Jay Z Thesis

557 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: An essay on jay z

Young Carter swung his way into rap at a youthful age as a departure from the drugs, savagery and destitution that encompassed him in the Marcy Projects. Jay wanted to better himself and did that by getting out of what is known as the “corner life lifestyle.” Be that as it may, despite the fact that he had a stage name, Jay Z remained generally unknown until he and two companions, Damon Dash and Kareem Burke, established their own particular record name, Roc-a-Fella Records, in 1996 (Rubin, 2015). In 1989, he joined the rapper Jaz-O—a more seasoned entertainer who served sort of like a mentor that guided to record a song called "The Originators," which won the pair an appearance on a scene of Yo! MTV Raps. It was right when Shawn Carter grasped the nickname Jay Z, which was at the same time a tribute to Jaz-O, a play on Carter's adolescence nickname of "Jazzy" and a reference to the J/Z tram station close to his Brooklyn home (Caramanica, 2012). Jay Z expresses in his song “Empire State of Mind” what it is like to …show more content…

Jay Z raps in his song “Empire State of Mind,” “I'm out that Brooklyn, now I'm down in Tribeca right next to DeNiro, but I'll be hood forever” (Jay Z). Even though Jay Z got out of Brooklyn and made it as a successful rapper living the good life making millions of dollars, he states that he will still be “hood forever.” Jay stays loyal to himself and his hometown. He does not act like he is better than anyone else just because he grew out of his roots. Another great example that shows Jay’s true loyalty to himself and his fans is when he raps, “Took it to my stash spot, 560 State St” (Jay Z). Before Jay Z became successful, he lived in an apartment at 560 State St. off of one of Brooklyn’s busiest corners. A fun fact, when Jay was filming his music video for “Empire State of Mind,” he actually raps this line in front of the actual building he lived in at 560 State St (Kelly

Show More
Related

  • Synthesis Essay On Rap Music

    746 Words  | 2 Pages

    Music can be reflection of our life experience. Each genre of music invokes different emotions and reactions in it's listeners. Rap has become a very popular genre in today's society. Is today “Gangster rap” and rappers exploiting society, introducing drugs and instigating violence? In the mid-1980s Gangster rap came to be portray images of violence, guns, gangs, drugs, and sexism. By the 1990s rap music became a major part of the industry and topped the charts. As people begin to operate different things; different music was engendered and that contributed to the variety of music that we have today. This is one of the many things that makes America different but is astringently under looked by everyone. There are many types of different raps

    Read More

  • Jay Z and Panjabi MC's Song Beware of the Boys

    338 Words  | 1 Pages

    Sean Carter or known as Jay Z to his fans is a multy-platinum, world famous rap artist with record sales of over a million, had never previously done anything like this collaboration. Jay and Panjabi MC were hooked up through their managers after Jay heard some of Panjabi’s work while on vacation. Jay brings an American hip hop vibe to the song and on the other hand Panjabi Mc brings bhangra beats. Bhangra is a traditional style of music, whose main components are comprised of the dhol, tumbi and Punjabi lyrics. It is said that Bhangra was started in the 14th or 15th century when farmers would come home after the harvest. After the harvest the farmers would celebrate the long months of hard work with bhangra which meant dancing to drum beats and even singing. The song itself has a very special sound to it, the track starts off in English with Jay Z rapping and then Panjabi MC's lyrics, which are sung in Punjabi the words mean Translated, are a warning to a 16-year-old girl to be leery of guys who are trying to take her innocence.

    Read More

  • Jay-Z Bio

    369 Words  | 1 Pages

    He was introduced to the life of drugs and crime at the age of 16, where he stayed and didn’t look back until, in 1992, he decided to leave the world of drugs and crime. Soon after doing this, he began looking for a record deal as a solo artist. But Shawn just wasn’t getting lucky. It wasn't until a friend, Roc-A-Fella CEO Damon Dash, convinced him to form a record company with him that Jay-Z's career finally got off the ground. Jay-Z released his first single through Roc-A-Fella in 1995, "In My Lifetime." It was a hit in New York, and helped Dash secure a distribution deal for Jay-Z’s first album, “Reasonable Doubt.”

    Read More

  • Lil Wayne: Theories of Personality

    2833 Words  | 6 Pages

    Raised as an only child, Dwayne Micheal Carter Jr or more commonly referred to as Lil Wayne, was born September 27th, 1982, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Carter’s mother was only 19 years old when he was first born. He was being raised by both his mother and father until his father abandoned them while Dwayne Jr. was only two years old. After being abandoned by his biological father, his mother was forced to take care of him on her own and survive in the crime infested community of Holly grove, New Orleans. Even though he divorced his mother and remarried, his father forced the two live with his own mother and came by to abuse Lil Wayne’s mother on a consistent basis.This situation went on for three years until Lil Wayne’s mother eventually remarried and relocated to a different part of town. Growing up he did very well in school. He was actually enrolled in his school’s gifted program at a point and received top grades. He got into music at a very young age and wrote his first rap song at the age of eight. Lil Wayne had the drive to be the best and successful at his craft since he first began. At the age of nine he was challenging others twice his age and older at rapping. He would consistently go to neighborhood parties or events to rap and most of the time he was better then whatever adult he was going against. As a testament to this, at the age of nine he start receiving attention from one of the two co-founders of his future label, Slim Williams. From Slim, he then received other co-founder, Bryan Williams, phone number and what he did with it after that was truly caught the Bryan’s attention. He continuously called the number over and over leaving rap songs on the voicemail of Williams until he agreed to meet him in person...

    Read More

  • Kanye West Research Paper

    1677 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout America’s history there have been countless influential leaders that have proudly been American. Those have held positions of politicians, soldiers, and . Kanye Omari West has opened the eyes of today's generation and still continues to shape American history. His musical influence has transformed the lives of countless people. Inspiring many to stand up and fight for what they believe in is something Kanye West continues to do even today.. Also, opening the eyes of many to racial injustice towards African American citizens. I’ll further elaborate my claim in the following paragraphs using historical evidence.

    Read More

  • The Misrepresentation of Hip-Hop

    1592 Words  | 4 Pages

    Jay-Z is known for being one for not only being one of the best rappers in hip-hop but also having a successful career in and outside of hip-hop. Recently he has been protesting some of the newer hip-hop. His songs “D.O.A” (Death Of Auto-Tune) & “Run This Town” he takes a rebel approach to all of the recent fads in hip-hop. Even though, the fads were embraced by pop culture, Jay-Z saw them as stale and unprogressive. In “D.O.A.” he talks about hip-hop becoming ringtone rap and has lost its edge. “This is anti autotune/ death of the ringtone/ this ain’t for I-Tunes/ This ain’t for sing-a-longs/…This is practically assault with a deadly weapon/ I made this just for flexin’/ Basically I want people to feel threatened. (Blueprint 3) ” Jay-Z is not promoting violence, he is merely stating that hip-hop is losing its status. The reason behind the slow transformation from hip-hop to commercial hip-hop can date back to the birth of the genre. The first rappers were often teens that were a part of the lower classes, and were subjected to the thoughts and images of success, wealth, and happiness that were projected through the media and advertising. These teenagers hoping to change their current living arrangement started chasing money and, the easiest way to make money in the late 80’s, due to the crack epidemic was to sell drugs. That is until they saw rappers such as Big Daddy Kane and Run DMC with their heavy gold ropes; they quickly turned their attention to rapping. The only problem was, most rappers had to soften up their lyrics to be accepted into pop culture. So the easiest solution was to talk about clothing and jewelry. In the book, Hip Hop: A Short History, the author describes how they used consumerism to appeal to pop culture...

    Read More

  • J Cole Research Paper

    1076 Words  | 3 Pages

    Surrounded by the trees and Ivy League . Students that's recruited highly. Thinkin' "You do you and I do me". Crib has got a big 'ol back 'ol yard. My niggas stand outside and pass cigars, filled with marijuana, laughin' hard; thankful that they friend's a platinum star. In the driveway there's no rapper cars just some shit to get from back and forth, just some shit to get from back and forth. Welcome to the Sheltuh, this is pure. We'll help you if you've felt too insecure. To be the star you always knew you were. Wait, I think police is at the door”, which leads into the chorus “Okay, the neighbors think I’m sellin’ dope.”. What these lyrics explain clearly is the racism that is still present in America today. J. Cole made his money legally just like most of the black community in America and wanted to create a safe haven for other black artist to be successful. Just because him and his friends are ethnically and culturally different than the white community in America people viewed them differently. Differently enough to call the police on them with little to no reason. He uses other examples like this later in the song to explain his differences from the mainstream white community affect his everyday life. One other example of this is some of the lyrics in his second verse. “Took a little break just

    Read More

  • Hip Hop and the Recording Industry

    693 Words  | 2 Pages

    Negus, Keith. "The Business of Rap: Between the Street and the Executive Suite." Rpt. in That’s the Joint!: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader. Ed. Murray Forman and Mark Anthony Neal. New York, NY: Routledge, 2004. 525-540. Print.

    Read More

  • How Is Oj Simpson Different From African American Culture

    1248 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jay-Z’s emphatic return to the rap game with his critically-acclaimed album “4:44” made waves not only throughout the hip-hop culture, but also all throughout America as an album with a lot of racial undertones. In one of his songs, “The Story of O.J.”, Jay-Z raps “O.J. like, ‘I’m not black, I’m O.J.’ … okay.” In a song that takes direct aim at O.J. Simpson for trying to escape the black community, Jay-Z comments on how certain people try to believe that they are higher than the culture they were brought up in, and there is no more of a quintessential example of this than O.J. Simpson.

    Read More

  • Kanye West: Life of the Progressive Hip-Hop Star

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    Kanye West has been an icon in American hip-hop culture for over a decade. His music, fashion line, producing skills, and flamboyant personality has influenced many people for generations to come. Coming out of Chicago, many people in the music industry didn't even think Kanye had a chance to become a figure in hip-hop, but his hard work and persistence paid off. Kanye started off his music career as a producer. He produced music for the likes of major artists such as Common and Jay-Z. His first major breakthrough came from producing Jay-Z’s “The Blueprint”— which is certified 2x platinum. Kanye believed he could be a successful rapper as well, but music executives didn't believe he had it in him. That all changed when Roc-A-Fella records signed Kanye to their label, and gave him a chance to shine as a rapper. Kanye’s background, critical analysis, and importance all shows that he has become one of the most important characters in American hip-hop culture to this day.

    Read More

  • Ebonics

    452 Words  | 1 Pages

    However, Jay-Z also shows how rap and Ebonics also shines a negative light when he says,

    Read More

  • Boyz N The Hood Thesis

    1495 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Boyz in the Hood” was a film that displayed how chaotic African Americans communities were in Los Angeles. The film explored how violence is real with black on black crime and how the youth neglected by the community. The entire film displays a moral, mental and eagerness for one endures, conquer and defeat their demons. However, each in the movie enhances the quality of today’s world and the environment. Enthralled with the hope for life encompass the thought and desire to secure one's enter most fears and desires. Tre Styles were a character in the film that was an intelligent young man. In a perfect world, a mother and father share the responsibilities of raising children, but nothing is perfect. When Furious Styles come into the picture with his son, Tre develops into a person of understanding. Tre mother felt it was best that

    Read More

  • Song Analysis Of Need Freedom By Jamal Lyon

    604 Words  | 2 Pages

    EMPIRE! A very popular television show that recently came out in March of 2015. It’s particularly about a music industry, and what artist go through when getting selected by a particular label; also how they make music. One of the main characters in the show is Jamal Lyon a young artist who wrote a powerful song titled ‘Need Freedom.’ The main message behind this song pertains to police brutality, gun violence that has become very frequent throughout this generation, and racism.

    Read More

  • Obscenities In The Rap Game

    888 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The art of rap is deceptive. It seems so straightforward and personal and real that people read it completely literally, as raw testimony or autobiography. And sometimes the words we use, nigga, bitch, motherfucker, and the violence of the images overwhelms some listeners. It's all white noise to them till they hear a bitch or a nigga and then they run off yelling "See!" and feel vindicated in their narrow conception of what the music is about.”

    Read More

  • Jay Z Essay

    843 Words  | 2 Pages

    He later changed it to Jay-Z to give respect to his mentor Jaz-O, as well as the subway “J/Z” that’s in Brooklyn. Jay-Z believed that Jazzy was “too glittery”. In 1996, Jay-Z and two close friends founded Roc-a-Fella Records. His first album, Reasonable Doubt, is considered as a classic in hip-hop. He won his first Grammy for Best Rap Album for Vol. 2 ...Hard Knock Life in 1998. In 2003, Jay-Z released the Black Album and announced his retirement. During his retirement, he founded the Shawn Carter Foundation to further individuals education who wanted to attend college. During the Shawn Carter Foundation the media asked why Jay-Z retired he said, “The game ain’t hot, I love when someone makes a hot album and then you’ve go to make a hot album. I love that. But it ain’t hot.” (Toure). What Jay-Z was trying to say the music industry was boring and not competitive. His creativity is heightened when there is competition. He proved that when he heard the Notorious B.I.G. new track. His music inspired him to come out of

    Read More

More about Jay Z Thesis

Open Document