Social Issues in Rap Songs

Average Joe – Kendrick Lamar

In this song, Kendrick addresses many issues surrounding his home town of Compton in California. The most prevalent being gang and gun violence in the street of this underprivileged town. He rapped about hearing shots fired constantly and even coming face to face with gang members. However, even though everyone around him was angry and violent, he was not this way. Kendrick explains that he is just trying to stay out of the way and not get caught up in the madness of this city. When he says “I don’t even push a line, I’m just tryna push these rhymes”, he means that he has bigger and better dreams than staying in this mentally and physically toxic neighborhood forever. In addition, he not only wants to physically leave, but he wants his viewpoints to change too. He states: “I’m tryna duck the influence of my city”, but what he really means is that he wants to get out before he can let the negative impacts of the city change the way he views the world. He is still trying to have a positive outlook on life going forward despite the negativity happening around him in Compton

Window Pain- J Cole

In this song, J Cole talks about different issues like poverty, gun violence, and gang affliation.  in the intro and outro of the song J Cole is talking to a little girl who witnessed gun violence and she said that everything bad that happens in world is due to God preparing us for his arrival. Also, he talks about his friends who are acting crazy by doing things like gang violence, doing drugs,  impregnating girls that they barely know, and spending money like it’s nothing in these lyrics: “Niggas will rep any gang, niggas will bust any head, Niggas will risk everything, point him out and then he dead,Shootin’ up where his granny live, “blaow, blaow!”, his granny duck, He don’t give a fuck, he’s on Henny and Xanny’d up Blowin’ Tammy up, bitch, when you gon’ give them panties up?, He gon’ plant a seed, but best believe he ain’t man enough”

No Role Modelz- J Cole

Often in Hollywood people will do anything for fame and attention. J Cole grew up ironically in the suburbs but later moved in with his brother in a trailer park. His mother became addicted to cocaine and his father was very abusive. This unstable upbringing impacted how he looks at the world. In this song, he talks about how he lacked a father image growing up and really had, as the title states no “role models.” People who grow up poor have a disservice because they do not have means to succeed in life. Jermaine is tired of all the women who are desperate and dumb. Money draws all types of women for rappers but most of the time they only want the material things.

Paranoia- Chance the Rapper

This song touches on a few different social issues, but the main overriding theme is on the issue of gun violence, and the fear that it instills in the people living in these dangerous communities. With this song, Chance is trying to communicate what it is really like to live in a place with such high homicide rates, and bring attention to actual people living in these communities instead of just the high rates of crime and violence. The hook of the song summarizes the issue well, he says

“With the sun in my eyes and my gun on my hip, Paranoia on my mind, got my mind on the fritz”.

He is referring to the fear that people in inner-city neighborhoods have due to the high rates of gun violence, and how they feel it’s necessary to carry a gun to protect themselves, even when walking around in the daytime. This speaks to how dangerous inner city communities like South Side of Chicago actually are, and that the people are constantly in fear of losing their own life or the lives of their loved ones.

This is America-  Childish Gambino

“This is America” by Childish Gambino is the first single he put out since his last album “Awaken, my Love!” in 2016. The song, which was released with a video relays a message of guns and violence in America. It also explores the idea that we as citizens and Americans deal with guns and violence and consume them as part of entertainment while also having it be a part of our national conversation. The video takes us through even more than the song, as it depicts where and what is going on in the song. Donald Glover is a human. He is capable of taking the lives of anyone, which he is seen doing in the video and it serves as a reminder that he is similar to the rest of us humans. When violent things occur in the video, they are met by dancing and celebrating, which illuminates how quick things can be forgotten about or consumed by entertainment and other issues and trends going on in the world. In this song and video, he emphasizes the issues and what it means to be black in America.