this song means. “Crooked Smile” has a lot of meaning to it. I’m here today to tell you why we all should live life to the fullest regardless to our Crooked Smile. This song is meaningful to me because it explains how people today act. Nobody’s perfect but but everyone wants to be. The author of this piece did a very good job of explaining this throughout the song. Who is the author you might ask? Jermaine Lamarr Cole. Jermaine Cole, better known as J. Cole is a Hip-Hop artist. He was born on January 28, 1985 in Frankfurt Germany. J. Cole first got recognition in 2007, after the release of his mixtape called “The Come Up”. The song “Crooked Smile” symbolizes American life today in various ways. …show more content…
Cole said “ you wake up, put makeup on, stare in the mirror but it’s clear you can’t face what's wrong, there's no need to fix what God has already put his paintbrush on”. I think he's trying to express how people or women in this case try to change who they really are to change their destiny in life. We shouldn’t because everyone has a ending in life. We should not be doing anything now to change our future. He also says “Look at the nation, that's a crooked smile braces couldn’t even straighten.” I think he’s trying to say people make our nation seem like it’s a beautiful place, picture perfect when it’s really
His path started like many others as Hip-Hop usually just talks about degrading of women, promiscuity, guns and drugs. When Cole finished high school he went off to college at St. Johns University. He had always helped young African Americans at some point in their lives that have had similar dreams of becoming something in life. Rap has always dominated most of the black community to assist in the expression of their feelings, emotions and situations. Single parent homes are very common in the African American Community, and J. Cole’s is also a product of this unfortunate circumstance as he writes about his life through his music. He has been fascinated by rap since he was fourteen and followed his dreams becoming Jay-Z’s
J. Cole talks about his insecurities such as his “crooked teeth” and expresses how nobody is perfect (22). Cole also says “I keep my twisted grill, just to show the kids it’s real” (9). Cole is now a famous artist who has the money to fix his crooked teeth but chooses to keep it the way it is to express that “We ain’t picture perfect but we worth the picture still” (10). Cole then transitions his lyrics that will target young women listeners. He expresses how some women are “Killing themselves to find a man that’ll kill for them” (17). Cole then encourages women to not “fix what God already put his paint brush on” (20). On the second verse of the song, Cole says “To all the women with the flaws, know it’s hard my darling” (28). This part of the song aims towards female listeners. Cole says “When I tell you that you’re beautiful you can’t be sure ‘cause he don’t seem to want you back and it’s got you asking” (30-31). This part of the lyrics explains how some women do not believe they are beautiful due to the fact that they cannot find a man. He later says “Take it from a man that loves what you got and baby girl you’re a star, don’t let ‘em tell you you’re not” (33-34). By saying this, he is promoting self-love and inner beauty amongst the generation. However, it did make me question why the lyrics and music video did not match. Although they do not technically match visually, the
The overall themes of this poem are beauty, love, and destiny. The speaker constantly discusses beautiful things and how they can help us. Love can be felt throughout the entire poem. In the first stanza, the speaker verbalizes how he “came with love of the race.” He also expresses love for the beautiful things around him. The theme destiny can be seen in the third stanza when the speaker talks about staying on course. It can also be identified in the last stanza when he describes something inevitable that was about to
The song “Change” by J. Cole, is about his close friend, James McMillian’s who was murdered at 22 years old and learning about it when it was reported on the local news station. Throughout the song he raps about his emotional experience dealing with his friends death. In the beginning of the song he states “My intuition is telling me there’ll be better days” is him saying that he is hopeful that his grief subsides and it will eventually get easier as the days go on. Towards the end of the song he raps “I made it home, I woke up and turned on the morning news overcame with a feeling I can’t explain cause that was my brother James that was slain, he was 22.” This verse was him explaining how he heard the news that his friend was murdered.
To me this song is saying that we should praise God because He cares about every single detail in our lives. I see this as a reminder that God cares about
The reality is that it means something different to everyone, but the underlying tone is a song written from a dark place about pain. The song opens with one minute of distorted machine sound, it then transitions into a slow building (1:11) where the drums eventually come in with a strong beat (1:59) that gives the song a feeling of angst and guilt. The distorted electric guitar reappears (2:30) using the technology of the time to create a raspy and sinister sound. The song begins and ends with the buzz of an amp that feels empty and hollow as if reflecting on the emotions of the artist. His voice is soft and whispered and almost creates the imagery of the voices or demons in your
Which is similar led back to that central idea which it was importance to revealing emotions. Like when the song said, “Fighting with the shadows in your head,Living out the same old moment Knowing you'd be better off instead” (Mayer).Just as the song address that sometime people live in the past because they can’t see the future that is waiting on their life that fear of showing the emotion showing who they truly are stop them to see the meaning and purpose of their life. Which shows that similar between the song and the book that it was importance to revealing emotions because it define the person who you are today. Also in the song author use repetition to show us the key idea that, “Say what you need to say” (Mayer). This show us that act all the emotion out, say what you need to say, don’t hide you fear and feel act it out don’t be embarrassed to cry, because that was who your truly are, show all you inner fear and feeling about other and yourself. Don’t live a regret of your
Why women smile”, I consider this as a very interesting essay. However, the statement of “how deep and how much a woman smile can hide” is totally make me feeling uncomfortable, because I do not think we/woman use our “smile” to hide our feelings or anything at this point. Honestly, “hide” is a strong word to me. In fact, smile is generally recognized as a courtesy in our society. What seduction or evil works has to do with woman’s smile? Are all woman‘s smiles coming with “bad” intention? What about a man’s smile? I understand that there could be many reasons behind a smile, but it is definitely a better way to escalate our feeling, sometimes it could be something that we do not want to share (privacy) or we simply cannot share
J. Cole has always written songs with powerful messages. From the “Lost Ones” to “Crooked Smile”, for the younger audience and grown audience to examine their own lives. There has not been an artist to write like Cole since Tupac. To understand J. Cole you would have to know his background. Born in Frankfurt, Germany and relocated to Fayetteville, North Carolina. His father served in the army and his mother German. At the age of twelve Cole started rapping and at fifteen he took more seriously till he was later signed to Jay Z’s label Roc-Nation. Since being signed to Roc-Nation Cole has dropped two Mixtapes and released three successful albums that have gone platinum. The song “Be free” was released in Mid-August of 2014. “Be free” was
J Cole’s fourth studio album tries to break away from the typical rap sounding album into something that transcends just a piece of artwork. Instead, it is a piece of artwork. At its core, the meaning challenges the idea of glorifying a life of crime. Using imagery and strong word play, J Cole reveals the consequences of living in this life. However, he empathizes
Firstly, I would like to talk about the title of chapter four: The Cynical Smirk. I thought it was interesting because I think it means that when a negative person who does not support or believe in something that will happen is right for doubting for the cause is right, will be happy that were right. So basically a cynical person who is happy that his intuition was right that something would not succeed, but really that smirk is pointless. Being happy that something failed seems unproductive and the results had no impact on the person if they failed is being happy over nothing.
Author Aviva Rutkin describes rising on-body camera use in the article “Smile, You’re on Camera,” published in the July 2015 issue of New Scientist. People worldwide are finding surprising uses for on-body cameras with video recording features. Uses range from security to entertainment. Interestingly, police units in the United States are pairing officers with the latest wearable cameras with U.S. Government assistance. As a result, the police force has a new layer of protection for themselves and the public, which may prevent future unrest. According to Rutkin, South Florida public workers also have on-body cameras, setting a trend to ensuring a higher level of safety. Beyond government use, these cameras are appealing to service groups and
Cole’s musical idols, which greatly influenced his musical style. His style captures the attention from younger generations and the adolescent population, whom also came from an uneasy childhood and along the way lost motivation. “I 'm here to spread a message of hope. Follow your heart. Don 't follow what you 've been told you 're supposed to do.” (Music times, 2014) Through this message, J. Cole constantly portrays to be an ambition seeking activist. He hopes to project hope in those who are struggling by sharing his life challenges and voicing how he overcame
In essence, this song carries various sociological concepts. It concentrates on the main idea about the social construction of reality and talking about how reality is changing. The song questions the actions and mentally of individuals violating the norms and values of society. The band takes into consideration various factors of why it is happening including the media and religion. As a result they talk about such influences taking control building and developing a sense of self. This is a great song about present day problems and how society changes with them.
There are numerous literary devices used in this song. One of the literary devices used is symbolism. The snowman that the narrator keeps referring to, symbolizes love. The love that the narrator has for her sister and how she’d do anything for her. Her loves her and just wants to be with her, no matter what they do. The empty rooms also symbolize the emptiness that the narrator feels without her sister. The rooms represent the space in her heart meant for her sister, but it’s empty because her sister isn’t there. The door separating the sisters symbolizes the defence mechanism that the narrator's sister puts up. The narrator is trying to get her sister to take that “wall” down so she can comfort her and help her in any way possible. The bicycle is a symbol of the journey that the narrator's sister is on. The journey that she must endure to break the repetitive cycle of her blocking her sister out. The clock is a countdown to when the narrator and her sister will finally break down the wall. It’s just a matter of time. In conclusion, this song represents family and a bond that never be broken. Even through rough times, family will always be by your