TuPac's Different TONES

Song #4

"What You Gonna Do"

-Hunter Hayes

Song #2

'Hail Mary' by TuPac

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkJA6SYwa94

Song #1

Background

Background Info: Hunter Hayes talks about how he does all these things for this person. He hints that all that he does is taken for granted. Wants the person to think about what its going to do to them when he is no longer there.

'Me and My Girlfriend' by TuPac

Tupac was(still is) a west side rapper raised around gang violence, drugs and poverty. He realizes his "fate" because of the lifestyle he lives and addresses the song the the virgin Mary to help him through.

Imagery

"Now pay attention: bless me please Father, I'm a ghost

In these killing fields, Hail Mary, catch me if I go"

TONE

Tone

BACKGROUND INFO: TuPac uses the entire song as a metaphor to describe his relationship with his gun. In the song, he describes his relationship with his gun, as if it were his girlfriend. Throughout the song, he finds clever ways to give his gun personification based off the traits of 'hood' relationships.

"Picture paragraphs unloaded, wise words being quoted

Peeped the weakness in the rap game and sewed it"

Syntax

Confident and Curious

He is confident in that he is treating her right, so he is curious how she's going to survive without him

Angry (Fierce), he speaks with wrath about the reality of his world.

Example 2: "Who wakes you in the morning comes, who calls you every late night, who conforts you when you're in need, who allways tried to treat you right, who gives you all he has to give, who would dedicate his heart to you, who fulfills all his promises and who sees the good in you."

Diction

Imagery

Diction

He is asking all these rhetorical questions. He's saying that he does all of these things, so why aren't they appreciated? And who is going to give you all of this? Basically, WHO IS GOING TO BE BETTER AT TAKING CARE OF YOU THAN ME?

Example 3: "Who fears the road ahead and who's heart is turning into stone."

Example 1: "Tell me whatcha gonna do when I'm gone, Oh and where you're gonna go when there's nobody home and who's gonna love you when you're all alone"

Syntax

"Institutionalized I lived my life a product made to crumble

But too hardened for a smile, way too crazy to be humble"

Song #3

Example 1: "Trapped in this world of sin, born as a ghetto child. Raised in this whirlwind (c'mon). Our childhood years recall the tears heart laced with venom."

Explanation: These lines show his anger, and that he feels trapped in the world he lives in. The tears show how he's hurting. The word venom shows how poisonous and bad for his health his neighborhood is.

He is confident in thinking that only he can give her what she needs. He's curious as to what she will do without him.

Obviously there is no road ahead and obviously your heart can't turn into stone, so this is imagery. He's basically saying he is scared of what comes next and that

He uses words and phrases like institutionalized and "product made to crumble" to emphasize his harsh reality

Imagery

TONE

One life to live but I got nothing to lose

Just me and you on a one way trip to prison

Selling drugs, we all wrapped up in this living life as thugs

Lyrics: "Talkin loud when I tell you be quiet you move the crowd, Bustin rounds, activatin a riot, that's why I love you so...I love you black or chrome"

Explanation: It would seem like he's talking about having sex with a human, but his use of imagery actually shows that he is talking about using his gun against the rest of the world. This helps give the image of a gun being fired several times, and a group of people scurrying around in panic. This lets the reader know that his 'girlfriend' isn't a human, an inanimate object instead. His use of imagery helps describe the fact that his girlfriend isn't a human.

Vengeance, yet loyal

He's going against the world, but he's loyal to his gun.

Tupac generally uses very strong words and metaphors to get his point across. In this song this one line pretty much sums the whole song.

Language

'Everyday Stuggle' by Biggie Smalls

Background Info: Everyday Struggle” tells the tale of a low-level drug dealer traveling the country attempting to make it in the criminal underworld. Sure the story was intriguing, but it was Big's dizzying wordplay and layered bars that made it classic: “I heard Tech got murdered, in a town I never heard of/By some bitch named Alberta, over nickel-plated burners.

Lyrics: "Fuck em all, watch em fall screamin, automatic gunfire....My girlfriend, though we separated at times. I knew deep inside, baby girl would always be mine."

Explanation: TuPac shows that he doesn't care about what happens to the rest of the world. He shows his loyalty when he says, "baby girl would always be mine". TuPac doesn't care about the rest of the world, only his girlfriend.

Syntax

Diction

TONE

Example: "Catch me if you can like the ginger bread man

You better have your gat in hand

'Cause man"

Explanation: Sometimes the lines sound corny, but Biggie moves the words around in this song. He wants the last word of each line to rhyme. Which makes sense because he's a rapper, and most rappers try to rhyme.

Example: "I don't wanna live no mo'

Sometimes I hear death knocking at my front do'

I'm living everyday like a hustle

Another drug to juggle, another day another struggle"

Explanation: Biggie's language here shows that he's fed up with life in general. He blatantly states how he doesn't want to live anymore. He talks about dying. He then goes on to say how everyday he struggles. Him explaining how hard his life is on a day to day basis makes his 'fed-up' tone stronger in the song.

Biggie has a fed up tone in this song.

The quote, "sick and tired of being sick and tired" would appeal to him in this song.

Imagery

Example: "Pockets broke as hell, another rock to sell

People look at you like you're the user

Selling drugs to all the losers mad Buddha abuser"

Explanation: Biggie actually describes himself selling drugs so that the listeners are able to picture it. By him doing this, it gives his story in the song more credibility. It's not enough to say that he's been stuggling if he doesn't have any proof of the struggle. If you were struggling, and you had a child to take care of, how low would you stoop to take care of that child? In this case, Biggie was struggling so bad that he had to sell drugs.

Songs & TONES

Adinah Gray, Quentin Brown-Harris, Alex Ferrari, MyLynda Stubblefield