Lyrical Representations of the American Political Divide

Group 10: Zane Laizane Rasa Drukteinyte Mathias Lind Hansen Daniele Leonaite Carlos Miguel Chávez Valenzuela Supervisor: Jennifer Eschweiler Autumn Semester 2018 Amount of characters with spaces: 131,702 Words: 21,532

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Abstract

This project aims to explore a series of politically and culturally

charged discourses portrayed in contemporary American music with a specific focus on the current political climate in the United States of America. We are interested in studying how music functions in the processes of cultural and political identification; how intricate political messages are articulated through music and spread among broad audiences; and how rhetorical – and aesthetic elements, as well – can transcend

protesting voices and help to draw shared visions on how to confront political and socio-cultural phenomena.

[ II ] Table of contents

1. Introduction ...... 1

1.1. Music as political discourse ...... 1 1.2. Problem formulation ...... 3 1.3 Statement of the academic focus ...... 3

2. Theoretical considerations ...... 4

2.1 A social-constructionist approach ...... 4 2.2 On regimes of truth ...... 6 2.3 On populism ...... 8 2.4 On tribalism ...... 10

3. Methodology ...... 13

3.1. Critical Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method...... 13 3.2. Nature of the empirical object ...... 13

3.2.1. Corpus ...... 14 3.2.2. Enhancing of corpus ...... 14 3.2.3. Example ...... 15 3.2.4. Transcriptions ...... 15

3.3. Coding of the samples within the corpus ...... 15

3.3.1. Text ...... 15 3.3.2. Discourse practices ...... 16 3.3.3. Social practice ...... 16

4. Contemporary American Music ...... 17

4.1. Text: The songs ...... 17

4.1.1. FDT (Fuck Donald Trump) by YG & Nipsey Hussle ...... 17 4.1.2. We the People… by A Tribe Called Quest ...... 18 4.1.3. Million Dollar Loan by Death Cab for Cutie ...... 19 4.1.4. Can’t You Tell? by Aimee Mann ...... 19 4.1.5. Fucked Up Donald by D.O.A...... 21 4.1.6. My Mind Is For Sale by Jack Johnson ...... 22 4.1.7. The Storm by Eminem ...... 23

[ III ] 4.1.8. Immigrants, by Hamilton, K’naan, Riz MC, Snow Tha Product, Residente ...... 25 4.1.9. XXX. by Kendrick Lamar ...... 27 4.1.10. Land Of The Free by Joey Bada$$ ...... 29 4.1.11. Alright by Kendrick Lamar ...... 30 4.1.12. Street Livin’ by The Black-Eyed Peas ...... 31 4.1.13. This Is America by Childish Gambino ...... 33 4.1.14. Bella Ciao (Goodbye Beautiful) by Marc Ribot & Tom Waits ...... 35 4.1.15. Ye vs. The People by Kanye West & T.I...... 36 4.1.16. I’m Not Racist by Joyner Lucas ...... 37

4.2. Discursive practice ...... 37 4.3. Social practice...... 39 4.4 Analysis of the theories ...... 42

5. Discussion ...... 45 6. Conclusion ...... 47 7. Bibliography ...... 48 I. Annexes – Lyrics ...... lii

FDT (Fuck Donald Trump) by YG & Nipsey Hussle ...... lii We the People… by A Tribe Called Quest ...... liv Million Dollar Loan by Death Cab for Cutie ...... lv Can’t You Tell? by Aimee Mann ...... lvii Fucked Up Donald by D.O.A...... lvii My Mind Is For Sale by Jack Johnson ...... lviii The Storm by Eminem ...... lix Immigrants, by Hamilton, K’naan, Riz MC, Snow Tha Product, Residente ...... lx XXX. by Kendrick Lamar ...... lxiii Land Of The Free by Joey Bada$$ ...... lxv Alright by Kendrick Lamar ...... lxvi Street Livin’ by The Black-Eyed Peas ...... lxviii This Is America by Childish Gambino ...... lxx Bella Ciao (Goodbye Beautiful) by Marc Ribot & Tom Waits ...... lxxii Ye vs. The People by Kanye West & T.I...... lxxiii I’m Not Racist, by Joyner Lucas ...... lxxiv

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1. Introduction

This project aims to explore a series of politically and culturally charged discourses portrayed in contemporary American music with a specific focus on the current political climate in the United States of America. We are interested in studying how music functions in the processes of cultural and political identification; how intricate political messages are articulated through music and spread among broad audiences; and how rhetorical, as well as aesthetic elements, can transcend protesting voices and help to draw shared visions on how to confront political and socio-cultural phenomena. The project is born from our interest in phenomena regarding culture, politics, power, and language; and from our wish to explore the intersection between music and ideology. We believe that music can create a powerful social platform for conveying and discussing complex and controversial ideas due to the emotional and informative nature of its content. We also believe that some of the particularities present in the chosen songs play a significant role in the public understanding of the political processes in which they are embedded. We plan to outline a better comprehension of expressions that bring identity to the centre of popular culture and to examine how artists perceive themselves and their communities within their narratives of personal experience. Some musicians use their broad public reach to address a variety of common subjects and social injustices, from abuse of authority to racism, sexism, immigration, economic inequality, among others. Others use their platforms to support the ideas generated from a specific politician or political party. Due to the privileged position that artists have in our culture, their voices are echoed with significant relevance. Our aim with this project is to hear a representative sample of those voices; to analyse what they have to say in relation to their current political climate; to research for the presence of textual regularities that allow us to connect discursive patterns; and to connect those patterns with major theories that allow us to structure a better understanding on how politics – in this particular context – is conceived by artists and presented to large audiences.

1.1. Music as political discourse Within human rights, the right to freedom of expression has significant importance. It is precisely the right to cultivate one’s opinions in social contexts – without fear for groundless retaliation – that enable people to claim justice when injustice is present. For this reason, the freedom to create, access, disseminate and enjoy ideas through culture and art deserve the same degree of acknowledgment and protection. This principle, which joins freedom of expression and artistic

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freedom, has been recognized and adopted by nearly all nations, through the signing of diverse international treaties, such as Universal Declaration of Human Rights1, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights2, American Convention on Human Rights3 and UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity4, among others. If artistic freedom plays a significant role for our societies, it is because art – in all its forms – is not an ‘event’ that occurs parallelly to society but from society. For this reason, we believe that the state of freedom of expression and cultural freedom in a given country are strong indicators of the health of its democracy. The USA has a long tradition protecting the right to freedom of speech for its citizens and a rich cultural past with examples of artistic expression loaded with political content. From the aftermath of the USA Independence or the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement, the opposition to the Vietnam War or the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement; the country has a long lyrical tradition full of examples of songs with political and social messages. However, this tradition seems to be experiencing a certain amount of distress and harassment from the new administration. On their last report, ‘The State of Artistic Freedom 2018’, the international organisation, Freemuse, points out that the USA is currently placed fifth5 in the top ten countries that violated freedom of musical expression during 2017 by the number of cases; and first in censoring minority voices (Freemuse, 2018). This concern is also shared by Director of programs at the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), Svetlana Mintcheva, who says that free speech in the U.S. is currently in crisis:

“From the demise of net neutrality to extreme media consolidation, both accomplished by a Trump-appointed Federal Communications Commission, and including a range of legislative changes in-between, there are structural changes in the United States that promise long-term shifts in who is able to be heard and who shapes public opinion. What is affected is not so much the capacity for art production, but the platforms where art can be seen, how art can circulate and who can participate in the cultural economy”. (2018)

Fuelled by the hostile rhetoric and policies taking place in the USA, a spirit of political engagement seems to have encouraged musicians from all kinds of genres to create political content. Both populist and tribal discourses are filling the headlines, drawing a line that divides ‘us’ versus ‘them.’ According to Mintcheva, what differentiates the current “culture war” from the previous ones, is that: “cultural conflict is playing out in a field much broader than the arts and involves a multiplicity of groups in conflict,” revealing “an art world fractured over representing history and race.” (2018).

1 1948, article 27. 2 1966, article 19. 3 1969, article 13. 4 2001, articles 4 and 5. 5 From the fourth to the first place, the countries that complete the top five are: Mexico, China, Egypt, and Spain.

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Our project focuses on lyrics from politically charged songs because music, unlike other discursive events, is an art form that reinterprets and reimagines our current realities in a cultural activity that is exercised through all kind of media platforms and without a visible restrain for audiences regardless of any socioeconomic status; impacting the way we reflect and frame our opinions about our society, by opening a stage for discussion that provokes and questions political boundaries and social norms. We believe that, through the lyrics expressed by these artists, we can imagine these new forms of belonging expressed by Terry Eagleton, “which in our kind of world are bound to be multiple rather than monolithic.” (Eagleton, 2004, p. 21).

1.2. Problem formulation • What are the socio-political realities represented by contemporary American music?  Are these songs emulating the current climate of political division in the country, and is it possible to find a unifying message through their lyrical content?  What are the discourses these musicians promote?  Do these musicians employ a particular ‘call to action’ or a proposal to solve the problems they pointed?

1.3 Statement of the academic focus We have chosen to work with two academic dimensions: Culture and History, and Text and Sign. Culture and History will allow us to draw on theoretical frameworks, focusing on different concepts such as Tribalism, Populism, and Regimes of Truth. Text and Sign will help us with the methodological section by utilizing Critical Discourse Analysis, thus employing different approaches that will allow us to observe the uses in language as a rhetorical device in a social context. These two dimensions will help us to understand music as both a culturally significant phenomenon and a rhetorical device working within struggles of power.

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2. Theoretical considerations

2.1 A social-constructionist approach While we used a social-constructionist approach in our problem formulation, this project also employs different theoretical perspectives and concepts that we incorporated along our research in order to explore ideas and terms that could help us to develop a better understanding of the political, historical and literary phenomena surrounding our empirical object of research. Social constructionism is a theory of knowledge within a field of sociology and communication theory that investigates the evolution of collectively established understandings of the world that shapes the fundamental aspects for shared presumptions about what reality is. The theory focuses on the perception that interpretations and definitions of reality originate from systematization with others rather than establishing it individually 6. Social constructionism examines the definition of reality and the nature of social life. It emphasizes the notion that society is intently, and visionary produced by humans: “They portray the world as made or invented - rather than merely given or taken for granted.” In other words, the social world is a network of meanings and values, that is produced, performed and interpreted by individuals and social groups. Consequently, social constructs differ from culture to culture, depending on the society and cultural context of that period; the world exists in constant change7. A good example of social constructionism from our everyday life is the idea behind the currency. The concept of money occurs as an agreement of its value and influence, thus becoming conventional wisdom. As a piece of paper, it has no value, but the agreed meaning of this piece of paper, makes a significant change in its power (Anon, 2016). This core idea can be referred to most things that exist in society and are socially constructed: newspapers, sexuality, citizenship, luxury, marriage, values, etc. In contrast, everything that belongs to the representative of nature, fully existing independently without being culturally shaped falls out of the social constructionist category. Often, social constructionism is applied to worldly items and things, but importantly it refers to our belief system about them. For example, the term ‘refugee’ evidently does not assert the fact, that certain types of people decided to be refugees as a result of some social conditions. Rather, it represents the displays of particular beliefs formed by social enforcement, the belief that

6 Sk.sagepub.com. (n.d.). SAGE Reference - Social Construction of Reality. [online] Available at: http://sk.sagepub.com/reference/communicationtheory/n344.xml [Accessed 3 Dec. 2018] 7 YouTube. (2016). Theoretical Perspectives: Social Constructionism. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UrDIfdTRpo [Accessed 3 Dec. 2018]

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there is a certain kind of person which has a reason to be singled out and categorized differently8. This demonstrates how human beings construct the ideas and concepts, that could not exist without society or language. However, in this case most of the social constructionists believe that language is not simply a mirror of actual reality, rather it invents it (Study Journal, n.d.). According to social constructionism, all types of knowledge is a product of discourse, therefore, it is impossible to reach one absolute understanding; a universal knowledge. All knowledge is built upon the context and never as a tautology. As the result knowledge is a discursive effect rather than a representation of reality (Marianne Jorgensen, Louise J. Phillips, 2002p. 175). Therefore, is it important to acknowledge, that researchers can never avoid the discourse within themselves and produce neutral knowledge. However, even if the process is highly focused towards reflectivity and the acknowledgement of their own role, it is unattainable to result absolutely translucent knowledge, since the truth of reality originates differently within every individual and can never be represented in one universal form. (ibid. p. 175). The opponents of social constructivism criticize social constructionists by arguing, that it is impractical, both politically and scientifically: “It is scientifically unusable because it cannot determine what is true: every result is just one among many other possible stories about reality. And it is politically unusable because it cannot determine what is good and bad.” (ibid., p. 176). Social constructionists are also criticized for indicating the social settings that must be changed, as it is the result of their own subjective reflection. The main challenge for social constructionists is to maintain a critical point of view while still belonging to the same society. But to what extend can a researcher act and think subjectively? (ibid. p. 178). In the 1970’s, there was a remarkable attention towards ideology criticism, which originated from Marx and the Frankfurt school: “In this view, power relations in society are accompanied by a hegemonic language that systematically masks reality. The aim of critique is to undermine power by revealing the reality behind ideology” (ibid. p.179). In other words, it examines the dissonance between how things actually are and how people interpret things. The main argument is that people are not able neutrally to identify reality, because the world view is built within a frame of ideologies: “Ideology, then, furthers unequal relations of power but people cannot see it because they suffer from false consciousness: what they see is ideology rather than reality” (ibid. p. 179). Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis is an example of ideology critique. He claims, that critical discourse analysis refers to various levels of ideology - the more there is hidden ideology,

8 Paulboghossian.com. (n.d.). [online] Available at: http://paulboghossian.com/docs/Boghossian-Paul- socialconstruction1.pdf [Accessed 3 Dec. 2018]

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the more representatives of reality are misrepresented. In this case, the main goal of ideology critique is to reveal discourse analysis based on the identification of ideology and replace it with a more neutral delegation of reality (ibid. p. 181). However, many social constructionists separate themselves from Critical Discourse Analysis, since there are conflicting debates and disagreements: “Ideology critique used research to produce knowledge about the world that it was in opposition […] social constructionism distanced itself from this on the basis of the premise that knowledge is never a direct reflection of the world, a premise which applies to scientific knowledge just as much as to other forms of knowledge” (ibid. p. 182). While rejecting the existence of a unique “meta-narrative” (Lyotard, 1984) that explains it all, the presence of this ‘linguistic turn” allow us to hear smaller narratives of personal experience, expressed in the voice of contemporary artists, who have articulated complex political messages through their art.

2.2 On regimes of truth

Within scientific study, the concept of truth is often perceived as a definitive order. Truth is understood as fixed, as a tautology, which cannot be rearranged from this fixed position. The historical inquiry of philosopher Michel Foucault suggests that truth is situated within the epistemological position of societies and so, each society forms its own regime of truth. Foucault argues that instead of existing outside the realms of power, truth exists inside ideologically positioned power structures, which are regulated through those discourses regarded as true (Lorenzini, 2005). What is then regarded as true is often dictated by those positioned high in the hierarchy of society whether it be economically, politically, educationally, etc. However, truth is exercised and constrained within the discursive power structure, which never allows it to be fixed. It always moves within the competitiveness of this power structure and therefore, is contested by discourses, which lay outside of the normative power structure (Lorenzini, 2005). Contemporary music in the USA serves as a battlefield for political inquiry. Some artists tend to fuse albums and works of art with either subliminal or very direct messages pertaining to a certain ideological and/or political world view. They are met with appraisal as well as with a hard critique from regular citizens to music critics and to political actors. It is clear for us that music, in this regard, will create both - a connection but also a separateness between the musicians and their listeners. However, the political concerns expressed in music are in fact part of the power structure, which dictate the regimes of truth. One could argue that there is currently a discourse in contemporary music in the USA, contesting the existing power of dominance, or perhaps it is the dominant power itself. One of the prevailing concerns expressed in contemporary music of the USA, as well as many

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other fields are social justice issues, which seem like a root cause to the current upheaval of tribalism. This discourse is often fuelled with anger, sensitivity and even resentment towards those people, whom they feel are entrenching their own personal liberty and thus promote inequalities in society. This discourse is of course, not only contested within the music industry but also in the political realm. In relation to Foucault’s notion of ‘Regimes of truth’, this is but one of many truths, which may eventually see its downfall as other discourses prevail. Foucault implies the idea that truth is an arbitrary matter expressing the subjective experience, which individuals form collectively within the discursive powers of society. Bearing the notion of regimes of truth in mind, it poses a theoretical approach, which does not see any artists message or ideological representation as a truism but sees it merely as a reflection of their beliefs and their perception of reality (Lorenzini, 2005). It is important to outline, that from this social constructionist perspective we remain neutral in the matter of what is right and wrong, thus withholding no politically biased agenda. By considering the presence of regimes of truth into our project, we will also consider the status of artists in society, as well as their agency for social and political change. Solely from the corpus of songs from our sample, the amount of social media interactions (represented by users’ views, plays and comments) is close to one billion, which is descriptive of the massive reach and impact artists have. This led us to believe that artists are major contributors in the various discourses in society and that they produce messages that resonate in people, guiding moral and ethical beliefs, and similarly how people distinguish right from wrong. While some artists may be less aware of this fact, others seem to be aware of the power they hold through their art. This should imply a sense of responsibility on the artists behalf. Have they carefully considered their lyrics and are they being perfectly clear on the message they are sending the world? Are they knowingly or unknowingly competing against other discourses, which may hold the same intent as their own discursive intent? How do they think their message will hold up in future generations? It seems that with the impactful voices many musicians have, they become not just agents of change but also agents of truth. Therefore, there are many things for an artist to consider if they want to participate in the conversation surrounding socio-political change. To clarify, as mentioned in the problem formulation, we aim to find commonalities within contemporary music in the USA, concerning ideological and political matters. In our analysis, we will then distinguish the various discourses from one another, while pinpointing patterns of information in the music, which points to a unified interest. In other words, we hope to clarify, which discourse(s) in the music which take the dominating position in the regimes of truth, if one can in fact be clearly pointed out. In this regard, it is also a comparative analysis considering both intertextual and interdiscursive elements, whilst taking each lyric into consideration within the

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context of the other lyrics. Therefore, we hope to reflect the flow of opinions, beliefs, experiences, ideologies and world views presented in contemporary music of the USA, while inferring that each lyrical representation is one of many - either forming into a unifying narrative or otherwise setting itself apart from other discourses within the dynamical power structure.

2.3 On populism Nowadays the term populism can be found mostly everywhere: in social media, newspapers, politics and even in everyday life conversations. In political science, the concept of populism is defined as a political strategy/movement and ideology, which mobilizes the population and highlights that society is separated into two groups: ‘the people’ and ‘the elite’ (Oxford Dictionary). The term has also frequently been associated with modernization processes in Latin America. Ernesto Laclau, one of the main theorists of populism from Latin America, tried to reformulate the concept. According to Laclau, not homogeneity (sameness) but heterogeneity (difference) is the basis of our history and not a linear, coherent development as it is often argued in Western literature.9 Thereby, phenomena that we are taught about as being irrelevant or ‘not normal’ suddenly become the centre of society’s structure. One of them, according to Laclau, is populism.10 Laclau writes that populism is not a bad development or something necessarily negative. Instead, it has its own structure, which is a fundamental part of political dimensions.11 Broadly speaking, Laclau defined the concept of populism as a: “...series of discursive resources which can be put to very different uses.” (Laclau, 1979: 176). Ernesto Laclau wrote that populism would not exist without three structural conditions. The first one says that many (1) social claims exist, and they have an ambivalent relationship to each other.12 Moreover, a certain solidarity between the claims exists. The claims that he discusses could be, for instance, a higher education, healthcare or social security. When these claims are not met by the government or the ruling elite, a vague feeling of unhappiness is articulated through these claims, which creates a pre-populist climate.13 The second one is a qualitative change from the pre- populist climate (2) – claims are articulated in a discourse and lead to a split of society between the populist classes and elites, who are in power. The third condition is that it is hegemonic (3) and only

9 Marchart, O. (2017). Ordnungen des Politischen : Einsätze und Wirkungen der Hegemonietheorie Ernesto Laclaus. (Staat - Souveränität - Nation Ser). 10 ibid. 11 ibid. 12 ibid. 13 ibid.

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this makes populism “complete”.14 Later on, Laclau writes that populism is directed against institutionalism and is part of every political system.15 For instance, military governments in South America are talking directly to ‘the masses’, not using traditional political institutions. He also talks about the pre-populistic situation: the vast number of needs (of the people) is met by an incapable liberal state to satisfy needs using traditional political methods.16 In the USA, for example, many issues, such as social security, poverty, education, drugs and violence have not been sufficiently addressed for a long time by the central government. He claimed that political theory cannot really understand populism, since they do not understand how social agents make sense of their political experience (Laclau, 1979). He offered that populism could be one of the ways of representing the unity of the group (ibid). In populism, the society is divided into two camps: one presents itself as a part by claiming to be the whole and “that the popular camp presupposes, as a condition of its constitution, the construction of a global identity out of the equivalence of a plurality of social demands.” (ibid). According to Laclau, populism ‘articulates’ traditional antagonisms between people (‘the people’, ‘nation’, ‘silent majority’) and power structures (‘the elite’, ‘regime’, ‘dominant groups’) (ibid), in other words, there is hostility among two categories ‘the people’ and ‘the elite’ in society. However, not all the nation’s population fit in the category of ‘the people’, since their status plays a crucial role in society (ibid). The main part of political theory is the adaption of ‘the elite’ and ‘the people’ in a concrete society layer, to convince them ideologically to come to a certain side (ibid). Therefore, Laclau tried to create a notion of populism in which all different classes in society would fit in one category. We have chosen to use Laclau’s notions around populism since we will analyse more in detail artistic freedom and politically charged songs that are framed in a historical period, characterized by a government that many times described itself as part of a populist movement. Therefore, we will use Laclau’s theory of populism, since he points out two different groups of people, namely ‘the people’ and ‘the elite’ and their interaction with each other. In this sense, we should note that the current government’s administration identify itself as ‘the people’, while they label artists as being part of ‘the elite’ and vice versa. Moreover, as mentioned above, Laclau says that the pre-populist situation can develop when the needs of the population are not met. In the USA, there are several problems, as mentioned in the above. In this regard, Laclau wrote that populism might arise again and work against the institutions. Therefore, his theory of populism is suitable for our project, since the president of the USA, Donald Trump, is spreading populist ideas, while he may simultaneously not be taking

14 ibid. 15 ibid. 16 ibid.

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seriously into consideration the claims of the people, as might be evident in the analysis of the anti- Trump songs.

2.4 On tribalism As defined by Oxford Dictionaries, the word ‘tribe’ refers to “...a social division in a traditional society consisting of families or communities linked by social, economic, religious, or blood ties, with a common culture and dialect […].” (Oxford Dictionaries, n.d.). When used to describe a tribe in its historical context, the word does not necessarily represent an affront and is widely accepted in society. However, when using the word ‘tribe’ or ‘tribalism’ in contemporary society, it can have several meanings such as the loyalty a person can have towards his or hers social group, or it can often create negative implications to past attitudes e.g. relating to domination of white colonialists over ‘uncivilized’ people in a process of othering (Oxford Dictionaries, n.d.). Tribes and tribalism refer to something that is historical, and in some contexts, primitive. It can be understood as a primal instinct of human kind, lying deep within our core. Hence, almost every one of us is represented or associated with a certain social group based on our origin, race, social status, political beliefs, religion, lifestyle etc. In fact, for a long time it was considered that without a tribe “the individual is nothing at all.” (Popper K. , 1962, p. 7). On one hand, for some it is almost essential to retain identity, culture and traditions of various nations and tribal communities, on the other hand, through processes of globalization, multiculturalism and development of modern, democratic societies, complications begin to arise. Austrian/British philosopher of the 20th century, Karl Popper, says that modern society has not yet fully recovered from being tribal (Popper K. , 1962). He refers to this process as moving from a ‘closed society’ to an ‘open society’. The open society is truly democratic and free from societal restrictions. In his book ‘The Open Society and Its Enemies’ Popper discusses problems which democracy is facing caused by the prevalence and effects from preserving the tribal groups, as the real enemies of the open democratic society (Popper K. , 1962). The resurgence of tribalism as well as identity politics has been mentioned several times as one of the main reasons for eradicating democratic society in the USA (Chua & Rubenfeld, 2018). Identity politics manifests itself as a collective political action of different social groups in which people identify themselves based on their affiliation to a certain ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, political stance, religion etc. Identity politics often denote expressing feelings of oppression caused by the systemic and social inequality in order to protect their rights and raise awareness within the broader society in its aim for equality (Heyes, 2002). However, politics based on protecting any special group interest rather than the collective interest, may as it seem further divide society (The Guardian, How America's identity politics went from inclusion to division, 2018).

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Indeed, the USA is a good example of a tribal society resulting first and foremost from its diverse multicultural population. In contemporary USA, we can easily recognize the split of their society into clusters of tribes, which directly originates from maintaining the tribal way of living. As already mentioned, people are mainly ‘grouped’ in tribal communities based on their ethnicity, race and religion. For example, when it comes to overarching groupings based on race, the largest tribe is white Americans, followed by the second largest tribes; African-Americans and Latinos (Chua & Rubenfeld, 2018). However, nowadays, it is also the political loyalties and beliefs, which people represent that are considered tribal. Even though, in a democratic country it is important to have a multiparty electoral competition. John Adams wrote in 1780 that the greatest political evil was the emergence of two great parties: Republicans and Democrats, which arranged measures in opposition to each other, making citizens divide into the political right or left. This has likely resulted in political opponents viewing each other as ideological ‘enemies’ and not as fellow countrymen with different views (Chua & Rubenfeld, 2018). The main causes for the rise of contemporary American tribalism can be considered in events like: • “White population losing their majority status; • Declining social mobility; • Growing class divide and • Projection of expressions of outrage in the media” (Chua & Rubenfeld, 2018).

The U.S.A.’s current president, Donald Trump, and his politics can be interpreted as actually being tribal despite the populist imagery he presents to the public as aforementioned. As an example, we could mention Trump’s passion for building walls, both literal walls and symbolical walls. His attitude towards immigrants in the country, as well as his foreign policies can be viewed as having tribal intent. This quote perhaps describes the implications of Trump’s tribal policies: “the belief that those in another tribe are less than human, and it’s therefore morally permissible to do all manner of horrible things to them.” (Waldman, 2018). After his victory in the presidential election, Trump even went to thank the people only in those states, in which he had won (Waldman, 2018). One could derive from this that Trump is acting as a leader of his preferred tribe, namely Republicans, instead of the entire country, unlike the presidential behaviour of many of his predecessors. This can be linked back to what Karl Popper said about the conflict between closed versus open societies, i.e. if the nation will preserve the existence of tribal communities, it will never become truly democratic. There will always be the battle between different tribes about who will

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have the right to define a nations’ identity. It is yet hard to imagine that our society is ready to overcome tribalism, as tribal movements make up a great part of both the individual and collective identity. It will be useful for us to use the notion of tribalism, in order to identify the different positions of different social tribes, represented by our selected musicians. We view the songs as the expressions of their realities, playing an important role in understanding discourses surrounding ‘Us’ vs. ‘Them’, thus, furthering a better understanding of our problem formulation.

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3. Methodology

3.1. Critical Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method Due to the nature of our empirical object, we decided to use Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), as introduced by linguist Norman Fairclough. CDA or Text Orientated Discourse Analysis (TODA) is both a theory and a method in social research. The reason we selected CDA for working as the method for this project is because we saw in the CDA a comprehensive and relevant way to decode ‘discursive events’ under a three-dimensional scope, in which such events are seen at once as texts, as discursive practices and as social practices (Fairclough N. , 1992). According to the author, unlike non-critical methods for analysing discourse, the CDA is concerned not only with unfolding discursive practices, but with examining how those practices – without being apparent to their participants – are “shaped by relations of power and ideologies, and the constructive effects discourse has upon social identities, social relations and systems of knowledge and belief.” (ibid., p. 12). The emphasis we made in analysing contemporary songs from the U.S.A. as textual and cultural representations of the current political climate, is based in the understanding that – paraphrasing Fairclough – these discursive events “do not just reproduce social relations but constitute them” (1992). Therefore, CDA allowed us to examine these texts as cultural goods produced and socialized under certain contextual circumstances.

3.2. Nature of the empirical object Along our project, we analyse the current political situation in the U.S.A. through the lyrics of contemporary political songs. By considering these songs as literary works, we understand that our empirical object needs to be seen both as language with a specific set of features and as a “product of conventions and a certain kind of attention” (Culler, 1997, p. 29). The songs analysed along our project play an important role due to their lyrical character. As other language events that could be considered literature, the lyrics ‘foregrounds’ language itself17 and integrates it in all its linguistic levels18, while presenting the text in an aesthetic self-reflective construct that is in conversation with other texts19. In this sense, literature “is the vehicle of ideology and literature is the instrument for its undoing.” (Culler, 1997, p. 39) The terms lyrics and text are interchangeable along this project,

17 As noted by Culler, literature organize language in a manner that it makes it sound strange to the addressee, obliging him/her to doubling the attention that he/she would dedicate to language used for another purposes. 18 Namely, phonetics, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics. 19 We refer to the notion of intertextuality.

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and the word text is used in its linguistic sense, both spoken or written, and where it will always refer and point to a transcript for its detailed examination. As we analyse complex political phenomena that concerns notions such as populism and the politics of identification, we choose to work with the lyrics of chosen songs because it has been proven that literature occupies a lead role in the construction of the identity of the addressees, by “enabling them to know how it feels to be in particular situations and thus to acquire dispositions to act and feel in certain ways.” (Culler, 1997, p. 113).

3.2.1. Corpus Since our research attempts to analyse an ongoing discursive practice, we tried to build a collection of representative samples that could illustrate the observed phenomena and that could result as novel as possible. (Fairclough N. , 1992, p. 226). The corpus of discourse samples is integrated by contemporary songs that followed these criteria: (1) political songs that protested the current political environment, regardless of their political affiliation. The lack of lyrical representations coming from the right-wing, is due to two factors: first, that protest music orientation, unlike institutionalized music bodies, tends to come from a position of resistance, and not from the power of the ruling party (Barber-Kersovan, 2004); and second, that the rare popular cultural products that support extreme right-wing views are often banned from social media platforms due their discriminatory content. (2) chronological span that matched the current political climate with all its particularities, from the moment Donald Trump announced his candidacy, to the moment of closing this paper, this is, from the year 2015 to 2018; (3) the artists nationality, since the songs describe the American context and we were interested in the insights of local artists; (4) that the songs would reach a noticeable amount of social interactions in each of its channels.

3.2.2. Enhancing of corpus In the present project, there are three main types of additional data that helped us to analyse the texts: (1) the official music videos of the analysed songs, since they are an inseparable part of the artist’s creative vision; (2) quantitative data that we considered necessary to incorporate to our inquiry, such as number of subscribers that an artist has in their social media channels, numbers of views that a video has, number of times that a song has been played, ratings, or any other indicator that could help us to draw an idea of the size of the audience that a song has reached; and (3) news that accounted for the social impact of the songs.

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3.2.3. Example While selecting the possible songs we wanted to include in our corpus, we privileged those that included an unambiguous political message that described the current situation. We chose songs in which the role of a political power is set in contrast to the socio-political realities expressed in the songs. Most of the selected songs of this corpus, have the persistent appearance of a discourse that confronts the figures of ‘us’ versus ‘them’; and in which identity and/or sectarianism plays a protagonist role. In the following example of some lyrics analysed during the textual phase, we can see a few of the elements we took into consideration, namely, the dynamic relations between deictic usage (yellow), keywords (pink), and verbs (green):

"All you Black folks, you must go All you Mexicans, you must go And all you poor folks, you must go Muslims and gays Boy, we hate your ways So all you bad folks, you must go” -We the People, by A Tribe Called Quest

3.2.4. Transcriptions A full transcript of each analysed song has been included within the annexes, at the end of this document.

3.3. Coding of the samples within the corpus The process of coding the selected samples was made in three stages: the first one, in which we analysed the lyrics as a literary piece; the second one, in which we considered the language displayed in the songs as part of a discursive practice; and finally, a stage in which we considered the songs as part of a social practice.

3.3.1. Text At the moment of implementing the first stage of our analysis, we took into consideration some of the elements and concepts suggested by Norman Fairclough for the implementation of CDA. (1992, pp. 137-200). First, we didn’t consider necessary to employ an individual analysis of the (1) interactional control of each text, since the interactional control of such texts were similar along all the corpus. Due to the nature of our empirical object, we understood that each analysed lyric is the result of the subjectivity and the creativity of each artist. Each text was produced in an asymmetrical relationship between the artists and their audience, and ultimately it has been published and shared through the

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official media channels of the artists. The audience interacted with the artists’ work by subscribing to the artists’ social media channels, by linking, sharing and commenting the songs and videos; and in some cases, by producing derivative works, as in the case of Childish Gambino’s “This is America”, which after its viral success was followed by a wave of similar versions with different countries at the centre of each version. Nonetheless, we understood the interactional control of the text to be top-down vertical – from the artists to the audience. Other textual elements such as (2) cohesion, (3) politeness strategies, (4) ethos, (5) employed grammar, (6) transitivity, (7) selection of theme, (8) modality, (9) word meaning, (10) wording, and (11) use of metaphors, were considered in each song. These elements were understood under the terms and definitions as proposed by Fairclough (1992, pp. 137-200), and they are better explained and exemplified in the section corresponding to each song.

3.3.2. Discourse practices In our exercise for decoding the components concerning discourse practices at its three levels of analysis, we considered that “[1] interdiscursivity and [2] manifest intertextuality focus upon text production, [3] intertextual chains upon text distribution, and [4] coherence upon text consumption” (Fairclough N. , 1992, p. 232) Due to the heterogeneity of the samples within our corpus, the interpretation of both, discourse types and intertextual relations, differ from one song to another, and its analysis has been incorporated into the corresponding section for each song.

3.3.3. Social practice As pointed out by Fairclough, the “analysis of social practice is more difficult to reduce to a checklist”, since its aim is to “specify the nature of the social practice in which the discourse practice is a part; which is the basis for explaining why the discourse practice is as it is.” (1992, p. 237) For this purpose, we employed the concepts described within the theoretical section of this project. These theoretical considerations allowed us to acquire a better understanding of “social and hegemonic relations and structures” (ibid.) embedded in a discursive practice that can irrupt and shape popular culture, and that – in all the analysed cases – is a discursive practice that can be characterized as creative, innovative, and as a political voice in open opposition.

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4. Contemporary American Music

4.1. Text: The songs Due to the nature of our empirical object, we expect the decoding markers contained in the CDA to aid us to understand the nuances represented by the contemporary American protest music. We will start by analyzing each of the 16 texts included in the corpus.

4.1.1. FDT (Fuck Donald Trump) by YG & Nipsey Hussle The song ‘Fuck Donald Trump’ by rapper YG, presents a text, based on criticism of Donald Trump. It provoked an initial reaction from authorities (some parts of the song were ‘blanked’), as well some performances were censored by request to not perform the song (Moore, 2017). The official music video presents the visual narratives heavily based on a language of protest - gathering, which starts with emotional and dramatical statements, such as: “As young people with an interest in the future of America, We have to exercise our intelligence and choose who lead us into it wisely.” In the next verse, the artist refers to what he thinks are shared principles by all Americans, by relating the current situation with the topics such as foreign policy, prison reform, healthcare, diplomatic conflicts, among others. The video develops into further visual narratives of black communities performing a street protest against Donald Trump and his policies. The sound of police and chaotic surrounding, gives a special mood of social change, movement, which takes a place in the U.S.A. The main topics of the song are: injustice, inequality, racism, division in society, discrimination, police violence and political power structures. The artists use a very direct strategy of communication on purpose to establish more provocative and coherent text on political disagreement with Trump. The modality of the lyrics underlay strong picture of Trump as a critical character: “mothafucka”, which is referred as a “cancer” for the U.S.A. The most repetitive phrase in the song is “Fuck Donald Trump”, which expresses heavy criticism, disagreement, and rejection of Trump and his racist and often violent rhetoric, that has been dividing American society. Interdiscursivity within the song includes some phrases that refer to other contexts, for example, with the metaphor: “Surprised El Chapo ain’t tried to snipe you” refers to a well-known Mexican kingpin and leader of the Sinaloa’s Cartel, who in the song appears as an enemy of Trump. The song strongly references to racism, police violence, as well refers to a social movement of ‘Black Panther’. Some wordings contrast Trump’s presidency to previous administrations such as Ronald Reagan’s and Barack Obama’s.

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The metaphor “You build walls, we gon’ prolly dig hole’” refers to Trump’s intentions to force Mexican people to build a wall to keep immigrants out of USA. As a response, they ironically suggest they could “dig hole”, which is a way to disagree with the current administrations which should open the country’s borders. The use of the pronoun in the second person singular (“you”) refers to Trump, while the use of the first person both in singular and plural (“us/we”) refers to people of USA Trump is hyperbolically described as an “influential mothafucka”, who stands on the opposite side of the ‘people’. Such words as trippin, appreciatin, speaking, gon, and blow can be associated with African- American community because of the particular use of dialects and lingos used on the language and politeness strategies for the song. This allows the artists to employ a more direct and aggressive style and the use of various metaphors, that are exclusively direct.

4.1.2. We the People… by A Tribe Called Quest The song carries a political context, which is based on criticism of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. The visual narratives of the song relate to the people of the country, which are oppressed and seeks to reinforce the power back. The visual story of the video mainly focuses on police repression and citizen protest. The main ethos are discrimination and inequality in a lower class, where the political elite can enjoy the benefits of being in the top of societal hierarchy (representation of injustice, populism, political elite within society). The modality of the song deals with people and the power if it manifests within the community, which takes a place now in a social change. Interdiscursivity of the song refers to false narratives crated by social media and politicians, which are represented as distractions from real problems. The transitivity of the song is direct and aggressive (“fuck y’all” or “so motherfuck”), represented by the third person. The language is informal, the use of slang belongs to African- American people (‘gon’, ‘hittin’, ain’t gon'). It allows to play with direct and provocative words, phrases and metaphors (‘fucking food’, ‘we’re liable to pull a juju’, ‘for that salary I’d probably do that shit’, ’we got your missy smitten rubbing on her little kitten’). The song takes a position from a perspective of ‘we’ (people of USA) and refers to ‘you’ (Donald Trump), which is metaphorically described as being “in the killing-off-good-young-nigga- mood”. Following, the text develops a coherent picture of oppressed black community, which exist in the USA today. It appeals to emotional felling of injustice. The lyrics develops a picture of mistrust of politicians in general and irony takes an important place as a tool to be critically funny about the edgy reality.

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The most importing word meaning, are used repeatedly in the lyrics to create a stronger impression and to draw attention to main topic of the song - immigrants (“All you Black/Mexicans/Muslims/Gays, must go”). It is a direct representation of Trump’s speech based on rejection of immigrants by the USA.

4.1.3. Million Dollar Loan by Death Cab for Cutie The song is based on criticism about Trump’s unrealistic/ fake representation, where he creates the image of him being hard working man (old fashion way), who build his fortune by himself. The visual narrative of the video perfectly illustrates the irony of the president, who disappears in the video behind the brick wall by leaving emotional and lonely feeling towards him as a character. Interdiscursivity of the song refers to a highly materialistically defined person, that belongs to political elite, who is far from every day’s life issues. The text creates a coherent picture of Trump as a person, who is cheating the people of USA by his story of himself as a good man. Special words and phrases describe the luxurious isolation of Trump, where he is looking down on the city “From tiled room of gold, marble and soft perfume”. Such metaphors create a special mood by describing in detail the surroundings of the story. The atmosphere has a polite tone, smooth sound and no evidence of any aggression. That creates the irony of the text, which main trope is “a million-dollar loan’” that Trump got form his father. The special sentences (“A million-dollar loan / nobody makes it on their own”) refers to this fact as a moral of the song, where Trump is just another rich billionaire, who was born in highly privileged family and made his fortune based on his father’s finances. Special sentences describe it with irony, “A million-dollar loan, call your father on a phone”.

4.1.4. Can’t You Tell? by Aimee Mann The song of Aimee Mann ‘Can’t you tell?’ is part of the project by writer Dave Eggers 30 days, 30 songs, which released an ‘anti-Trump’ melody every day during 30 consecutive days. This song is quite different from the other one, which we have selected, because the song- writer embodied Donald Trump and sang from Trump’s perspective; describing how he perceives the world around him and what it is like to be a president of the USA The main topics of the song are about Trump being mocked at the White Correspondents Dinner in 2011 by a comedian Seth Meyers, because of Trump’s stubbornness to become a president one day and also about his inability to work as an appropriate president of the USA This song does not have an official video. Within the song, one can find interdiscursivity – in the very beginning of the song, in the phrase: “That bastard making fun of me in front of all my peers” the song writer is singing about

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former US president Barack Obama, who was laughing at Trump’s wish to run for a president of the USA One could argue that the song is contradicting itself – in the very beginning, one can see Trump’s strong confidence in himself in lyrics and his huge will to win the presidential elections: “Well guess what Mr. President, I’ll be seeing you / In four years.” However, the chorus of the song delivers an opposite message: “Isn’t anybody going to stop me now? / I don’t want this job”; “Can’t you tell/ I’m unwell.” While feeling extremely powerful and higher than the others, Trump ‘goes down’ by complaining and regretting that it was not the best choice to run as a president and even admitting that he is not suitable for this kind of work. The tone of the song in general is melancholic, calm. The song writer is communicating with the audience by using Trumps point of view. In the beginning of the song, the lyrics might be seen as being full of aggression, revenge and disappointment. Afterwards, the tension is rising in the song, as Trump feels like he has people around him, who will support him in any case, but later on, one can see that the mood slightly changes and such features as perplexity, obscurity and regret appears. In the end, Trump is not overwhelmed that he decided to become a president of the USA and starts to doubt not only his inability to work as a president but also his mental health: “I’m unwell”. The ethnos of the song is about presenting Trump’s enormous confidence, and endless will to challenge and conquer: “Still all I see are crowds who want to fit me for a crown”; and moreover, about his belief that he can get easily whatever he wants: “I pointed out all my enemies just so my fans/ Bring them down”. The message of the song is being delivered by a narrator-character in first person. The singer embodies Trump and sings how does it feel to be the ‘biggest’ man of U.S, representing him as an incontrollable force. Mostly used words in the song are ‘Mr. President’, “in four years”, “this job”, “grenades”. Words such as ‘Mr. President’ and ‘in four years’ is directed to Barack Obama by Trump, as it is already explained above. By the phrase ‘this job’ the song writer talks about Trump’s job that represents being the president of the USA, which is perceived negatively, since she writes: “I don’t want this job”, implying that the protagonist is not suitable to be a president of the country. The last word ‘grenades’ used in the lyrics: “You handing me grenades is just compelling me/ To pull the pin”, means that whatever you would give to Trump, he would in any case escalate the situation. Metaphors of the song could be seen in these parts of the lyrics, for instance: “Still all I see are crowds who want to fit me for a crown” – Trump has his supporters, who thinks that he is an appropriate president for USA Another one: “I point out all my enemies just so my fans/ Bring them

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down” – Trump trusts his supporters and believes that they will get ‘rid-off’ his enemies once he would tell to do that. During his presidency, Trump has denied attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. In 2018, the White House Correspondents Association announced they would break the tradition of presenting a comedian during their annual ceremony, to avoid frictions between the White House, the artists and the Association. In 2017, the jokes made by comedian Michele Wolf’s during the event were condemned by White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, and by three tweets from Donald Trump’s account, in which the President described the comedian as “boring”, “embarrassment”, “weak as Seth Meyers”, and “filthy”. (Mele & Healy, 2016).

4.1.5. Fucked Up Donald by D.O.A. ‘Fucked-up Donald’ is a re-written song by a punk rock group D.O.A, which sings about the ridiculousness and perverseness of Donald Trump actions. The song is a re-word from the 1981’s classic ‘Fucked-up Ronnie’, dedicated to Ronald Reagan. The video displays real footage from news channels showing violence and antagonisms between people at MAGA rallies. There is a big emphasis on violence committed by Trump supporters. In the lyrics, they are criticizing and condemning Trump’s agenda. Many topics are covered within the song, for instance the eagerness that Trump has for strengthening even more the border that separate Mexico from the U.S.A: “He’ll build a wall”. Trump is portrayed as being sexist and intolerant towards women: “And punish women too”, also him wanting to destroy Korea, as well as Iran: “He’ll nuke Korea/ And bomb Iran”. The song text is coherent, since from the beginning of the lyrics, D.O.A remains on topic criticizing the USA president: “You’re fucked up Donald”. Moreover, they continue doing that by pointing out his actions, which are not acceptable at all, therefore, the song text is not contradicting itself. The tone of the song is very aggressive and intense, since it is heavy metal genre and singers are communicating with the audience by shouting out load the lyrics of the song with anger and energy. Moreover, they are using slang in some parts of the song, as one will be able to see in further analysis. The main features of the song are a general portrait of Trump as a sexist, ‘militaristic’, not being suitable to run as a president of USA: “He wants to be a Prez but he doesn’t have clue”. Also, showing his inability to think before speaking, while only being able to talk with hateful words: “You’ve spent your all life/ Just talking out your ass”. By disregarding things, such as hate, sexism, racism, narcissism, disrespect, massive desire to fight and strong will to be higher than others, they are showing moral values. The narrators of the song are the singers themselves, therefore, the message is delivered in the first voice/person. Things in the song are represented under a ‘dark light’ since the song writers are condemning actions of Trump by singing aggressively

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about him and also insulting him, as one can see not only from the lyrics, but from the song name itself. Within the song, one can find some special wordings, such as: “You’re not gonna last” - indicates that Trump would not be able to remain as a president of USA all his cadence; or: “Just talking out your ass” – referring to the incapacity of Trump for thinking before speaking; or: “He wants to be a Prez but he don’t have clue” – implying that he does not have any knowledge about how to occupy the position and how he is not related with politics at all. Last but not least, the band reiterate: “You’re fucked up Donald” – simplifying the message that Trump incompetence in all possible senses.

4.1.6. My Mind Is For Sale by Jack Johnson The song ‘My mind is for sale’ is written by Jack Johnson, where he indirectly sings about Donald Trump. The visual narrative shows a wall being build up from kid’s bricks, which are filled up with the lyrics of the song and the protagonist of the video is smashing it that it falls. The main themes of this song are that we live divided in a narrative of ‘us against them’. This narrative is transmitted by TV and carries fear. The protagonist is the “elephant in the room”, who is Trump - a careless being, who wants to have everything only for himself, enjoying attention, his TV reality show, etc. While listening to the music and reading the lyrics, one can clearly see politeness as a main feature of the song. For instance, the music itself has a positive melody and in general looks harmless, even when one listens to the lyrics. Even though, the lyrics of the song may sound peaceful and ‘mellow’, however, there is a second meaning hidden behind them. For instance, the writer uses metaphors in his song, by saying: “The elephant in the room begins to dance/ The cameras zoom into” – in these two sentences the narrator of the song indirectly talks about the president, comparing him with a huge problem that cannot be avoided anymore. One could find interdiscursivity within the song, which means that there are some phrases, which are referring to something else in the context, for instance: “Watch those strings go up and down”. This phrase is pointing out Trump being a Vladimir Putin’s puppet during the 2016 USA presidential election, by moving the strings up and down, same as one would do with a marionette puppet. In the song, the singer sings himself, in other words - he is singing from the first person. From the lyrics, one can see that moral values are only commodities, for example: “Me first gimme gimme appetite at all” – this phrase is illustrating Trump’s enormous will to have everything only for himself and also is referring to his most popular statement “Make America great again” – to make USA first and best country worldwide.

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The modalities of the song, for instance, Trumps will to build a wall between USA and Mexico or him enjoying getting a lot of attention are represented under the ‘positive light’, by using phrases that has two different meanings, therefore, one needs to listen more carefully to the lyrics, to grasp what the song writer actually talks about. The most words used in the song are ‘against, walls, TV’. The words ‘against’ and ‘walls’ are used within the sentence: “Us against them walls”, which refers to that the people are against Trump’s proposed wall between Mexico and U.S. With the last word ‘TV’, the singer refers to Trump’s reality show ‘The Apprentice' and also uses it in a metaphorical way, where he suggests that for Trump his own presidency is like some sort of an act, as it would be a reality show for him. Wordings or in other words some of the phrases of the song, for instance: “Six or seven words…” could be interpreted as Trump having very limited vocabulary and mostly using the same words. On the other hand, it could also be leading to his one statement, which went worldwide: “Let you grab them by the pussy.” One can see clear coherence in the song – the singer starts the song by criticizing Trump from the very beginning, by saying: “I heard that six or seven words he likes to use/ Are always in bad taste”, which means that Trump’s vocabulary is very limited, until the end of the song: “Us against them fearful kind of walls”, which could be interpreted as people of USA, who does not support Trump – the people versus Trump. Therefore, there is no contradiction in the lyrics, which presents a deictic game. Narrative in first person (‘I’) talking to a second person singular (‘you’), with the unspecified first- and third-person’s plural (‘us’, ‘them’). The narrator tells the problem is ‘he’ (the elephant in the room). When ‘he’ talks to the cameras, the narrator (‘I’) talks to ‘he’ directly, making difficult to specify if the narrator talks about ‘he’ or about ‘you’. The word-play blurry the lines that permit the addressee to identify pronouns

4.1.7. The Storm by Eminem Eminem’s freestyle cypher (an uninterrupted or cyclical rap) ‘The Storm’ appears on the ‘BET Hip- Hop Awards 2017’ album, where a legendary rapper Marshall Mathers (a.k.a. Eminem) brutally criticizes U.S. president Donald Trump and his politics by mentioning many absurd examples of Trump failing the country. There is an interdiscursivity in almost every line of Eminem’s cypher as he calls out Trump on actual events and misdoings, which Trump and his office have committed against the people of USA and deteriorating USA foreign politics and international relations. E.g. when he raps: “'Cause what we got in office now's a kamikaze / That'll prob'ly cause a nuclear holocaust” referring to Trump’s newly accepted laws when becoming the president, like building the wall across the U.S.- Mexican border etc. In Eminem’s opinion these actions are suicidal for the country.

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Donald Trump is also notoriously famous for the way he likes to use his Twitter account, and instead of addressing and dealing with real issues happening in the country, Eminem’s critique to this, as expressed in the lyrical lines, is: “he gets an enormous reaction / When he attacks the NFL so we focus on that instead of talking Puerto Rico or gun reform for Nevada / All these horrible tragedies and he's bored and would rather / Cause a Twitter storm with the Packers”. Again, here Eminem is referring to tweets in which Trump is criticizing those NFL players, who kneeled during the USA national anthem as a sign of protest against racism, systematic oppression and injustice. This resonated in the media quite intensely, overshadowing more ‘important’ news about the disastrous hurricane that hit Puerto Rico or the tragical mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017. When Eminem is describing his observations of the whole situation in the U.S., he says: “It's like we take a step forward then backwards”. He clearly refers to the former president Barack Obama and his invested work of making USA a more progressive country, however with Trump leading the country, the society has downgraded into its past hardships of xenophobia, racism and white supremacy, etc. In fact, Eminem has no mercy when addressing Trump’s clearly obvious racism. Moreover, he criticizes Trump for using populist appeals to the audience by making different promises to benefit the people, while on contrary benefitting only the upper-class citizens, thereby maintaining the divide between the ‘elite’ and the ‘people’. Manifest intertextuality is the attack on Trump, especially by the end of the song, Eminem is asking his fans to consider: “And any fan of mine who's a supporter of his / I'm drawing in the sand a line, you're either for or against / And if you can't decide who you like more and you're split / On who you should stand beside, I'll do it for you with this: / Fuck you”. He continuous with a call to action: “The rest of America stand up! / We love our military, and we love our country / But we fucking hate Trump!” Conditions of the discourse practice is performed accordingly to the structure of a freestyle cypher. Freestyle cypher is a rap improvisation in which a rapper is verbally assaulting someone or something uninterruptedly, and, as in this case, without the instrumental background. This song is explicit about its call to action for a protest against Trump, therefore strategies of communication or a politeness of the text in its tone is aggressive and filled with anger, also occasionally mocking. Ethos of the song is to stand up for those to whom Trump has been unjust and harmful, moreover, to unify people for a protest and show the authorities, that the people are not afraid to speak out loud and act if necessary. Eminem does not hesitate to disregard fans of his, who are supporters of Trump, therefore making his statement even stronger. Eminem uses all three voices whether they are active or passive to showcase his own opinion, to directly address Trump or his fans or to speak up on behalf of the people etc.

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4.1.8. Immigrants, by Hamilton, K’naan, Riz MC, Snow Tha Product, Residente The song ‘Immigrants’ is interpreted by Hamilton’s cast, K’naan, Riz MC, Snow Tha Product and Residente. If we measure the popularity of the song by its interactions with users via social media, we can say that the official video has 5,847,533 views and 450,000 subscribers on YouTube, while the song has been played more than 12,463,828 times in Spotify. We should note some contextual particularities that contribute to the process of decoding this song. First, that the song is part of a collection of remixes, samples and songs called “The Hamilton Mixtape”, which debuted in the number one spot on the Billboard 200. ‘The Hamilton Mixtape’ is a byproduct of ‘Hamilton: An American Musical’, a hip-hop theater play that narrates the life of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. Written and composed by Puerto Rican Lin-Manuel Miranda, the play has been embraced by critics and the box-office since it premiered back in 2015. Hamilton has been rewarded with the Tony, the Grammy, the Pulitzer prize for Drama, the Obie, and many other well-known awards granted by the entertainment industry. With a cast of all non- white actors performing historical figures, ‘Hamilton’ contributed to insert complex and interesting themes in the popular debate, such as rethinking and reinterpreting the foundational myths and the place that identity occupies both socially and politically in our lives; and the role played by art as a mediator of all this. As noted in a 2015 article written by Marilyn Stasio for Variety:

To [Lin Manuel] Miranda, it’s not only important who lives and who dies in the founding of the new nation, it also matters who tells your story. […] But in the end, Miranda’s impassioned narrative of one man’s story becomes the collective narrative of a nation, a nation built by immigrants who occasionally need to be reminded where they came from. (Stasio, 2015) ‘’Hamilton’s” cultural phenomenon and the political stance of its cast is not strange to the White House. In November 2016, Vice President Mike Pence attended the musical play in Broadway, and the performers took the opportunity to publicly ask the administration to “work in behalf of all Americans”. (Mele & Healy, 2016). Next day, President Donald Trump reacted angrily on Twitter, accusing the artists of “harassing Mr. Pence” and being “very rude”, finishing his tweet with the imperative: “Apologize!” Besides the ‘Hamilton’s” cast, the other musicians, who interpret the song are: K’naan, a Somali-Canadian poet and hip-hop singer and songwriter, also known for his philanthropic work; Riz MC a British of Pakistani descent, Muslim, actor and hip-hop singer, who is also known for his social activism in favor of the refugees; Snow Tha Product, a popular Mexican-American bilingual hip-hop singer and actress; and Residente, a Puerto Rican multi-awarded hip-hop singer and songwriter, who is one of the most recognizable faces in the entertainment industry in Latin America thanks to his contagious rhythms, the political or sexual undertones of his lyrics and his humanitarian efforts.

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‘Immigrants (We get the job done)’ is a song that belongs to the hip-hop genre, and its lyrical and aesthetical components withstand a high degree of coherence with the previous work displayed both by each individual artist, and by ‘Hamilton’ the musical. The politeness strategy this song uses, as is the case of many protest music is a confrontational discourse. The main theme is a call for justice for the immigrants. The cohesion along the 6.07 minutes of the track is given by a series of different rhyming schemes and modalities in each set of verses, presented with each intervention with the specific style that each performer wants to add to the melody; and there is a chorus separating each verse, that repeats: “Look how far I come. Look how far I come. Immigrants, we get the job done.” (The Hamilton Mixtape, 2017). The video takes place in different types of train wagons, the first one being some sort of improvised shelter inhabited by a diverse group of immigrants gathered around a radio. A voice from the speaker says: “We've got the House and the Senate debating this issue / And it's, it's really astonishing that in a country founded by immigrants / Immigrant has somehow become a bad word.” From the dormitories, K’naan delivers the first verses, questioning the “freedom” in USA, in a time when the exploitation and vulnerability of immigrant communities are swelling. K’naan walks to the next wagon: a factory in which immigrants are repeatedly producing countless USA flags. K’naan uses a metaphor saying that he imagined getting a “lap dance from Lady Freedom / But now Lady Liberty is acting like Hillary Banks with a pre-nup,” underlining how the current value of liberty is based on raw capitalist practices that now are even present at the most intimate level of the human experience. The next verses are sung by Snow Tha Product, who narrates in English and Spanish the difficulties of being an immigrant in the USA It highlights her use of the wording “import-baby” to describe children of immigrants, showcasing the utilitarian use of human beings. In the video, she moves across wagons and different scenarios, such as an empty wagon with a big USA flag, a wagon where workers are moving boxes with fruits, or handling meat in a slaughterhouse, cleaning floors, doing laundry, attending sick people at emergency rooms, or working on construction. The singer says: “It's matter of time before the checks all come”, referencing previous verses in which she mentioned the underpayment to countless faceless immigrants; and outlining that justice has a debt with the immigrant community, who are the “ghost writers” of the nation. We could argue that this idea maintains an intertextual relation with Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech famously known as “I have a dream”, in which Luther King Jr. mentions that “we've come to cash this check […] that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice” (Luther King, Jr., 1963). This metaphoric check of justice is represented in the traditional constitutional notion that “all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable Rights of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (ibid.) The next verse is in the song is performed by Riz MC, who points and criticizes different types of imperialism. The singer is standing in what appears to be a metro

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wagon, in which some passengers have a censored face. In a verse, Riz MC imitates the voice of the ’elites‘ in the political spectrum, when he asks, “Who these fugees what did they do for me / But contribute new dreams / Taxes and tools, swagger and food to eat.” This also reinforce the idea that the political clash happens in a two-sided ground battle set in motion by a ’us versus them’ narrative. In the video, we see a father protecting his daughter from the collapse of what it seems to be a house in the middle of a warzone; later, the man and his daughter cross some wired-fence together with other refugees. The final verses are interpreted in Spanish by Residente, who sings about how immigrants remain discreetly hidden from a society, who continuously exploit their hard work. Residente appears in the video together with other immigrants, all sitting over the rooftop of an industrial train – probably as a reference to “La Bestia” (The Beast), a train used every year by thousands of Central American migrants in their quest to reach USA territory. The video also shows the intimidatory presence of agents from the USA Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who arrive to the dorms and randomly take individuals away from their families. A special metaphor is when Residente mentions “Nosotros les sembramos el árbol y ellos se comen la fruta” (We plant the tree and they eat the fruit), which captures what can be described as a power dynamic between the immigrants and the elite. The video ends showing how the entire world is an interconnected net of railroads carrying wagons that never stop. The video ends with a reference to the musical Hamilton.

4.1.9. XXX. by Kendrick Lamar The song ‘XXX.’ was released on Kendrick Lamar’s album ‘DAMN.’ which was released in April 2017. The album has gained a widespread recognition and was critically acclaimed as one of the best rap albums of the year. In 2018 ‘DAMN.’ won the Pulitzer Prize in Music becoming the first rap album to ever win a Pulitzer Prize. Lamar didn’t produced any music video for this song, The song, but his performance at the opening act for the Annual Grammy Awards ceremony of this year, featuring U2’s Bono and David Chapelle, can be considered as being powerful, recognizable and worth mentioning (Colburn & Kaye, 2018). In the performance Kendrick is standing amongst other people dressed in military uniforms while marching in front of a projection of waving USA flag in the background. Interactional control of the text, as in this case limitations posed by the copyrights, recently resulted in removing the song from YouTube, thereby limiting the access to the song and its content to the broader audience. Interdiscursivity of ‘XXX.’, as already can be interpreted from the song’s title, signifies to an adult content (X-rated) and touching upon some obnoxious political and social issues, like rapping about murders committed by street gangs, violence, gun control issues, injustice, racism, twisted and ambiguous morals of USA society. Kendrick is criticizing the way in which government and

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society ignores issues of African-American community residing in the ghetto areas of the country. Even more, he criticizes the way in which media presents these events by generalizing and drawing a picture of black people as all being either rappers or criminals, thereby demotivating their youth from achieving in life. Often times Kendrick mentions the name of God and other Biblical characters throughout the song where he plays a protagonist of a prophet or a priest by giving advices and counting prayers: “America, God bless you if it's good to you” etc. Intertextuality with this example can be related to a salvation from sins. “But is America honest or do we bask in sin?” Kendrick is asking. The last part of the song talks about hypocrisies of the American society and especially the government, how it depicts USA as a great nation, but at the same time ignores many issues of injustice committed towards the minorities within the country. “It's nasty when you set us up / Then roll the dice, then bet us up / You overnight the big rifles, then tell Fox to be scared of us / Gang members or terrorists, et cetera, et cetera…” here Kendrick refers to how government institutions set up African-Americans by delivering contraband like guns and drugs to them and then presenting the black community on Fox News as criminals. Genre of this song can be classified as ‘conscious hip hop’ which is a sub-genre of hip hop. What is characteristic to conscious hip hop is the politically, culturally and philosophically charged lyrics, which challenge the main consensus by pointing out on issues and injustices. Furthermore, as distinctive to hip hop, Kendrick uses techniques of rapping by using complex wordplays and street slang to deliver his message. The song is constructed in a very specific way of creating a polyphonic narrative, i.e. cohesion of the text can be divided into three main storylines or momentums of three different narrating voices presented in the text: first, the overall narrating voice; second, a dialogue between a black man from the USA ghetto neighborhood, whose son has just been murdered by gang members, with his friend; and in third, a man, who gives a speech about the gun control at the convention, also about mishandled the current situation in USA is. There is a certain pattern, which Kendrick creates by repeating a phrase “I'll chip a nigga, then throw the blower in his lap”. With this Kendrick describes the kind of mentality or a behavior of a person, who cares less about the social laws and would even commit a murder, they would leave a crime scene by throwing the gun in the victim’s lap. This person is not fearing any punishment coming whatsoever. This scene depicts the moral ambiguity existing in the society. The politeness strategies used in this song vary from starting with lowered, more melodic tone and then switching into the first verse with more aggressive rapping and musical background, accompanied with the sounds of police sirens and gunshots. The song ends again with the melodic but mellow chorus sung by Bono from U2, where he leaves the last word unfinished halfway through, simultaneously music stops playing. Kendrick portrays the search for social truth from a black man’s

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perspective and also contests more widely accepted regimes of truth prevailing in contemporary USA society. In general, the modality of the text is rather depressing and almost seems hopeless, because Kendrick needs to pray for the USA because it is heading towards the self-destruction of the nation. As heard in the last lines of Bono’s chorus: “It's not a place / This country is to be a sound / Of drum and bass / You close your eyes to look around.” What he could have meant when he mentions the sound of drum and bass, is the sound of gunshots or explosions.

4.1.10. Land Of The Free by Joey Bada$$ The themes which are present in ‘Land of The Free’ relates to several major discursive themes present in USA society. They account for corruption, racism, injustice, liberty to name some of the most prevalent. These themes are continuously circling within contemporary debates in USA society, thus with Joey speaking on them, he becomes a participant in an interdiscursive space with the lyrical substance and content of his songs. Looking into the intertextual elements, there is one that stands out. In the song Joey raps “Three K’s, Two A’s in AmeriKKKa”. While ‘AmeriKKKa’ is part of the album title, this refers directly to the Ku Klux Klan known for its white nationalist and white supremacist ideology. There is of course a strong symbolism connected to the three letters that is KKK. While most people connect the three letters to symbolize the strongly racist beliefs of the Ku Klux Klan, Joey provides two meanings to the acronym. While he infers that America is still affected by racist beliefs amongst its citizens, as well as within the current design of the system, he also attaches the following meaning. KKK has since rapper, Ice Cube’s, debut album, AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, also come to symbolize the corrupt USA both in economic and social terms. Joey provides further intertextual elements. Deceased rap icon Tupac Shakur famously said: “I will spark the brain that will change the world” (Shakur, n.d.). Joey, who is a self-proclaimed fan of Tupac Shakur, made an interesting twist to the quote when he raps: “and everything I do and say today that’s worthwhile, will for sure inspire action in your first child”. Tupac was known for being an advocate and spokesperson of not only the black community but all disenfranchised people whilst speaking out against a corrupt system. Thus, he became a role model for many people up until his yet unresolved murder in 1996. Tupac has today reached a cult-like status and it is clear that Joey is influenced by him both through his music but also in various interviews, music videos, freestyles etc. (Joey Badass talks about 2Pac's "Do For Love", 2015). Joey presents a coherent message throughout the song. The song is meant to be a direct political statement and therefore contradictions do not take place, neither does he infer ironic lyricism or any other rhetoric element, which can confuse his discursive intent. The song is clear

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and direct. For this political statement to be taken serious, Joey would therefore also have to write a cohesive lyric in which the lyrical elements are grammatically and linguistically sound and thus, understandable. Although, he does as common to the craftsmanship of a rapper infer double entendrés and metaphors into his rhyme schemes, which at times may be more difficult for the average listener to catch. One example of a double entendre can be found in the lyric: “You told to follow suit, but tell me what it do for you? Except weigh you down now you trapped inside the cubicle they built for us”. The emphasis here is put in the word ‘suit’. In this line, Joey cleverly relates the saying “to follow suit” to that of a typical business worker, who usually wears a suit and who has chosen to follow the road, which is custom for regular civilians. Whether Joey’s lyrics are truthful or not, he seemingly comes from a position, which in many ways describe a humane character when considering his ethos. His ideas and beliefs pertaining to the justice and fairness of those, who are less privileged while inferring that there is a need for change on behalf of the so-called elite and in favor of the people; “They disorganized my people made us all loners,” “They should take recognition,” etc. This mode of persuasion coupled with his direct, and unapologetic message and tone will likely have a big appeal to many consumers of his music, which is evident in the comment section of the song. Joey’s wording implies both a tribal and a populist message which will be discussed in the further steps of analysis. He also shortly touches on the former and current president of the USA, which gives a somewhat clearer image of his political convictions; “Obama just wasn’t enough I need some more closure, and Donald Trump is not equipped to take this country over.” Lastly, the video is a representation of the struggles, which are present in colored communities, most notably it depicts police killings. By extension, it also shows members of the KKK and burning crosses. Joey functions as an antagonist in the video against the aforementioned struggles as he tries to end the violence and share his knowledge to the kids of USA Therefore, one can conceive that the lyrical presentation combined with the visual presentation inform a certain call to action, a need for change and as represented in both textual elements - a hope for this change to manifest in future generations.

4.1.11. Alright by Kendrick Lamar The lyrical content of ‘Alright’ follows a somewhat unorthodox structure. While the verses deal with more introspective and personal matters, the pre-hook and the hook takes a general stand from the perspective of the black community, focusing on their ability to overcome struggles as represented in “We been hurt, been down before”, while later repeating the now infamous chant “We gon’ be alright”. The pre-chorus also sends a very direct message when Kendrick raps: “And we hate popo, wanna kill us dead in the street fo’ sho”. The change of topic between the verses and the pre-

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chorus/chorus creates a certain lack of coherence, although most likely intentional it provides different aspects to the song as it draws on examples from both Kendrick’s life as well as the experiences within the black community. During the intro of the song, Kendrick loudly prompts ‘Nazareth’, which is a subtle hint within the interdiscursive chain. Kendrick is known to have many religious references in his lyrics. In this regard, Kendrick is likely making parallels between Nazareth and his hometown Compton. Nazareth, reputedly being the place where Jesus spent his adolescent years, was a troubled city filled with people of various struggles much like Compton is known for. Furthermore, Kendrick may also make parallels to himself and Jesus as Kendrick has throughout his career taken upon himself the responsibility to uplift his hometown, touching the people through his music as well as through other business and music-related ventures. In the music video, Kendrick is also seen floating above the streets of Compton while rapping, almost as if he is taking a preacher-like character. In the song and throughout the album Kendrick continuously mentions the name Lucy. Lucy is the supposed nickname for Lucifer, another word for the devil, whom tries to seduce Kendrick and have him give in to temptations such as materialistic possessions and infidelity. These temptations are imposed on him by the music industry given his rapid rise in fame. Although Kendrick confesses that he does not have a clean slate; “Reaping everything I sow, so my karma coming heavy”, “Drown inside my vices all day”, he stresses the importance of God as the savior, who will make sure that “We gon’ be alright”. In this sense, Kendrick may relate his struggles to other regular people, who are tempted to follow their voices but with the help of God may be able to do otherwise. However, as seen in the music video, people within the black community are under a constant threat of not fulfilling this righteous path due to the imminent threat of police killings, hence why Kendrick is killed in the end of the music video falling to his demise. The few and simple words “We gon’ be alright” became immensely meaningful to those, who could relate to the song’s message, most notably African-Americans. Inferring the pronoun ‘we’ into the chorus sections, represents a tribal ideology, which in this context sets Kendrick and the black community apart from the police. The honesty present in Kendrick’s lyrics forms an informal tone, which considers the struggles of himself and many African-Americans in a very direct fashion. He manages to put together complex rhyme patterns, while delivering thoughtful messages both through the cadence of his voice but also the meaning of his lyrics.

4.1.12. Street Livin’ by The Black-Eyed Peas ‘Street Livin’’ is a song, which utilizes a lot of imagery in its lyrics as well as its visual presentation. The song brings attention to the various conditions and perspectives of people living in the so-called streets, commonly referred to as the ghetto.

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Both the instrumental orchestration as well as the lyrical content is a significant departure from the two releases before the album containing ‘Street Livin’’. The two former releases were not politically motivated but instead suited for a more mainstream appeal. Although, the new album is not entirely uncharted territory for the eclectic group as 2003 hit-song ‘Where Is the Love?’ as well as the promotional single to Obama’s presidential campaign, ‘Yes, We Can’ (entirely curated by leading member, Will.i.am), had deep political and social motives. The song participates in various interdiscursive contexts, most notably racial, economic and social injustices. There are however more specific examples to point out. For example, when Will.i.am raps: “CIA planes bring Colombian drugs”, he is referring to the controversial allegations that the CIA trafficked cocaine from Colombia, which spread throughout the ghettos of USA in order to finance foreign military intervention (CIA Drug Trafficking Allegations, 1998). Similarly, there is an intertextual element related to the song ‘XXX’, which relates to the above matter. In the song, Kendrick raps “It’s nasty when you set us up” following up with “you overnight the big riffles” in which he references both the importation of drugs and guns from the government into the urban neighborhoods of USA Furthermore, the song references the economic policies, popularized as Reaganomics, and implemented in the 1980’s by Republican president, Ronald Reagan: “Street livin’ no economics, no way out of the Reaganomics”. These economic policies are said to have had a detrimental effect on the USA lower class by limiting social spending, increasing the military budget, providing massive tax cuts for the wealthy and de-regulating domestic markets (Baker D. , 2011). The music video is creatively well organized alongside the lyrics, almost as if the lyrics were written with the music video in mind. Reason being, that each line or bar as it is named in hip-hop is narrated by a different character - a character, whom fits the meaning of the line. For example, when Will.i.am raps: “Be like kings or be like pawns, they called us coons now they call us cons”, the line is narrated by Martin Luther King Jr. along with a protestor. The narration takes shape from a famous photo taken during the march in Selma, Alabama. This photo resurfaced and came to have great importance during the NFL kneeling protests initiated by Colin Kaepernick (Rhodan, 2017). The song and video are undoubtedly inspired by and is a nod to the Civil Rights Movement which fought against the segregation laws imposed on African-Americans. At times, the song is self-reflective as seen in the line: “Racists no longer have to be racist, ‘cause niggas kill more niggas than the KKK did”. This line is given a somewhat sympathetic answer in the end of the verse: “I understand what’s a nigga to choose? Be the killer or be the dead dude in the news”. However, while the song is not narrated from different perspectives of various people, these lines represent the ability to be reflective and personally consider multiple perspectives. This means that the artist recognizes that the negative stigma surrounding black people in the ghetto

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may also be self-inflicted. Seemingly, the word ‘nigga’ in context with the above lines also seems to be utilized in its more dissenting form. The song depicts a clear moral statement and an appeal to the ethos as it sympathizes with people who are living in the so-called streets. It does so by providing perspective, giving one a sense of how and why people in the ghetto find themselves struggling and the difficulty escaping this struggle. This situation further provides an element of transparency, which is formed through the cohesive and informative presentation of both lyrics and video.

4.1.13. This Is America by Childish Gambino As all of the chosen samples of discourses for the analysis, ‘This is America’ is a song lyric by its discourse type. At an interdiscursive level, we can hear in the lines: “We just wanna party / Party just for you We just want the money / Money just for you” about the role that the entertainment industry and the pop culture play for the contemporary American society, as well as for the conformation of social status and financial wealth. Further, in ‘This is America’, the title itself relates to discourses and current issues occurring in the country, such as racism, police brutality, gun violence and school shootings among others. It also talks about struggles of the black community and how it is to earn money in U.S.A for a black man. The video contains a 17-seconds silent scene, as a gesture to honour the 17 victims of a school shooting in Florida. The coherence of the lyric is disjointed by two main narratives: the portrayal of careless lifestyle and party culture, followed by portraying utterly conflicting scene of violent events and crimes happening in the USA It is done so purposely to ironize about U.S.A cecity caused by the entertainment industry and its poor values, and in that way distracting people’s attention from real issues and problems prevailing in the country. Conditions of discourse practice, as the conventions depending on the musical genre in ‘This is America’, can be identified as a mix of trap (mainly heard in the chorus and verses) and Afrobeat (mainly heard in the intro, outro and refrain) music genres. Trap music is derived from the Southern hip-hop genre in the early 2000s, where the most common musical characteristics are the usage of heavy kick-drums and bass and lyrics are usually dark and intimidating. On the other hand, afrobeat is a genre that was influenced by West African musical styles and elements intersecting American contemporary jazz and funk genres. Childish Gambino also uses a gospel choir to intensify tribal elements of afrobeat to a more American context. Manifest intertextuality is seen in the last lines of the lyric, when Childish Gambino sings: “You just a black man in this world You just a barcode…” The message is clearly referring to racial injustice, which even professionally and socially successful black people have to deal with in America.

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Cohesion or structuring of the text in the lyric seems as if the artist has chosen to use very primitive language by announcing different, sometimes even random topics and giving only keywords, which is especially seen in the song verses. E.g. “This is America (skrrt, skrrt, woo), Don't catch you slippin' up (ayy), Look at how I'm livin' now, Police be trippin' now (woo), Yeah, this is America (woo, ayy), Guns in my area (word, my area), I got the strap (ayy, ayy), I gotta carry 'em…”. This specific use of wordings and syntaxis could also refer to the modern-day slang of African- American vernacular widely used within USA youth, since the youth is also most affected by the influence of the entertainment industry. In that way Childish Gambino is using the language, which would be understood by young people. The portrayal of different narratives in the lyrics, as well as mixing the two music genres, show both positive and negative politeness strategies expressed in the song, nevertheless in general it is negative. Again, the main purpose for contrasting positive and negative politeness was to show the irony of the events and message delivered by the artist. The ethos of the discourse is constructing the identity of a black person in USA, it talks about his/her struggles caused by racism which this person is experiencing on an every-day basis. The narrative of the music video portrays immorality of how meaningless the life of a black person is just by simply shooting him/her like a ”dog on the street”. Consumerism culture and economical wealth of a person is more valued, unless you are a black person. This can be seen in the lines: “No proper life to a dog/ For a big dog”. Transitivity of the lyric is mainly seen as the narration in the first voice of a black man’s experiences and attempts to ‘make it’ in USA He also uses the first voice by pointing out all the wrong values the entertainment industry has imposed on an average USA by impersonating these commonly accepted values to himself. Occasionally, second voice is used to address the listener in order to remind about the tough life conditions for black people hidden under the facade of carelessness and amusement promoted by pop culture. Childish Gambino is using active voice as a call to action for USA people to realize their ignorance and focus more on solving the issues of inequality. Main theme of the song is the entertainment industry and pop culture with the values that it is promoting like money and status. On the other hand, another, even more important theme is the reality and its issues like police brutality, injustice, racism, gun violence, mass shootings and life of African American community. In ‘This is America’ modality is seen through continuous use of constative clauses describing a given reality, thus they are not necessarily true or false. There is some alliteration with the repetitive use of sentences that start with: “I am (going to) …”, periodically inaugurated by the

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proposition that “this is America”. The tone of the song changes from positive to negative exactly in that way, in which one could experience a ‘reality check’. Metaphors like: “Look what I’m whippin’ up” could either mean to make money or to make drugs; “I got the strap” refers to carrying guns for the purposes of self-defence, thus creating a delusion that black people always carry guns and are dangerous. “I’m on Gucci” imitates someone, who is over-concerned with social status and material values. Lyrical lines where Gambino sings “This a celly (ha) That's a tool (yeah)”, according to what is happening in the music video, can be interpreted as cell phones being used as a tool for capturing and spreading the footages of violent scenes and crimes committed against black people.

4.1.14. Bella Ciao (Goodbye Beautiful) by Marc Ribot & Tom Waits In September 2018, legendary Californian song-writer Tom Waits recorded an English version of Bella Ciao, the iconic Italian anti-fascist anthem used as a partisan symbol of resistance during World War II. (Waits & Ribot, 2018). The song holds a cohesive structure from beginning to end, and it is performed with few instruments, in a nostalgic, almost sad undertone. The theme along the song is of political struggle, by stablishing immediately a position against the fascists, who arrive “early […] at the [singers’] door”. In this sense, the highest value outlined by the song is the value of “dying for freedom”. While the verses unfold within the song, it is sometimes unclear to know if the singer is saying goodbye to a love one or to the concept of “freedom”, since this one is under threat since the beginning of the number. The song employs an accessible language, from which probably the only two more “complex ideas” are capsuled by the words “fascism” and “partisan”, both of them belonging to the semantic field of politics. The song uses frequently the symbolism of a flower, contrasting with the image of a soldier; which could be interpreted as an interdiscursive reference to the well-known rose symbol that represents social democracy around the world. The images used on the official music video are real footage, taken with a high definition camera. The video begins with an open shot of an empty street, with a helicopter surveilling over the day skies. During the first half of the music video, we can observe different scenes of Washington DC. The video shows different empty streets heavily guarded by military police blocking all access points; this produces a heavy feeling of repression in the viewer. In the second half of the video, we can also observe real footage, but this time the streets are full of people who were protesting during the Women’s March of 2017, which is considered to be “the largest demonstration in US history”. (Frostenson, 2017). We need to remember that big part of the discontent of the marchers was directed directly over the image of Donald Trump, who was the target of public discord after the release of videotape in which he “brags” to Access Hollywood’s host Billy Bush that he could move women “like bitches” because thanks to his celebrity they let him “grab them by the pussy”. (Mathis-

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Lilley, 2016). The pink hats showed on the video are a direct interdiscursive message linked between the video and the social uproar. Furthermore, the music video shows in detail some of the protest banners that citizens carry along the march, some of them with messages against the immigration policies, the misogyny, the injustice, the intolerance, and racism. One banner just simplified the collective mood by renaming Trump by Twitler, a cartoon half Twitter, half Hitler. Probably the interdiscursive relation between the video and the lyrics overlap in the irony of this rhetorical visual figure and the final verse of the first paragraph: “I’m not afraid anymore”.

4.1.15. Ye vs. The People by Kanye West & T.I. In April 2018, Kanye West released the polemical single “Ye vs the People”. This is the only song within the corpus in which we find an example of an artist openly defending the Trumpian government through art. It doesn’t have an official music video. The song is interpreted by West and TI, and it is presented as a two-sided discussion in which West (Ye) defends his position as a Trump supporter and TI represents “the People”, which by the context of the song it can be interpreted as a reproaching voice coming from the African-American community or from the American citizens. The cohesion along the text is presented in the form of a heated dialogue between Kanye and TI. The ethos of the song is explicit when, in an attempt to re-signifying Trump’s slogan, Kanye says: “Make America Great Again had a negative perception / I took it, wore it, rocked it, gave it a new direction / Added empathy, care and love and affection / And y'all simply questionin' my methods?” The vocabulary in the son is very accessible and direct. For moments, TI questions Kanye’s loyalty for Trump, even suggesting that Trump “cut [West] a check” for defending “white supremacists”. Still, Kanye defends his position of having a different political opinion, even suggesting in one of his verses: “Is it better if I rap about crack? Huh? 'Cause it's cultural?” Regarding the discursive practices, we should observe that on April 25, 2018, Kanye West tweeted his open support for Donald Trump, stating that both him and the president have “dragon energy” (Kanye West's Twitter feed, 2018). The tweet has more than 320 thousand likes and 79 thousand retweets, and it was the beginning of long story of West defending Trump against all odds. It is worth remembering that in October 2018, Kanye West’s wife Kim Kardashian visited the White House and accomplished that President Trump commuted Alice Marie Johnson’s prison sentence, as requested by the protagonist of the reality show “Keeping up with the Kardashians”. (Helling, 2018). Also, in October 2018, a Kanye visited the White House and met with the president “declaring his love for Trump and hugging him” (Clarke, 2018). During this occasion, Kanye told the media that the MAGA-hat made him feel like Superman and started a ten-minute monologue that seems to have confuse the president. Nonetheless, by the end of October, Kanye impulsively stopped his support for Donald Trump, arguing that he “have been used to spread messages he

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didn’t believe in.” (Kanye West's Twitter feed, 2018). Before abandoning his erratic political commentary, West “listed some of his political beliefs, including the need for prison reform, gun laws and love and compassion for people seeking asylum.” (Daniel, 2018).

4.1.16. I’m Not Racist by Joyner Lucas On November 2017, rapper Joyner Lucas released the music video of his song “I’m not racist”, (Lucas, 2017) which became an immediate viral hit. The music video has more than 105 million views only in YouTube, and it is the center of several home-made videos in which people reacts after seeing “I’m not racist” by the first time (with more than 641 thousand views on YouTube, the video from N4L Reactions, 2017, is an example of this). The song was composed as a dialogue between a white and a black man. During the first half of the song, the white man talks to the black man, in a long monologue in which he refuses being racist while displaying a list of soft-racism and prejudices, while trying to avoid any participation in the racial debate. The “white man” finishes his participation stating that he wishes to have a better understanding the subjectivity of the black man. During the second half, the black man responds the white man’s arguments one by one. The black man is obviously enraged with the white man, and by that he also displays a set of prejudices. Nonetheless, the black man also finishes his participation wishing to have a better understanding with his counterpart. The cohesion of the song is sustained along all the complex dialogue that touches several topics regarding the theme of racial discrimination. The politeness strategy is confrontational. The dialogue is too tense, and this feeling is reinforced by the actors in the music video. The language is hard and educated. The main idea behind the song is that we are not aware of our own insensitivity. The phrase “I’m not racist” usually is followed by the conjunction “but”, which is the opening line for the hardest verses in the song (i.e. “I'm not racist / I'm just prepared for this type of war”). As noticed by Lucas, part of the discontent of the sympathizers of the Black Lives Matter movement comes from the lack of empathy that some white citizens have with the cause: “Screaming ‘All Lives Matter’ / Is a protest to my protest, what kind of shit is that?”.

4.2. Discursive practice Now that we have presented the most relevant textual elements of each song, we will move on with the second stage of analysis. Here we recognize that the songs are “a discursive practice which involves the production and consumption of texts”. ” (Jorgensen, M., Phillips, L.J., p. 68).This will help further establish the conditions which the songs are received and interpreted under by the listeners.

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The means by which an artist produces and curates a song are significantly more developed than previous times. Not only may the phase of production be faster, it may also likely be more diverse in its choices of production, such as the instrumental and technological composition, genre, style, etc. In today’s world, it is easy for one person to solely record and distribute a song if one chooses to. This has in many ways led to a saturated music scene, where one would think it is impossible to listen and analyse every politically charged song. The reality is that artists all over the world produce music at accelerating rates, which leads to an abundance of artists whose songs will never reach their expected audience, resulting in more competition amongst the dominating musical voices and discourses. This generates a wide range of interpretations in which the artist’s intended message may or may not be taken out of its original context and placed into a new one. This process of reproduction can have both good and bad causal effects depending on what light the songs are presented in. A clear example of this can be seen with the song, This Is America. The song generated a cultural-like phenomenon as artists, comedians, and actors from all over the world would retain the instrumental and visual structure of the song while altering the lyrical and thematic structure to fit different scenarios such as the state of their own country (e.g. This Is India), or the feminist movement. Although with much comedic intent, the reproductive phase of This Is America spread an increased amount of awareness about the original song, which by December 2018 has more than 446 million views on YouTube solely. In order to broaden the scope in this part of analysis, it is important to recognize that there are certain restrictions and limitations imposed on artists. These restrictions may be imposed by the artists themselves (such as psychological effects, personal beliefs and ideas etc.) or it may be imposed by contextual factors including the role of society (taboos, norms, artist discrimination etc.) or whether they are signed with a label or independently curating and distributing their music. Nevertheless, it would seem necessary for an artist to carefully consider the release of a politically charged song and/or album and if under the pressure of a label, artists may also choose to take their music in a different direction, which ensure them not to offend listeners. For example, when Joyner Lucas curated the impactful song, I'm Not A Racist, he was told by his label not to release it, as they thought the song would be too offensive (Joyner Lucas Live In Boston - House Of Blues (Sold Out), 2018). However, by analysing politically charged music, one may likely make the conclusion that the artist has some, if not full, artistic freedom. It is also clear that some of our sampled artists have obtained independent deals despite their massive popularity, such as Childish Gambino. When considering the distribution of music there is one important factor, which is needed to mention - Internet. Internet gave rise to a brand-new form of communication, which have transformed society and everyday interaction. For artists, this has meant more independence, more

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freedom of their creative content and faster accessibility amongst other things. The freedom to disseminate music faster and to a wider audience has had a massive impact both for the artists and for the music industry. Streaming, through platforms such as Spotify has resulted in the relatively new phenomenon coined as streaming wars, where each view and listen of a song is having capital value, thus becoming a form of currency. To take it a step further, as a result of Internet, the freedom for an artist to depict their realities creates an increased sense of awareness on the listeners behalf. Thus, knowledge and transparency are generated in which the prevail of other discourses, and new truths are flourishing and competing against other discourses existing within the regimes of truth. New studies find that citizens' trust in their government has fallen drastically within the last two decades (Pew Research Center, 2017) One can speculate upon to what effect the internet along with the distribution of politically charged music has contributed to this decrease. However, Internet does not come without its hindrance. The newly implemented net neutrality in USA may come to benefit some artists more than others. Similarly, silencing artists, such as de-platforming is threatening an artist’s artistic freedom. This is often the result of ideological differences, where dominating discourses silence other prevailing discourses. As noted earlier in the paper, the NGO Freemuse, released an extensive paper on artistic freedom discovering that USA ranks fifth highest alongside Iran in violating freedom of musical expression (Freemuse, 2018). Lastly, it is useful to consider if they are targeting a certain demographic or a tribe with their music. Whether the music is intended for some and not for others is telling of both the character and ideological position of an artist. For example, while The Storm by Eminem addresses his fans, public, Colin Kaepernick and so forth, the song is directed mainly towards Donald Trump. Million Dollar Loan and Can’t You Tell exemplifies two songs that are almost explicitly directed toward Trump. The song Immigrants (We Get The Job Done) is both tribal and populist in its message as it speaks on behalf of immigrants but much in relation to the USA public. Finally, This Is America is directed towards all Americans and therefore strives for a populist message which everyone can relate to.

4.3. Social practice The third step in the CDA analysis will concern the context or the sociocultural effects for the production and interpretation of the meaning. In this part we are going to look at how the songs have been perceived by the audience and media, as well as their socio-political impact on society. As mentioned in the previous section of analysis, some artists may be specifically targeting a certain demographic, while others, if not the vast majority, intend for their music to be equally distributed and meaningful to everyone. Factors like popularity and professional acknowledgements of musicians play a great role on how the perception of the meaning is created by the audience, hence

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it can be related with ideology and power structures. The more cultural capital artist possesses, the more considered and influential his/her voice and art becomes. Here we can mention the number of listeners, critical acclaim and coverage in the media as a criterion for measuring sociocultural effects of interpretation. In this regard, it is worthy to mention four examples of our chosen songs and artists because of the most recent reactions they have created within the society and media. Earlier this year Kendrick Lamar became the first rapper to win a Pulitzer Price for music. The album featuring song “Alright” was archived into the canon at Harvard Library, being taught in various classrooms and it won a Grammy Award for best hip-hop album in 2016, while the song itself won for best rap song and best rap performance. He has won many other awards for his musical efforts with “Alright” taking up numerous of them. The song had a massive impact on the protests of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement with many of the protesters chanting “We gon’ be alright”, thus serving as an anthem for the protests against police killings in the black community (King, 2016). The song did, however, receive some backlash, most notably from the Republican news outlet, FOX News, who during one of their broadcasts responded to Lamar’s performance of Alright saying “Hip-Hop has done more damage to black and brown people than racism in the last ten years" (Rivera, 2015). This happened after his performance at the BET Awards in 2015 and the segment was later featured and addressed by Lamar in his following album “DAMN.”. Nevertheless, with his music Kendrick has become a major figure for unifying black America. Legendary hip-hop artist Eminem has no less acknowledgments for his work and life investment within the music industry. Since the late 1990s, Eminem remains being one of the bestselling artists. Throughout his career, Eminem has won several awards, including fifteen Grammy Awards and earning a status of an icon within the hip-hop community in the whole world. Eminem won the global icon award in “2013 MTV Europe Music Awards” by making him the first rapper to ever receive the award. Eminem’s cypher “The Storm”, which he performed for the “BET Hip-Hop Awards” with more than 47’626,291 views on YouTube and at least 43’470,985 followers on Spotify of his own, resonated highly and was widely discussed on social media, especially on web platform Twitter, where many other celebrities including Snoop Dogg, Colin Kaepernick, Diddy, J. Cole and LeBron James responded to the cypher by thanking Eminem for speaking out on the behalf of ‘the people’. Thus, aforementioned celebrities joined Eminem in protest against Trump by using their own platform and fan base for spreading the message and a call for action to the rest of the USA to rise against Trump. The song, This is America, not only activated thoughts about how entertainment industry is distracting the society with its absurd values from real issues like racism and gun violence but as we already mention it in the second part of the CDA analysis, the song also triggered a whole new socio-political phenomenon, which went viral on the internet, where different artists across the globe

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created remix or parody versions of the song and the music video for “This is America”. Instead they referred to the issues and injustices prevailing in the context of their own countries (e.g. “This is Nigeria”, “This is France”, “This is Iraq”, etc.). Another sociocultural effect caused by this song and more specifically its music video, was the sensation of meme20 creation using screenshots or video fragments from the music video. While the majority of the internet users were having fun with memes, online magazine “Vice” wrote an article, where it criticized the society for “missing Donald Glover's whole point” (Mufson, 2018) and proving the fact that the society is focusing on the wrong things, as described in the song lyric. Rapper Kanye West has been titled as one of the most influential people in the world in the time period from 2005 – 2015 by “Time” magazine, he has been beloved by many for his music and therefore receiving twenty-one Grammy Awards, as well as other music awards and professional achievements. However, it is not new for the audience that West throughout his music career has been rather shocking, and controversial in his expressions of personal and political beliefs. Recently he has received a lot of backlash from different media outlets and his fans for supporting Donald Trump and therefore, creating a divide between himself and the Black community and appealing more to the elite. His song “Ye vs. the People” featuring T.I. is a clear example of how he is carrying out a political debate with the American society, moreover by arguing his idea of how a united society should deal with the prevailing issues in USA in order to reach a consensus. As a reaction to his recent art and political activism, New York-based radio station WQHT (also known as “HOT 97”) with 2,3 million subscribers on YouTube in one of its podcasts criticized West for not understanding the issues to which he is referring to, also by pointing out his privileged life conditions on contrary to the ‘average African-American man’, who is struggling from the injustice in the USA. on a daily basis, therefore saying that Kanye West cannot be the best representative of the community (HOT 97, 2018). Furthermore, the co-host of the podcast Ibrahim “Ebro” Darden condemns Kanye West for appealing to the right-wing audience, elite and president Trump as a strategy for promoting his soon to-be-released album, thus betraying the majority of his current fans (including Darden himself) and the whole Black community (ibid). For being such an influential figure in the society, Darden assumes that, West has been too ‘naïve’ to fall into a trap laid out by the right- wing channel Fox and even though presumably fighting for good reasons, he has been ‘out of touch’ from real problems to address them properly (ibid). Through its populist message, “We The People…”, is a great example of the lack of trust in government in its aim to empower the people contrary to the so called ´elite´. If we look at the

20 As described in Oxford Dictionaries, a meme is a cultural phenomenon of human’s behavior expressed in a form of an image, video or a text usually with a humoristic message and by means of imitation, which is shared on the internet. Often times memes have several variations.

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current socio-political state in the society of the USA, then, according to a recent survey, there are more people who identify themselves as ‘independents’, rather than belonging to either political party, than ever in the history of the USA (Pew Research Center, 2017). The expressions of loss of trust in the USA government are also heard throughout most of our chosen songs. More likely, the musicians are delivering rather populistic and tribal messages in their songs, than showing their appeals to one party or another, with the exception of the song “Ye vs. the People.” One can argue that these songs are both reflecting and effecting the societal perception and formation of regimes of truth, since we believe that artists voices can greatly resonate in the society.

4.4 Analysis of the theories In our last part of the analysis, we will focus on a comparative analysis of the songs, as well as applying the chosen theories. Most of the songs are sharing the same message. The centrality of this message often pertains to social inequality existing within the politics of identity. This leads to the notion of tribalism. From tribalism follows the assumption that there will always exist competitive forces between the tribes within a nation. The main goal is to have equal value to the identity of a nation, and in some cases, being the driving force of a nation’s identity. This can be seen in a majority of the analysed songs. For instance, in the song FDT (Fuck Donald Trump) by YG & Nipsey Hussle, the message is directed towards Trump from the black tribe: “I like white folks but I don’t like you, all the niggas in the hood wanna fight you” and “Don’t let Donald Trump win, that nigga cancer”. With these phrases, one can see a clear divisiveness. There is a strong aggression from the black community against a specific person. Another example could be This is America by Childish Gambino. The visual narrative presents the hatred experienced by the black community. In the video, people are getting shot and guns are held to have a high value, as is characteristic of the Republican party. Lastly, a significant disconnection between whites and blacks can be found in the song, I’m Not Racist, by Joyner Lucas. During the video, a somewhat hostile conversation between a white and a black man is being shown with arguments being presented from both sides. One more example could be Street Livin’ a song by The Black-Eyed Peas. The lyric of the song serves as a voice for several identity groups. In doing so, it embraces several tribes, who find themselves in a socio-economic struggle by living under the conditions hereby referred to as ‘Street livin’’. Street Livin’ refers to the tough conditions experienced in the ghetto, urban areas and/or socially and economically challenged communities mostly consisting of people of color. The video further reinforces this multi-tribal message as it is narrated by people belonging both to the black and Latin community. However, the song can be interpreted as speaking for a wider range of people/tribes, namely those, who fall under the category of the lower class in society. With these

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songs, one can see the same issue - tribes formed on the basis of white versus black often bearing racial implications as well as an opposition to the current political climate. Another important message, which has been delivered by the musicians, as seen, is the prevalence of populism. The main feature of populism is the division within the society into two opposite camps: ‘the people’, as the suppressed groups and lower-class citizens, vs. ‘the elite,’ as the ones being in a privileged position of holding the power. Pre-populist atmosphere arises, when the needs of the population are not met, like healthcare, social security, etc. For example, these peculiarities appear in Jack Johnson’s song My Mind Is For Sale as in the lyric line: “Us against them walls”, where ‘us’ can be perceived as the citizens of the USA and ‘them’ refers to Donald Trump, the government and Trump’s proposed wall between Mexico and the USA. Thus, his phrase supports the argument of populism, that the society is divided into two different camps. Another lyric: “Me first gimme gimme appetite at all”, refers to Trump’s solely own personal interests and his way of making ‘America Great Again’, instead of solving real issues prevailing in the contemporary USA concerning topics like gun violence, racism, healthcare, social security etc. A song Can’t you tell by Aimee Mann also carries out a populist message when she sings: “Well guess what Mr. President, I’ll be seeing you in four years”, in that way portraying, how Trump categorizes himself as a part of ‘the elite’, while and previous president B. Obama into the lower position of society. Moreover, power structures could be seen in his expression: “I pointed out all my enemies just so my fans/ Bring them down”, which shows that by being in power, one can get whatever he wants. Third example of populistic ideas covered in songs could be ‘We The People’ by A Tribe Called Quest. For instance: “All you Black folks, you must go/ All you Mexicans, you must go” - within this specific phrase in the lyrics, one can see that there is a strong division between ‘the people’ , which refers to all the immigrants in the the USA and ‘the elite’ - ‘pure’ and ‘true’ Americans. Lastly, we will briefly discuss some of the songs throughout regimes of truth perspective. According to M. Foucault, there is not only ‘one knowledge’ but many different knowledges existing. Therefore, regimes of truth are basically prioritized forms of knowledge, the ones that we see as true/truth. This point of view emerges in the song ‘XXX’ by rapper Kendrick Lamar and U2, for instance: “I’ll chip a nigga then throw a blower to his lap/ Walk myself to the court like, “Bitch I did that”” – this shows that a black person’s life has absolutely no value in the society of the USA and it is being perceived as ‘normal’. Another example in the lyrics: “This country is to be a sound of drum and bass” refers to the USA. has a massive problem with gun violence – citizens having incredibly easy accessibility to guns, therefore, enormous numbers of shooting occur among people frequently. Accordingly, these phrases of the lyrics support the prioritized forms of knowledge, the ones that we see as true ones.

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One could see that the main messages of the songs, such as hostility towards the USA’s president Donald Trump, racism, inequality, gun violence, society being divided into two different categories and tribes were dominating in the lyrics.

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5. Discussion

What is it then that makes our sample of songs politically charged? In a great deal of the songs, the artists tend to blame the condition of their realities on institutional power and an inherent corruption within society, which discriminates against specific social groups. They seem to be of the firm belief that change is dependent on the workings of the system. Although, some artists tend to recognize that change is a reciprocal process, which relies on both sides. For example, Joey Bada$$ raps: "Can't change the world 'less we change ourselves" and in a more metaphoric writing, Kendrick Lamar raps: “America’s reflection of me, that’s what a mirror does”. Whether there is a lack of self- reflection or not on some artists behalf, it is still difficult to unravel whether the socio-economic realities experienced by certain tribes are the result of the system or of the tribe itself. Conceivably, it may be a combination of both factors. Some artists speak of realities, which may not be the direct experience of themselves. Most are celebrities and therefore their lives do not correlate with average Americans. They are in that sense mediators of the realities experienced by other people and therefore also disconnected from these realities to a certain degree. Others may of course have had direct experiences. It is important to recognize that artists are as well products of their environment and influenced by their surroundings, which may both positively and negatively influence them. This socialization garners a particular ideology and a moral compass, which is contextualized in relation to their experiences. In that sense, what one perceives as right or wrong, may not correlate with the reality of others, whom are socialized in a different context. This can be related to the notion of regimes of truth, as truth here is understood, not as a definitive order, but as what we discursively agree on within a socialized context, known in the Foucauldian sense, as the hegemonic power struggle. Let us further look into the relationship between tribalism and populism. How do these two ontologically different concepts relate to one another in the context of the discourses found in the songs. One could argue that in fact, many of the tribal discourses are also populist discourses as it is conceivably in the interest of the people to have equality for everybody. However, we can also detect a problem with tribal discourses as tribalism is divisive by nature. Does tribalism make for a more just and equal society, or does it do the opposite in its aim of equality? Fighting for the equality of one special interest group, instead of implementing ideas that protect the rights of individuals, may disenfranchise and silence other groups. This is of course not to say, that the realities expressed throughout the songs with tribal features are not real and should therefore not be taken seriously. It is simply a matter of when the tribal ideology impedes on the rights of others, and thus, goes too far.

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Music can be misunderstood, it can lack the quality or the context to be appreciated. Other times, the music blossoms and artists garner voices that are bigger than those of many politicians. We are however, also to be thoughtful of the status in which we hold artists. Society has for a long time managed to idolize people working within the entertainment industry whilst positioning many artists as idealists and guardians of moral and social behaviour. The imagery and representation of said artists alongside their potential influence are therefore to be held in mind. Nonetheless, one thing we can derive from the above analysis is that the value of artists and their music must not be undermined.

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6. Conclusion

In conclusion of the project, we will refer back to the proposed problem formulation. Based upon the methodological and theoretical approaches, we can summarize the most dominant discourses in contemporary music from the USA in the following points:

• Display of a strong opposition against Donald Trump’s policies and against the current political climate of division in the USA; • Rejection of racial, social and economic inequalities among the population; • The recognition of historical events and its effects on current society; • Denounce on the systemic repression and corruption from the state; • Strong opposition to gun violence and police brutality against the minorities; • Criticism and appeals to division; • A call for action and a hope for change; • Reimagining America and what it mean to be an American.

We ask ourselves again, if we can derive a unified message from the songs. It seems that there is an apparent need for socio-political change. The aforementioned summary of discourses points to a unified interest for equality. The goal for equality seems to be easier obtained through a process of identification in social groups, namely tribes. Artists tend to infer a call to action, emphasizing the existence of asymmetric power relations and the need for competing against existing dominants of power, which favors the societal elite. Furthermore, we ask ourselves in the problem formulation; are these songs emulating the current climate of political division in the country? From our sample of songs, the answer is evidently; no. The musical landscape reflects a much stronger representation of the leftist ideology. There are two apparent reasons for this: (1) an essential core of leftist politics is the representation of the people and the lower social classes. Leftist politics are in that sense a representation of populist messages as their views pertain to the majority, favoring the people over the elite. (2) Music is a powerful tool utilized in many contexts as a voice for the voiceless. It is a mechanism of human creativity which has offered an escape for those who had no other medium to express themselves, thus functioning as a mediator between disenfranchised people and society to reflect their realities and the effect of the current system. It appears then that artistic freedom and leftist politics share a silver lining. Similarly, it appears that music does reflect socio-political realities and holds the ability to incite change while inspiring others to partake in the political environment.

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[ 51 ]

I. Annexes – Lyrics

Nomenclature

Kind of Examples Action word/figure Pronoun I, me, my, myself, Yellow underlying You, you, your, yourself, He, him, his, himself, She, her, her, herself, It, it, its, itself, We, us, our, ourselves, You, you, your, yourselves, They, them, their, themselves,

This, that, something, anything, nothing, who These, who/whom, somewhere, anywhere, nowhere, what That, which, someone, anyone, no one, which, Those, when, whom, Former/later, where, whose, where, when, why, how Verb All verbs in all tenses: to see, sees, saw, seeing, seen, Green underlying was seen, etc. Adjectives All words naming the noun’s attributes: blue, tall, Blue underlying radical, small, bitter, calm. Special signifiers Every one of these words appearing explicitly or Pink underlying (words and implicitly in the text: Make America Great Again, tropes) Donald, Trump, Republican, Democrat, political party, partisan, nation, country, patriot, identity, “the people”, America, immigrant, Black, Latino, gay, lesbian, Indian, Muslims, Jews, Catholics, Christians, fascism, totalitarianism, white supremacy, tribe, border, wall, soldiers, freedom –another words referring to political or individual identity

FDT (Fuck Donald Trump) by YG & Nipsey Hussle Just when I thought it wouldn't get no sicker I woke up one morning and heard this red ass mothafucka talkin' out the side of his neck Me and all my peoples, we always thought he was straight Influential mothafucka when it came to the business But now, since we know how you really feel, this how we feel Fuck Donald Trump Fuck Donald Trump Yeah, nigga, fuck Donald Trump Yeah, yeah, fuck Donald Trump Yeah, fuck Donald Trump Yeah, fuck Donald Trump Yeah, nigga, fuck Donald Trump Yeah, yeah, fuck Donald Trump, yeah

[ lii ]

I like white folks, but I don't like you All the niggas in the hood wanna fight you Surprised the Nation of Islam ain't tried to find you Have a rally out in L.A., you know what's up Home of the Rodney King riot, we don't give a fuck Black students, ejected from your rally, what? I'm ready to go right now, your racist ass did too much I'm 'bout to turn Black Panther Don't let Donald Trump win, that nigga cancer He too rich, he ain't got the answers He can't make decisions for this country, he gon' crash us No, we can't be a slave for him He got me appreciatin' Obama way more Hey Donald, and everyone that follows You gave us your reason to be President, but we hate yours Fuck Donald Trump Fuck Donald Trump Yeah, nigga, fuck Donald Trump (I don't like your ass, nigga) Yeah, yeah, fuck Donald Trump Yeah, fuck Donald Trump (I really don't like you, nigga!) Yeah, nigga, fuck Donald Trump Yeah, yeah, fuck Donald Trump, yeah (This for my grandma!) Nigga am I trippin'? Let me know I thought all that Donald Trump bullshit was a joke Know what they say when rich niggas go broke Look, Reagan sold coke, Obama sold hope Donald Trump spent his trust fund money on the vote I'm from a place where you prolly can't go Speakin' for some people that you prolly ain't know It's pressure built up and it's prolly gon' blow And if we say go then they're prolly gon' go You vote Trump then you're prolly on dope And if you like me then you prolly ain't know And if you been to jail you can prolly still vote We let this nigga win, we gon' prolly feel broke You built walls? We gon' prolly dig holes And if your ass do win (Fuck Donald Trump) Fuck you! Fuck Donald Trump Yeah, nigga, fuck Donald Trump Yeah, yeah, fuck Donald Trump Yeah, fuck Donald Trump Yeah, fuck Donald Trump Yeah, nigga, fuck Donald Trump Yeah, yeah, fuck Donald Trump, yeah We the youth We the

[ liii ]

We got a voice too We will be seen, and we will be heard Hold up, I fuck with Mexicans, got a plug with Mexicans When the low low need a switch, who I call? A Mexican This Comedy Central people of this country ass nigga couldn't be the President Hold up, Nip, tell the world how you fuck with Mexicans It wouldn't be the USA without Mexicans And if it's time to team up, shit, let's begin White people feel the same as my next of kin If we let this nigga, win, God bless the kids God bless the kids, this nigga wicked and wigged When me and Nip link, that's Bloods and Crips Where your L.A. rally? White people feel the same as my next of kin If we let this nigga win, God bless the kids God bless the kids, this nigga wicked and wigged When me and Nip link, that's Bloods and Crips Where your L.A. rally? We gon' crash your shit Fuck Donald Trump Fuck Donald Trump Yeah, nigga, fuck Donald Trump Yeah, yeah, fuck Donald Trump Yeah, fuck Donald Trump Yeah, fuck Donald Trump Yeah, nigga, fuck Donald Trump Yeah, yeah, fuck Donald Trump, yeah

We the People… by A Tribe Called Quest We don't believe you 'cause we the people Are still here in the rear, ayo, we don't need you You in the killing-off-good-young-nigga mood When we get hungry we eat the same fucking food The ramen noodle Your simple voodoo is so maniacal We're liable to pull a juju The irony is that this bad bitch in my lap She don't love me, she make money, she don't study that She gon' give it to me, ain't gon' tell me run it back She gon' take the brain to wetter plains, she spit on that The doors have signs with, don't try to rhyme with VH1 has a show that you can waste your time with Guilty pleasures take the edge off reality And for a salary I'd probably do that shit sporadically The OG Gucci boots are smitten with iguanas The IRS piranha see a nigga gettin' commas Niggas in the hood living in a fishbowl Gentrify here, now it's not a shit hole Trendsetter, I know, my shit's cold Ain't settling because I ain't so bold but ay

[ liv ]

All you Black folks, you must go All you Mexicans, you must go And all you poor folks, you must go Muslims and gays Boy, we hate your ways So all you bad folks, you must go The fog and the smog of news media that logs False narratives of Gods that came up against the odds We're not just nigga rappers with the bars It's kismet that we're cosmic with the stars You bastards overlooking street art Better yet, street smarts but you keep us off the charts So motherfuck your numbers and your statisticians Fuck y'all know about true competition? That's like a LA pitcher on deck talking about he hittin' The only one who's hitting are the ones that's currently spittin' We got your missy smitten rubbing on her little kitten Dreaming of a world that's equal for women with no division Boy, I tell you that's vision Like Tony Romo when he hitting Witten The Tribe be the best in they divisioI n Shaheed Muhammad cut it with precision Who can come back years later, still hit the shot? Still them tryna move we off the fucking block Babylon, bloodclot Two pon yuh headtop All you Black folks, you must go All you Mexicans, you must go And all you poor folks, you must go Muslims and gays Boy, we hate your ways So all you bad folks, you must go

Million Dollar Loan by Death Cab for Cutie [Verse 1] From a great height He's looking down on his city at night From gilded room Of gold, marble, and soft perfume And he's proud to say He built his fortune the old fashioned way Because to succeed There's only one thing you really need

[Chorus] A million dollar loan Nobody makes it on their own Without a million dollar loan You'll reap what you've sown

[ lv ]

From a million dollar loan Call your father on the phone And get that million dollar loan

[Verse 2] His enemies Can't contain the flames of jealousy With brutish charm The women flock to be on his arm Because it's a sign Of weakness to apologize And he counter sues From any corner he's backed into

[Chorus] A million dollar loan Nobody makes it on their own Without a million dollar loan To cast the first stone You'll need a million dollar loan Every ascension to a throne Starts with a million dollar loan A million dollar loan Nobody makes it on their own Without a million dollar loan You'll reap what you've sown From a million dollar loan Call your father on the phone And get that million dollar loan

[Bridge] A siren screams Through the city as he falls asleep The campaign Begins again at the break of day

[Chorus] A million dollar loan Nobody makes it on their own Without a million dollar loan To cast the first stone You'll need a million dollar loan Every ascension to a throne Starts with a million dollar loan A million dollar loan Nobody makes it on their own Without a million dollar loan You'll reap what you've sown From a million dollar loan Call your father on the phone And get that million dollar loan

[ lvi ]

Can’t You Tell? by Aimee Mann That bastard making fun of me in front of all my peers Those people think I own this town, you're stripping all my gears Well guess what Mr. President, I'll be seeing you In four years

Though on the campaign trail the papers paint me like a clown Still all I see are crowds who want to fit me for a crown I point out all my enemies just so my fans Bring them down

Isn't anybody going to stop me? I don't want this job I don't want this job, my god Can't you tell I'm unwell

You try to pin me down but you don't really try that hard I throw out any shit want and no one trumps that card So dazzled and distracted by your fantasy Of Hildegard

Isn't anybody going to stop me? I don't want this job I don't want this job, my god Can't you tell I'm unwell

You ask about my plan but baby my plan is to win I wind up all the tops and watch the others keep the spin You handing me grenades is just compelling me To pull the pin

Isn't anybody going to stop me? I don't want this job I can't do this job, my god Can't you tell I'm unwell

Fucked Up Donald by D.O.A. Fucked Up Donald You’re fucked up Donald You’re not gonna last You’ve spent your whole life Just talking out your ass You’re fucked up Donald You’re fucked up Donald You’re fucked up Donald You’re fucked up Donald He wants to be Prez but he don’t have a clue

[ lvii ]

He’ll build a wall And punish women too He’ll nuke Korea And bomb Iran And when he cuts a deal We’ll get scammed

My Mind Is For Sale by Jack Johnson Well, I heard the blinker's on I heard we're changing lanes I heard he likes to race I heard that six or seven words he likes to use Are always in bad taste And I heard that Monday's just a word we say Every seven times around And then we pin the tail on Tuesday Watch those strings go up and down And the elephant in the room begins to dance The cameras zoom into His mouth begins to move Those hateful words he uses

I don't care for your paranoid Us against them walls I don't care for your careless Me first gimme gimme appetite at all

And all the real estate in my mind is for sale It's all been subdivided Divided into reasons why My two opposing thoughts at once are fine The residue from the price tag On the tip of my tongue The words don't come they go How many likes I gotta get Before I know the truth And the truth is Season three will be a great reason To forget all about reality's A slippery slope Watch the TV scream and shout it

I don't care for your paranoid Us against them fearful kind of walls I don't care for your careless Me first gimme gimme appetite at all

Now I heard the blinker's on I heard we're changing lanes I heard we need more space I heard that six or seven words are in bad taste

[ lviii ]

It's absurd to believe that we might Deserve anything As if its balanced in the end And the for your paranoid Us against them fearful kind of walls I don't care for your careless Me first gimme gimme appetite With the residue from the price tag On those two opposing thoughts in my mind Us against them fearful kind of walls good guys always win

I don't care

The Storm by Eminem It's the calm before the storm right here Wait, how was I gonna start this off? I forgot… oh, yeah

That's an awfully hot coffee pot Should I drop it on Donald Trump? Prob'ly not But that's all I got 'til I come up with a solid plot Got a plan and now I gotta hatch it Like a damn Apache with a tomahawk I'ma walk inside a mosque on Ramadan And say a prayer that every time Melania talks She gets a mou—ahh, I'ma stop But we better give Obama props 'Cause what we got in office now's a kamikaze That'll prob'ly cause a nuclear holocaust And while the drama pops And he waits for shit to quiet down he'll just gas his plane up and fly around 'til the bombing stops Intensities heightened, tensions are risin' Trump, when it comes to giving a shit, you're stingy as I am Except when it comes to having the balls to go against me, you hide 'em 'Cause you don't got the fucking nuts like an empty asylum Racism's the only thing he's fantastic for 'Cause that's how he gets his fucking rocks off and he's orange Yeah, sick tan That's why he wants us to disband 'Cause he cannot withstand The fact we're not afraid of Trump Fuck walkin' on egg shells, I came to stomp That's why he keeps screamin', "Drain the swamp!" 'Cause he's in quicksand It's like we take a step forwards then backwards But this is his form of distraction Plus, he gets an enormous reaction When he attacks the NFL so we focus on that in -stead of talking Puerto Rico or gun reform for Nevada All these horrible tragedies and he's bored and would rather

[ lix ]

Cause a Twitter storm with the Packers Then says he wants to lower our taxes Then who's gonna pay for his extravagant trips Back and forth with his fam to his golf resorts and his mansions? Same shit that he tormented Hillary for and he slandered Then does it more From his endorsement of Bannon Support for the Klansmen Tiki torches in hand for the soldier that's black And comes home from Iraq And is still told to go back to Africa Fork and a dagger in this racist 94-year-old grandpa Who keeps ignoring our past historical, deplorable factors Now if you're a black athlete, you're a spoiled little brat for Tryna use your platform or your stature To try to give those a voice who don't have one He says, "You're spittin' in the face of vets who fought for us, you bastards!" Unless you're a POW who's tortured and battered 'Cause to him you're zeros 'Cause he don't like his war heroes captured That's not disrespecting the military Fuck that! This is for Colin, ball up a fist! And keep that shit balled like Donald the bitch! "He's gonna get rid of all immigrants!" "He's gonna build that thang up taller than this!" Well, if he does build it, I hope it's rock solid with bricks 'Cause like him in politics, I'm using all of his tricks 'Cause I'm throwin' that piece of shit against the wall 'til it sticks And any fan of mine who's a supporter of his I'm drawing in the sand a line, you're either for or against And if you can't decide who you like more and you're split On who you should stand beside, I'll do it for you with this: Fuck you! The rest of America stand up! We love our military, and we love our country But we fucking hate Trump!

Immigrants, by Hamilton, K’naan, Riz MC, Snow Tha Product, Residente You know, and it gets into this whole issue of border security You know, who's gonna say that the borders are secure? We've got the House and the Senate debating this issue And it's, it's really astonishing that in a country founded by immigrants "Immigrant" has somehow become a bad word So the debate rages on and we continue And just like that it's over, we tend to our wounded, we count our dead Black and white soldiers wonder alike if this really means freedom Not yet I got one job, two job, three when I need them I got five roommates in this one studio, but I never really see them

[ lx ]

And we all came America trying to get a lap dance from Lady Freedom But now Lady Liberty is acting like Hilary Banks with a pre-nup Man, I was brave, sailing on graves Don't think I didn't notice those tombstones disguised as waves I'm no dummy, here is something funny, you can be an immigrant without risking your lives Or crossing these borders with thrifty supplies All you got to do is see the world with new eyes Immigrants, we get the job done Look how far I come Look how far I come Look how far I come We get the job done Look how far I come Look how far I come Look how far I come Immigrants, we get the job done It's a hard line when you're an import Baby boy, it's hard times When you ain't sent for Racists feed the belly of the beast With they pitchforks, rich chores Done by the people that get ignored Ya se armó Ya se despertaron It's a whole awakening La alarma ya sonó hace rato Los que quieren buscan Pero nos apodan como vagos We are the same ones Hustling on every level Ten los datos Walk a mile in our shoes Abróchense los zapatos I been scoping ya dudes, ya'll ain't been working like I do I'll outwork you, it hurts you You claim I'm stealing jobs though Peter Piper claimed he picked them, he just underpaid Pablo But there ain't a paper trail when you living in the shadows We're America's ghost writers, the credit's only borrowed It's matter of time before the checks all come But a Immigrants, we get the job done Look how far I come Look how far I come Look how far I come We get the job done

[ lxi ]

Look how far I come Look how far I come Look how far I come Immigrants, we get the job Not yet The credit is only borrowed It's America's ghost writers, the credit's only borrowed It's America's ghost writers America's ghost writers America's ghost writers, the credit's only borrow-borrowed It's America's ghost writers, a credit is only borrowed It's America's ghost writers, a credit is only borrowed It's America's ghost writers, a credit is only borrowed It's Immigrants, we get the job done Ay yo aye, immigrants we don't like that Na they don't play British empire strikes back They beating us like 808's and high hats At our own game of invasion, but this ain't Iraq Who these fugees what did they do for me But contribute new dreams Taxes and tools, swagger and food to eat Cool, they flee war zones, but the problem ain't ours Even if our bombs landed on them like the Mayflower Buckingham Palace or Capitol Hill Blood of my ancestors had that all built It's the ink you print on your dollar bill, oil you spill Thin red lines on the flag you hoist when you kill But still we just say "look how far I come" Hindustan, Pakistan, to London To a galaxy far from their ignorance 'Cause Immigrants, we get the job done Por tierra o por agua Identidad falsa Brincamos muros o flotamos en balsas La peleamos como Sandino en Nicaragua Somos como las plantas que crecen sin agua Sin pasaporte americano Porque la mitad de gringolandia es terreno mexicano Hay que ser bien hijo de puta Nosotros les sembramos el árbol y ellos se comen la frutas Somos los que cruzaron Aquí vinimos a buscar el oro que nos robaron Tenemos mas trucos que la policía secreta Metimos la casa completa en una maleta Con un pico, una pala Y un rastrillo

[ lxii ]

Te construimos un castillo Como es que dice el coro cabrón? Immigrants, we get the job done Look how far I come Look how far I come Look how far I come We get the job done Look how far I come Look how far I come Look how far I come Immigrants, we get the job done Look how far I come Look how far I come Look how far I come Immigrants, we get the job done Not yet

XXX. by Kendrick Lamar America, God bless you if it's good to you America please take my hand Can you help me underst- New Kung Fu Kenny Throw a steak off the yacht To a pool full of sharks, he'll take it Leave him in the wilderness With a sworn nemesis, he'll make it Take the gratitude from him I bet he'll show you something, woah I'll chip a nigga little bit of nothin' I'll chip a nigga little bit of nothin' I'll chip a nigga little bit of nothin' I'll chip a nigga then throw the blower in his lap Walk myself to the court like bitch I did that x-rated Johnny don't wanna go to school no more, no more Johnny said books ain't cool no more (no more) Johnny wanna be a rapper like his big cousin Johnny caught a body yesterday out hustlin' God bless America you know we all love him Yesterday I got a call like from my dog like 101 Said they killed his only son because of insufficient funds He was sobbin', he was mobbin', way belligerent and drunk Talkin' out his head philosphin' on what the lord had done He said, "K-Dot can you pray for me? It's been a fucked up day for me I know that you anointed, show me how to overcome" He was lookin' for some closure Hopin' I could bring him closer

[ lxiii ]

To the spiritual, my spirit do no better, but I told him "I can't sugar coat the answer for you This is how I feel—if somebody kill my son That mean somebody's gettin' killed" Tell me what you do for love, loyalty, and passion of All the memories collected, moments you could never touch I wait in front a niggas spot and watch him hit his block I'll catch a nigga leavin' service if that's all I got I'll chip a nigga then throw the blower in his lap Walk myself to the court like, "Bitch I did that" Ain't no black power when your baby killed by a coward I can't even keep the peace, don't you fuck with one of ours It be murder in the street, it be bodies in the hour Ghetto bird on the street, paramedics on the dial Let somebody touch my momma Touch my sister, touch my woman Touch my daddy, touch my niece Touch my nephew, touch my brother You should chip a nigga then throw the blower in his lap Matter fact, I'm 'bout to speak at this convention Call you back Alright kids we're gonna talk about gun control (Pray for me) Damn It's not a place This country is to be a sound of drum and bass You close your eyes to look around Hail Mary, Jesus and Joseph The great American flag Is wrapped and dragged with explosives Compulsive disorder, sons and daughters Barricaded blocks and borders Look what you taught us It's murder on my street, your street, back streets Wall street, corporate offices, banks Employees and bosses with homicidal thoughts Donald Trump's in office, we lost Barack And promised to never doubt him again But is America honest or do we bask in sin? Pass the gin, I mix it with American blood Then bash him in, you crippin' or you married to blood? I'll ask again—oops—accident It's nasty when you set us up Then roll the dice, then bet us up You overnight the big rifles, then tell Fox to be scared of us Gang members or terrorists, et cetera, et cetera America’s reflections of me That's what a mirror does It's not a place This country is to be a sound of drum and bass You close your eyes to look ar—

[ lxiv ]

Land Of The Free by Joey Bada$$ Yeah You know sometimes I think they don't truly understand me you know 'Cause they don't Can't change the world 'less we change ourselves Die from the sicknesses if we don't seek the health All eyes be my witness when I speak what's felt Full house on my hands, the cards I was dealt Three K's, Two A's in AmeriKKKa I'm just a black spade spawn out the nebula And everything I do or say today that's worthwhile Will for sure inspire action in your first child I'll begin my verse now Sometimes I speak and I feel like it ain't my words Like I'm just a vessel channeling inside this universe I feel my ancestors unrested inside of me It's like they want me to shoot my chance in changing society But how do I go about it? Tell me where I start? My destiny rerouted when I chose to follow heart You told to follow suit, but tell me what it do for you? Except weigh you down, now you trapped inside the cubicle they built for us The first step in the change is to take notice Realize the real games that they tried to show us 300 plus years of them cold shoulders Yet 300 million of us still got no focus Sorry America, but I will not be your soldier Obama just wasn't enough, I need some more closure And Donald Trump is not equipped to take this country over Let’s face facts 'cause we know what’s the real motives In the land of the free, it’s full of free loaders Leave us dead in the street to be their organ donors They disorganized my people, made us all loners Still got the last names of our slave owners In the land of the free, it's full of free loaders Leave us dead in the street to be their organ donors They disorganized my people, made us all loners We can't change the world 'less we change ourselves Die from the sicknesses if we don't seek the health All eyes be my witness when I speak what's felt Full house on my hands, the cards I was dealt Three K's, Two A's in AmeriKKKa I'm just a black spade spawn out the nebula And everything I do or say today that's worthwhile Will for sure inspire action Trickery in the system, put my niggas in prison All our history hidden, ain't no liberty given We all fit the description of what the documents written We been lacking the vision and barely making a living We too worried to fit in while they been benefitin'

[ lxv ]

Every time you submittin', we all guilty admit it The Lord won't get you acquitted, but you still ask for forgiveness Put opiates in syringes then inject his religion How many times do I gotta tell you I'm a man on a mission Many times I gotta tell you I don't need no permission A human with supervision, ain't no livin' condition I'm reaching out to my children, just hoping that they will listen Start a new coalition against corrupt politicians It's not enough pots to piss in, too many murder convictions Another family evicted, another black man a victim That's as real as it's getting, you should take recognition Chorus + Bridge repeat; In the land of the free, it’s full of free loaders Leave us dead in the street to be their organ donors They disorganized my people, made us all loners Still got the last names of our slave owners In the land of the free, it’s full of free loaders Leave us dead in the street to be their organ donors They disorganized my people, made us all loners We can't change the world 'less we change ourselves Die from the sicknesses if we don't seek the health All eyes be my witness when I speak what's felt Full house on my hands, the cards I was dealt Three K's, Two A's in AmeriKKKa I'm just a black spade spawn out the nebula And everything I do or say today that's worthwhile Will for sure inspire action in your first child

Alright by Kendrick Lamar [Intro: Kendrick Lamar] Alls my life I has to fight, nigga Alls my life I... Hard times like, "Yah!" Bad trips like, "Yah!" Nazareth, I'm fucked up Homie, you fucked up But if God got us, then we gon' be alright

[Hook: Pharrell Williams] Nigga, we gon' be alright Nigga, we gon' be alright We gon' be alright Do you hear me, do you feel me? We gon' be alright Nigga, we gon' be alright Huh? We gon' be alright Nigga, we gon' be alright Do you hear me, do you feel me? We gon' be alright

[Verse 1: Kendrick Lamar]

[ lxvi ]

Uh, and when I wake up I recognize you're looking at me for the pay cut But homicide be looking at you from the face down What MAC-11 even boom with the bass down? Schemin', and let me tell you 'bout my life Painkillers only put me in the twilight Where pretty pussy and Benjamin is the highlight Now tell my momma I love her, but this what I like, Lord knows Twenty of 'em in my Chevy, tell 'em all to come and get me Reaping everything I sow, so my karma comin' heavy No preliminary hearings on my record I'm a motherfucking gangster in silence for the record, uh Tell the world I know it's too late Boys and girls, I think I gone cray Drown inside my vices all day Won't you please believe when I say

[Pre-Hook: Kendrick Lamar] Wouldn't you know We been hurt, been down before Nigga, when our pride was low Lookin' at the world like, "Where do we go?" Nigga, and we hate po-po Wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho' Nigga, I'm at the preacher's door My knees gettin' weak, and my gun might blow But we gon' be alright

[Hook: Pharrell Williams] Nigga, we gon' be alright Nigga, we gon' be alright We gon' be alright Do you hear me, do you feel me? We gon' be alright Nigga, we gon' be alright Huh? We gon' be alright Nigga, we gon' be alright Do you hear me, do you feel me? We gon' be alright

[Verse 2: Kendrick Lamar] What you want you? A house or a car? Forty acres and a mule? A piano, a guitar? Anything, see my name is Lucy, I'm your dog Motherfucker, you can live at the mall I can see the evil, I can tell it, I know it's illegal I don't think about it, I deposit every other zero Thinking of my partner, put the candy, paint it on the Regal Digging in my pocket, ain't a profit big enough to feed you Every day my logic get another dollar just to keep you In the presence of your chico... Ah! I don't talk about it, be about it, every day I sequel If I got it then you know you got it, Heaven, I can reach you Pat Dawg, Pat Dawg, Pat Dawg, my dog, that's all

[ lxvii ]

Bick back and Chad, I trap the bag for y'all I rap, I black on track so rest assured My rights, my wrongs; I write 'til I'm right with God

[Pre-Hook: Kendrick Lamar] Wouldn't you know We been hurt, been down before Nigga, when our pride was low Lookin' at the world like, "Where do we go?" Nigga, and we hate po-po Wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho' Nigga, I'm at the preacher's door My knees gettin' weak, and my gun might blow But we gon' be alright

[Hook: Pharrell Williams] Nigga, we gon' be alright Nigga, we gon' be alright We gon' be alright Do you hear me, do you feel me? We gon' be alright Nigga, we gon' be alright Huh? We gon' be alright Nigga, we gon' be alright Do you hear me, do you feel me? We gon' be alright

[Outro: Kendrick Lamar] I keep my head up high I cross my heart and hope to die Lovin' me is complicated Too afraid, a lot of changes I'm alright, and you're a favorite Dark nights in my prayers

[Poem] I remembered you was conflicted Misusing your influence, sometimes I did the same Abusing my power, full of resentment Resentment that turned into a deep depression Found myself screamin' in the hotel room I didn't wanna self-destruct The evils of Lucy was all around me So I went runnin' for answers

Street Livin’ by The Black-Eyed Peas [Intro] Streets, streets Livin' in the streets

[Verse 1: will.i.am] Street livin', caught in the trap

[ lxviii ]

Guns or books, sell crack or rap Be like kings or be like pawns They called us coons, now they call us cons Street niggas be packing pistols Terrorists be blasting missiles Crips and Bloods and retail thugs CIA planes bring Colombian drugs in Don't push me 'cause I'm close to hell The teachers in my neighborhood can hardly spell And compare to them, prison guards get paid well Ten years no bail is 4 years at Yale So, forget about the statue of General Lee Because the status of blacks are generally Gonna end up in some penitentiary Systematically, that's how they made it to be Listen, they derailed the soul train And put a nightmare in every Martin Luther King And privatized prisons are owned by the same Slave masters that owned the slave trade game And racists no longer have to be racist 'Cause niggas kill more niggas than the KKK did Now, every time I hear a new def jam Niggas killing niggas like they Ku Klux Klan I understand what's a nigga to choose? Be the killer or be the dead dude in the news I get it, what's a nigga to do? No education in the hood got a nigga confused

[Verse 2: apl.de.ap] Street livin', tough conditions Brainwashed by the television We lost in the world we live in Double cross love lost no religion Street livin', oh my gosh Another brother got shot by the searg' Another cop got off with no charge If you black in the hood, you at large You're guilty until you prove you're innocent If you're ivory, they treat you different If you're ebony, they assume your temperament Will be vigilant and they call you militant And you'll get shot and they'll say the incident Is 'cause you're belligerent, what a coincidence? Born and bred but you're still an immigrant And if you ain't dead, you can see imprisonment

[Chorus: will.i.am] There's more niggas in the prisons than there ever was slaves cotton picking There's more niggas that's rotting in the prisons than there ever was slaves cotton picking So, how we gon' get up out the trap? Guns or books, sell crack or rap Street livin', hustle or hoops

[ lxix ]

Guns or books, get shot or shoot

[Verse 3: Taboo] Street livin', ain't no rules Break the law, make the breakin' news The life you choose could be the life you lose Niggas getting stuck for the Nike shoes Street livin', ain't no joke It's a cold world, better bring your coat Revoke 'cause the streets are broke And now they wanna take away our dreams and hopes Street livin', no economics No way out of the Reaganomics Infected by the black plague, new bubonic No comprende, we speak ebonics Street livin', what's your position? You can take action or take a dick and listen You can get fucked by the system Or you can say "fuck the system"

This Is America by Childish Gambino Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, go, go away Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, go, go away Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, go, go away Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, go, go away We just wanna party Party just for you We just want the money Money just for you I know you wanna party Party just for me Girl, you got me dancin' (yeah, girl, you got me dancin') Dance and shake the frame We just wanna party (yeah) Party just for you (yeah) We just want the money (yeah) Money just for you (you) I know you wanna party (yeah) Party just for me (yeah) Girl, you got me dancin' (yeah, girl, you got me dancin') Dance and shake the frame (you) This is America Don't catch you slippin' up Don't catch you slippin' up Look what I'm whippin' up This is America (woo)

[ lxx ]

Don't catch you slippin' up Don't catch you slippin' up Look what I'm whippin' up This is America (skrrt, skrrt, woo) Don't catch you slippin' up (ayy) Look at how I'm livin' now Police be trippin' now (woo) Yeah, this is America (woo, ayy) Guns in my area (word, my area) I got the strap (ayy, ayy) I gotta carry 'em Yeah, yeah, I'ma go into this (ugh) Yeah, yeah, this is guerilla (woo) Yeah, yeah, I'ma go get the bag Yeah, yeah, or I'ma get the pad Yeah, yeah, I'm so cold like yeah (yeah) I'm so dope like yeah (woo) We gon' blow like yeah (straight up, uh) Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, tell somebody You go tell somebody Grandma told me Get your money, black man (get your money) Get your money, black man (get your money) Get your money, black man (get your, black man) Get your money, black man (get your, black man) Black man This is America (woo, ayy) Don't catch you slippin' up (woo, woo, don't catch you slippin', now) Don't catch you slippin' up (ayy, woah) Look what I'm whippin' up (Slime!) This is America (yeah, yeah) Don't catch you slippin' up (woah, ayy) Don't catch you slippin' up (ayy, woo) Look what I'm whippin' up (ayy) Look how I'm geekin' out (hey) I'm so fitted (I'm so fitted, woo) I'm on Gucci (I'm on Gucci) I'm so pretty (yeah, yeah) I'm gon' get it (ayy, I'm gon' get it) Watch me move (blaow) This a celly (ha) That's a tool (yeah) On my Kodak (woo, Black) Ooh, know that (yeah, know that, hold on) Get it (get it, get it) Ooh, work it (21) Hunnid bands, hunnid bands, hunnid bands (hunnid bands) Contraband, contraband, contraband (contraband) I got the plug on Oaxaca (woah) They gonna find you like blocka (blaow)

[ lxxi ]

Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, tell somebody America, I just checked my following list and You go tell somebody You mothafuckas owe me Grandma told me Get your money, black man (black man) Get your money, black man (black man) Get your money, black man (black man) Get your money, black man (black man) Black man (one, two, three, get down) Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, tell somebody You go tell somebody Grandma told me, "Get your money, " black man Get your money, black man (black man) Get your money, black man (black man) Get your money, black man (black man) Black man You just a black man in this world You just a barcode, ayy You just a black man in this world Drivin' expensive foreigns, ayy You just a big dawg, yeah I kenneled him in the backyard No proper life to a dog For a big dog

Bella Ciao (Goodbye Beautiful) by Marc Ribot & Tom Waits One fine morning I woke up early Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao One fine morning I woke up early Find the fascist at my door Oh, partigiano, please take me with you Bella ciao, bella ciao, goodbye beautiful Oh, partigiano, please take me with you I'm not afraid anymore And if I die, oh, partigiano Bella ciao, bella ciao, goodbye beautiful Bury me upon that mountain Beneath the shadow of the flower Show all the people, the people passing Bella ciao, bella ciao, goodbye beautiful Show all the people, the people passing And say, "oh, what a beautiful flower" This is the flower of the partisan Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao This is the flower of the partisan Who died for freedom

[ lxxii ]

This is the flower of the partisan Who died for freedom

Ye vs. The People by Kanye West & T.I. Oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh I had for us You turned my dreams into dust I know Obama was heaven sent But ever since Trump won, it proved that I could be President Yeah, you can, at what cost though? Don't that go against the teachings that Ye taught for? Yo, Tip, I hear your side and everybody talk, though But ain't goin' against the grain everything I fought for? Prolly so, Ye, but where you tryna go with this? It's some shit you just don't align with and don't go against You just readin' the headlines, you don't see the fine print You on some choosin'side shit, I'm on some unified shit It's bigger than your selfish agenda If your election ain't gon' stop police from murderin' niggas, then shit Bruh, I never ever stopped fightin' for the people Actually, wearin' the hat'll show people that we equal You gotta see the vantage point of the people What makes you feel equal makes them feel evil See that's the problem with this damn nation All Blacks gotta be Democrats, man, we ain't made it off the plantation Fuck who you choose as your political party You representin' dudes just seem crude and cold-hearted With blatant disregard for the people who put you in position Don't you feel an obligation to them? I feel a obligation to show people new ideas And if you wanna hear 'em, there go two right here Make America Great Again had a negative perception I took it, wore it, rocked it, gave it a new direction Added empathy, care and love and affection And y'all simply questionin' my methods What you willin' to lose for the point to be proved? This shit is stubborn dusty, selfish, bullheaded, even for you You wore a dusty-ass hat to represent the same views as white supremacy, man We expect better from you All them times you sounded crazy, we defended you, homie Not just to be let down when we depend on you, homie That's why it's important to know what direction you're goin' now 'Cause everything that you built can be destroyed and torn down You think I ain't concerned about how I affect the past? I mean, that hat stayed in my closet like 'bout a year and a half Then one day I was like, "Fuck it, I'ma do me" I was in the sunken place and then I found the new me Not worried about some image that I gotta keep up Lot of people agree with me, but they're too scared to speak up

[ lxxiii ]

The greater good of the people is first Have you considered all the damage and the people you hurt? You had a bad idea, and you're makin' it worse This shit's just as bad as Catholic preachers rapin' in church Y'all been leadin' with hate, see I just approach it different Like a gang truce, the first Blood to shake the Crip's hand I know everybody emotional Is it better if I rap about crack? Huh? 'Cause it's cultural? Or how about I'ma shoot you, or fuck your bitch? Or how about all this Gucci, 'cause I'm fuckin' rich? You'll deal with God for the lack of respect Startin' to make it seem like Donnie cut you a check Now you toyin' with hot lava, better be careful with that What's it mean to gain the world if you ain't standin' for shit? Okay I gotta say it, Ye, you sound high as a bitch Yeah, genocide and slavery, we should just try and forget And all that free thought shit, find a better defense But if Ye just stuck in his way, he can leave it at that Fuck it Alright, Tip, we could be rappin' about this all day, man Why don't we just cut the beat off and let the people talk?

I’m Not Racist, by Joyner Lucas With all due respect I don't have pity for you black niggas, that's the way I feel Screamin' "Black Lives Matter" All the black guys rather be deadbeats than pay your bills Yellin' "nigga this" and "nigga that" Call everybody "nigga" and get a nigga mad As soon as I say "nigga" then everyone react And wanna swing at me and call me racist 'cause I ain't black Well pound that then Talkin' about slavery like you was around back then Like you was pickin' cotton off the fuckin' ground back then Like you was on the plantation gettin' down back then Aight, look I see a black man aimin' his gun But I'd rather see a black man claimin' his son And I don't mean just for one day and you done I mean, you still trapped in a rut And I work my ass off and I pay my taxes for what? So you can keep livin' off free government assistance? Food stamps for your children, but you're still tryna sell 'em For some weed and some liquor or a fuckin' babysitter While you party on the road 'cause you ain't got no fuckin' goals? You already late You motherfuckas needa get your damn priorities straight Wait, it's like you're proud to be fake But you lazy as fuck and you'd rather sell drugs Than get a job and be straight, and then you turn around and complain

[ lxxiv ]

About the poverty rate? Fuck outta my face! You can't escape problems You can pray for some change but can't break a dollar Got nobody else to blame, so you blame Donald "They fuck the world with a Make America Great condom" My voice been back I'm not racist, my sister's boyfriend's black I'm not racist, my sister-in-law's baby cousin Tracy Got a brother and his girlfriend's black My head's in the cloud Heard there's not enough jobs for all the men in your house Maybe we should build a wall to keep the Mexicans out Or maybe we should send 'em all to the ghetto for now I'm not racist and I never lie But I think there's a disconnect between your culture and mine I worship the Einsteins, study the Steve Jobs But you ride 2Pac's dick like he was a fuckin' god, oh my god And all you care about is rappin' And stuntin' and bein' ratchet, and that's the nigga within you Music rotting your brain and slowly start to convince you Then you let your kids listen and then the cycle continues Blame it all on the menu, blame it on those drinks Blame it on everybody except for your own race Blame it on white privileges, blame it on white kids And just blame it on white citizens, same with the vice president Bunch of class clowns Niggas kneelin' on the field, that's a flag down How dare you try to make demands for this money? You gon' show us some respect, you gon' stand for this country, nigger! I'm not racist I'm just prepared for this type of war I heard Eminem's rap at the awards, who's he fightin' for? Y'all can take that motherfucker, too, he ain't white no more It's like you wanna be so famous You'll do anything for attention and a little payment I can't take you nowhere without people pointin' fingers Pants hangin' off your ass, you ain't got no home trainin'? Put your fuckin' pants up, nigga! Put that suit back on! Take that du-rag off! Take that gold out your mouth! Quit the pitiful stuff And then maybe police would stop killin' you fucks Yo, what the fuck? I'm not racist It's like we livin' in the same buildin' but split into two floors I'm not racist But there's two sides to every story, I wish that I knew yours I wish that I knew yours I'm not racist, I swear With all disrespect I don't really like you white motherfuckers, that's just where I'm at Screaming "All Lives Matter" Is a protest to my protest, what kind of shit is that? And that's one war you'll never win

[ lxxv ]

The power in the word "nigga" is a different sin We shouldn't say it but we do, and that just what it is But that don't mean that you can say it just 'cause you got nigga friends Nigga, that word was originated for you to keep us under And when we use it, we know that's just how we greet each other And when you use it, we know there's a double meaning under And even if I wasn't picking cotton physically That don't mean I'm not affected by the history My grandmama was a slave, that shit gets to me And you ain't got no motherfucking sympathy, you pussy nigga! I'm sorry you can never feel my life Tryna have faith, but I never felt alright It's hard to elevate when this country's ran by whites Judging me by my skin color and my blackness Tryna find a job but ain't nobody call me back yet Now I gotta sell drugs to put food in my cabinet You crackers ain't slick, this is all a part of your tactics Don't talk about no motherfucking taxes, when I ain't making no dough You think you know everything but you don't You wanna copy our slang and everything that we know Try to steal black culture and then make it your own, whoa Fuck, I'm exhausted I can't even drive without the cops tryna start shit I'm tired of the systematic racism bullshit All you do is false shit, this the shit that I'm force fed And you don't know shit about my people, that's what bothers you You don't know about no fried chicken and no barbeque You don't know about the two-step or no loose change You don't know about no 2 Chainz or no Kool-Aid, you don't know! And even though Barack was half as black You hated president Obama, I know that's a fact You couldn't wait to get him out and put a cracker back And then you gave us Donald Trump and now it's payback for that I'm not racist, I never lied But I know there's a disconnect between your culture and mine Yeah, I praise 2Pac like he was a fuckin' god He was fighting for his life way before he fuckin' died, nigga, die nigga! And all you care about is money and power And being ugly and that's the cracker within you Hatred all in your brain, it slowly start to convince you And then you teach it to your children until the cycle continue Blame it on Puerto Rico, blame it on OJ Blame it on everybody, except for your own race Blame it on black niggas and blame it on black citizens Aim at the black businesses, I ain't saying I'm innocent But, I might be any day now Treatin' everybody how you want and any way how I swear North Korea 'bout to bomb us any day now And now I'm duckin' everytime I hear a fuckin' plane now, shit You know I make a lot of sense but you just can't admit it When Eminem went against Trump, that was the illest 'Cause even though he's white, he let us know he standin' with us

[ lxxvi ]

I'm not racist, but I cry a lot You don't know what it's like to be in a frying pot You don't know what it's like to mind your business And get stopped by the cops and not know if you 'bout to die or not You worry 'bout your life, so you take mine I love you but I fuckin' hate you at the same time I wish we could trade shoes or we could change lives So we could understand each other more but that'd take time I'm not racist It's like we livin' in the same buildin' but splittin' the both sides I'm not racist But there's two sides to every story and now you know mine Can't erase the scars with a bandage I'm hopin' maybe we can come to an understandin' Agree to disagree, we could have an understandin' I'm not racist

[ lxxvii ]