Project 2 Final Draft

Awareness through music
Blaze Mutware
ENGL 101
Jamey Rogers
Music is a universal piece of art, that comes in different forms and can be enjoyed by all
age groups. It has stood the test of time and has been used to draw different emotions and
feelings from the audience. Music and songs have been used to express an artist’s opinion and
help audiences connect. Protest songs are no different and are one form of music that have the
most expressions and purposes. They have helped an artist move their fan base and bring
awareness to how they feel about an issue, and at times, “cry out” for help and solutions. This
has been true for lots of historically controversial events in the human timeline, including but not
limited to slavery, wars, police brutality and presidential elections. Humans are a very emotional
species, easily moved by their immediate reaction or emotion, and protest songs play at these
emotions and strings and are the most effective way to challenge and ultimately bring the
necessary awareness to an issue that has reached its boiling point.
During the height of the COVID pandemic and following the murder of George Floyd at
the hands of the police force, communities everywhere grew restless and angered, which fed the
Black Lives Movement fire and brought out passion in people alike. Lil Baby, an Atlanta rapper
was no exception, and his song " The Bigger Picture" uses demand of change and awareness for
conventions to fuel the BLM movement and their audience. The audience here can be a broad
term as the issue resonates with people from all walks of life, but the Hip-Hop community is
dominant in the issues of equality in race and civil moral rights. Lil Baby uses his song and the
chorus to gather all races to join in the fight to end police brutality. In the chorus, he states that
"It's bigger than black and white// It's a problem with the whole way of life // It can't change
overnight // But we gotta start somewhere." From the chorus, we can understand that the issue at
hand is not an easy task to tackle but bringing awareness to those in power or other communities
on what is going on in some of the poverty-stricken neighborhoods in America is a good start to

change. In another line, "The problem with the whole way of life" (Baby) is stating that the
world we live in is unkind and not an ideal utopia. Another protest song that also uses awareness
and demands of change as conventions is “For My People” by Joey Bada$$. The song’s title stems
from Joey being a voice for the oppressed group, particularly African Americans experiencing
police brutality. He states in his song, “Wishing all these dirty cops, would come clean” to shed
light on this issue and demands a change in the police system. Police brutality has been a
common issue in America going as far back as the Rodney King incident in the early 90s. The
common theme with both these songs is how effective the message is to raise awareness to the
American audience, and they in turn can use that as motivation and fuel towards the BLM
protests.
Other examples of protest songs that have a strong convention would be “I'm Not Racist,”
a controversial song by Joyner Lucas, that uses a thought-provoking chorus. The song is narrated
by Joyner, and he uses two verses, one from a trump supporting white male addressing an
opposing black male, and then vice versa. Joyner attacks each race’s insecurities and common
stereotypes and uses the songs title to let audiences receive the message from a non-biased view
and stir different emotions as the phrase “I’m not racist” is used often in the song and tends to
follow a racist or challenging statement. The song uses this phrase in the same manner as a
person saying “no offence” after degrading another, and as controversial as the song is, it tries to
put two opposing sides together to make amends in a time of our history that remains sensitive.
African Americans fail to be understood by those with authority and the message in the song is
to get an honest voice out that can cut straight to the matters at hand and address them. A similar
thought-provoking chorus is from the song “Neighbors” by J. Cole, where he too uses his image
and wordplay to have the audience think about what society looks like. He starts the song with
the repeated chorus “The neighbors think I’m selling dope,” and audience may first assume he
means this literally. He continues to explain his success as an artist, which helped him move to
out of the rural area to a much prestigious neighborhood, but because of the amount of money he
makes and the color of his skin, neighbors assume he is a drug lord and has S.W.A.T. barge in
his door. The chorus becomes a double entendre as it has a metaphorical meaning and a literal
meaning.
Protest songs effectiveness relies on sparking emotions in the audience and is used as a
driving force today in expressing ideas and feelings artistically. They are used as outlets to
inform people far and wide of local issues, as they could have a global audience. People are
moved by music and more so when the message in the songs resonates well with the individual.
Examples stretch far and wide for different protests, and they each have their unique way to play
with the audience’s emotions or relate the artists to their listeners using purposeful conventions
and delivery. Music and art will continue to impact hearts and minds with messages from
ongoing issues in society. They will stay synonymous in inspiring each other, as artist find
inspiration from real life events, and music inspires people to take action, whether it is making a
change or create courage in voicing a pressing issue.

References:
Baby, L. (2020). The Bigger Picture [Lyrics]. Retrieved from https://genius.com/Lil-baby-the-bigger-
picture-lyrics
Bada$$, J. (2017). For My People [Lyrics]. Retrieved from https://genius.com/Joey-bada-for-my-people-
lyrics
Lucas, J. (2017). I’m Not Racist [Lyrics]. Retrieved from https://genius.com/Joyner-lucas-im-not-racist-
lyrics
Cole, J. (2016). Neighbors [Lyrics]. Retrieved from https://genius.com/J-cole-neighbors-lyrics

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Awareness through music

necessary awareness to an issue that has reached its boiling point.

on what is going on in some of the poverty-stricken neighborhoods in America is a good start to

change or create courage in voicing a pressing issue.

Baby, L. (2020). The Bigger Picture [Lyrics]. Retrieved from https://genius.com/Lil-baby-the-bigger-

Bada$$, J. (2017). For My People [Lyrics]. Retrieved from https://genius.com/Joey-bada-for-my-people-

Lucas, J. (2017). I’m Not Racist [Lyrics]. Retrieved from https://genius.com/Joyner-lucas-im-not-racist-

Cole, J. (2016). Neighbors [Lyrics]. Retrieved from https://genius.com/J-cole-neighbors-lyrics

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