In response to our recently assigned close reading
assignments, I’ve decided to do a four part study of one of my favorite songs:
Brother Ali’s “Uncle Sam Goddamn”. I believe that the four inquiry approach to
lyric analysis provides the listener with a much deeper and complex
understanding of artistic expression as a whole. To begin with, I’ll explore
the first degree of inquiry, linguistics. The passage I’ll examine comes from
the first verse of the song (which goes
as follows).
Smoke and mirrors, stripes and stars
Stolen for the cross in the name of God
Bloodshed, genocide, rape and fraud
Written to the pages of the law, good
lord
This passage
has very unique and carefully chosen vocabulary and grammar in order to set the
tone for the rest of the song. Ali strictly uses nouns in the first and third
lines, while implying that “stolen” and “written” are past tense verbs in the
second and fourth. The nouns he chooses are of a very specific quality in that
“smoke and mirrors, stripes and stars” is far less violent than “bloodshed,
genocide, rape and fraud”. Furthermore, “cross”, “God”, “law”, and “lord” are
all used within this small passage, a very important aspect of the song. Also,
the syntax is idiosyncratic because Ali uses parataxis to compare phrases and
words that normally aren’t associated with one another (I know I’m going beyond
first degree here but this is a very important literary tactic to acknowledge).
Moreover, the descriptive nouns in the first and third lines definitely don’t
follow traditional sentence structure because they solely exist for comparison
to the following lines. Additionally, Brother Ali goes beyond the normal
denotation of the descriptive nouns. “Smoke and mirrors” refers to a metaphor
that describes deception, disguise, and obscurity. The phrase “stripes and
stars” (more commonly seen as stars and stripes in pop culture) acts as a
metaphor to the United State’s flag, a popular image that also refers to the
pride American’s feel for our country. The first line of this verse, containing
both the metaphors previously described, contains another distinct form of
figurative language. The “s” sound in “smoke”, “stripes”, “stars”, and “stolen”
forms alliteration that Ali uses to stress the importance of these words. The
combination of vocabulary, grammar, syntax, and figurative language help for a
distinct style in Brother Ai’s rapping. He sets a mellow pace immediately and
stays with that for the entire passage. His pace slightly increases on the
first and third lines because he lets the first beat of the line fall without
saying anything in order force those lines to be faster. His tone is also very
similar to the pace in respect to its even characteristics and his smooth delivery.
Ali uses his charming (slight) Southern drawl to compliment the pace, and they
work hand in hand to produce a very deep, assured tone that oozes confidence.
In order to enunciate certain words, Brother Ali shapes his diction so that the
word that falls on each beat is also enunciated pretty heavily. Although this
isn’t a revolutionary rapping style, it reinforces the importance of those
words to the reader. If you look back to the highlighted pieces of the lines,
those are the words that fall on the beat and are also enunciated. Perhaps the
beat itself stresses the words, but when I listen to the song I hear very clear
distinctions between certain words. These three aspects, pace, tone, and
diction, combine to form an utterly confident and wise rapping style. Brother
Ali is comparable to a pastor preaching a sermon with extreme dedication and
conviction. He’s trying to inform the listeners and teach them a lesson about
something he knows a great deal about. He engages in a mutualistic relationship
with the words by integrating his unique style with potent vocabulary.
Look for my
second degree analysis next week guys!
Gavin
Hi Gavin, I think this is very good. I like the fact that you was able to get so much out of this which is not something we try to do unless it is assigned to us in a class, lol. I think this is a very good analysis due to the fact that I never heard this song before, but I was able to imagine how it might sound and what they might have said next based on your analysis. I also appreciate the fact that you were able to go so deep into analyzing in the first degree being that this was something I struggled with for my essay so now I have a good idea of what I can do better for my next close reading essay.
ReplyDeleteGood job!