Writing Project #2: Voice in its Cultural Contexts and Consequences

Iggy Azalea sparked discussion in the music industry because of her emergence as a popstar and a rapper. Azalea’s vision was to become one of the top white artists in the rap industry. She dropped out of high school at age sixteen and moved from Australia to Miami. Controversy arises because Azalea is a white, Australian female rapping in black tones. At age eighteen, a producer named Mr. Lee helped hone her rap skills. Azalea rose to fame in 2014 with her big hit “Fancy,” but her career quickly became labeled as another bad white rapper. The article The Making and Unmaking of Iggy Azaleadisplayed the criticisms of her career. It mentions a quote from pop artist Halsey, “She had a complete disregard for black culture…I watched her career dissolve and it fascinated me.” She was the center of controversy about culture appropriation and authenticity in hip hop. Critics of Azalea becoming a white rapper emphasize how dialect is racialized. Today’s society links voice and dialect to specific communities and cultures. Voice is implemented through discussion, music, reports, and other aspects of communication. It is an imperative agent in society today because it intensifies culture discernment.

Voice and dialect are linked to specific communities, and African-American English is a prime example of this. African-American English (AAE), also known as blaccent or Ebonics, refers to the distinctive speech of the African-American community. Slang words such as ashy—the whitish appearance of black skin when dry—are common in AAE, and it is not restricted to particular regions. However, there is more to AAE than just slang words. Its pronunciation includes the shortening of words through the omission of the final constants in words and dropping the b, d, and g at the beginning of auxiliary verbs. For example, omitting the d would result in “Ion know” for “I don’t know.” Another example would be the pronunciation of ‘past’ shortened to ‘pas.’ John R. Rickford, Professor of Linguistics at Stanford University, declares, “These distinctive Ebonics pronunciations are all systematic, the results of regular rules and restrictions; they are not random ‘errors’–and this is equally true of Ebonics grammar.” (Rickford) It is also very common in AAE to fabricate sentences without present tense “is” or “are,” as in “John trippin’.” AAE is prominent among black comedians, singers, and especially rappers, in speech for dramatic or realistic effect. However, other people, black and white, view AAE as an indication of limited education due to the barrier to socioeconomic mobility.

Iggy Azalea has received criticism for her appropriation, but the discussion also includes her mastery of blaccent. The article How Iggy Azalea mastered her ‘blaccent’ discusses how Azalea’s songs embody a more sophisticated understanding of how black artists speak. The article mentions two linguists Maeve Eberhardt and Kara Freeman who listened to and analyzed her discography. In their paper for the Journal of Sociolinguistics, they argue “…that the rapper’s songs reveal remarkable fluency in the sounds of syntax and of what linguists call African-American English.” (Guo) However, the controversy over Azalea’s blaccent is due to her personal identity. She is a tall Caucasian female with blonde hair and an Australian accent. Many critics and artists find it offensive that she implements the blaccent because it is not hers. They see it as a mimicry of black speech. Rapper Jean Grae described her voice as a “verbal blackface.” (Guo) Even though Azalea still speaks with an Australian accent during interviews, she owns her blaccent as she believes, “I don’t think the voice makes me fake, it makes me an artist.” Her statement is acceptable because even though society links dialect to specific speech communities, all dialect is shared between communities and cultures which merges all dialects together. A prime example of merging dialects is how black comedians use a white tone during comedy shows. In Kat Williams “Kat Williams: The Pimp Chronicles Pt. 1”, he jokes about the need for white friends and imitates a white person’s tone of voice. 

According to Guo, the “ai” sound in words like “time” and “rhyme” are abbreviated in AAE. (Guo) “Time” is pronounced as “tahhm” because only the first vowel is said. Azalea makes this pronunciations multiple times in “Fancy.”She spits, “Better get mymoney on time, if they not, decline. And swear Imeant that there so much that they give that linea rewind.” She also repeatedly implements a common AAE pronunciation of “that” by replacing “th” with “d” to say “dat.” She raps, “Still stunting, how you love dat? Got the whole world asking how I does dat. Hot girl, hands off, don’t touch dat. Look at that, I bet you wishing you could clutch dat.” Azalea’s latest release “Sally Walker”has reached sixty-two on Billboard Hot 100 Chart. However, her comeback single has drawn some comparisons to rapper Cardi B’s top hit “Money.”Cardi B is a prominent African-American rapper from New York City. Fans noticed how “Sally Walker” resembles the beat to Cardi’s song “Money” which lead to rumors about Azalea trying to steal her style. The producer of both artists J White declares that the rumors are not true. However, this comparison allows us to place both songs side by side and gain a larger insight on how fluent Azalea’s blaccent is compared to an artist with a prominent blaccent.

While there has been controversy about Azalea’s appropriation and her establishing her blaccent, the use of African American English has a bigger impact. The article Speaking Black Dialect in Courtrooms Can Have Striking Consequencespresents the issue of court reporters making errors while transcribing sentences that are spoken with a blaccent. That leads to the bigger issue of consequences of AAE. The reporters were not intentionally transcribing incorrectly, but it is a result as a lack of understanding of black dialect. This could lead to bigger consequences, as misinterpretations in courtroom transcripts could have negative results for defendants’ official court records. A larger implication is that the justice system is not affording a sense of fairness to people because the system is not responding to their language and there is no attempt to do so. People that also use AAE are condemned for doing so because they are seen as improper or uneducated. However, there is nothing incorrect or improper about the inheritance of AAE, but society has created negative stereotypes about how the way it is perceived. The article also emphasizes, “Decades of research has shown that the way some black people talk could play a role in their ability to secure things like employment or housing.” (Eligon) Black people who use AAE also struggle to find jobs and housing due to the negative stereotypes about black dialect. 

Communication has become even more important over the past decades. Music is a big example of how voice is used in communication, and Iggy Azalea’s music career is a prime of example of culture discernment. However, AAE does not just pertain to African-Americans. All African-Americans do not speak African American English, and not every who speaks AAE is black. White people can adopt AAE if they grew up around black friends. Most people tend to switch between standard English and AAE anyway. The creation of the term AAE displays the fact that society links voice and dialect to specific cultures and communities. 

Viraj Garewal

Dr. Rippeon

Writing 101- Section K

24 March 2019

The Risks When Covering a Song

The music industry has evolved greatly over the last fifty years. There has been a constant evolution due to the desire for artists to be different, unique and valuable to their listeners and society. The instruments used, the rhythm and the percussion, as well as the lyrics and the vocalist’s style singing them have all transformed significantly. Discoveries by different artists and cultures in the aforementioned aspects of a song and their production have allowed for people to have the opportunity to feel free to express themselves and their emotions. The voice has become a medium for representing one’s culture and to convey a deliberate message. With many pieces carefully being put together to make a song, there is a clear meaning and message that the artist intends to convey to the listener. As all of this is present in an original song, the practice of covering it becomes a tricky endeavor.  The prominent technique of covering has been used by artists for many years. It is the process where songs are reworked and altered from the song that was written and performed by the original artist. They maintain most of the lyrics of the original but vary the instrumentation, rhythm and vocal tone to greatly differ from the original. This process is an artistic endeavor that greatly changes the meaning in comparison to the initial song, and that can have many implications, both good and bad. The cultural significance behind an original song as well as the social surroundings at the time of the song’s creation are important to consider because they are integral to the intended meaning of the song. Tampering with that meaning in a cover entails significant consequences. A clear example of a cover with consequences is Taylor Swift’s cover of “September,” a song originally created by Earth, Wind and Fire.

In 1978, “September” was created by Earth, Wind, and Fire. At the time, the genres that had taken over the music industry were disco, funk, soul ,and rock and roll. The groove and rhythm that the songs had in these genres became a defining characteristic for this time period. The Rolling Stones and the Bee Gees were dominant artists at this time. Listeners were enjoying the groove and experience of these songs on the dance floor. Songwriters were challenged to appeal to these tastes while maintaining their individuality and artistic expression. With the unique musical climate, Earth, Wind and Fire stuck to its roots of the funk genre. Funk was very distinct with an important history. The genre was the embodiment of “unapologetic attitude and racial pride”(Muscato). It was a statement being made by the African American community that they were going to live at their own beat, and not be forced to conform to external stylistic or cultural elements that were being forced upon them by society. Funk had an important sound that was “driven by a groovy baseline, vamping, syncopated rhythms,variation, and shameless expressionism”(Nicholas). Funk was “defined less by a strict set of stylistic rules and more by an attitude, with of course a beat that encourages dancing” (Muscato).  Every aspect in a song under the funk genre had deliberate characteristics to demonstrate pride in their lineage. It showed pride in non-conformity and allowed for funk to become a successful aspect of the culture and identity of African Americans.

The original version of “September” from Earth, Wind, and Fire has very distinct features, as well as heavy funk elements and roots, all which make the song significant. They play a pivotal role in why the song has remained iconic to this day. From the NPR article “The Song That Never Ends: Why Earth, Wind & Fire’s ‘September’ Sustains,” greater insight can be gathered on how the lyrics came about. A notable lyric in the song is:

“Do you remember the 21st night of September?”

This lyric has been scrutinized for years, so much so that in the NPR article, the matter was addressed directly. According to Allee Willis, one of the songwriters, the “strangely specific date” was the one that “just felt the best” and that “there is no significance beyond it just sang better than any of the other dates” (Charnas). This shows the aspect of funk where the artist did not subject the song to stylistic requirements such as all lyrics needing to have a purposeful meaning. Instead, the lyric promotes a groovy rhythm that is kept flowing and does not hinder the joyful state that the listener is in. Another unique lyric in the song was:

“Ba de ya, never was a cloudy day

Ba duda, ba duda, ba duda, badu”

In the songwriting process, Willis stated how she wanted to change the aforementioned parts of the song to complete sentences. She learned from the leader of the group, Maurice White, that

while “ba dee ya” and “ba dadu” are not actual words, they do mean a lot to the song. It continues the flowing rhythm and groove, which is more important than conforming to a stylistic notion that all lyrics must be meaningful when read.  Willis learned a key lesson from White “which was to never let the lyric get in the way of the groove”(Charnas). If the lines would have been changed to sentence-filled lyrics, a part of the essence of funk and the rhythm would have been lost to stylistic constraints from conventional wisdom in society. Instead, the song remains an embodiment of “shameless expressionism” that is unique and is an identifiable aspect of African American culture  to this day (Nicholas).

Taylor Swift’s cover of “September” is a stark contrast and presents a conflict to the original version in several ways. Her version is a transformation of the original into a somber, country ballad. The instrumentation, rhythm, and lyric choice are all altered in consequential ways.  Swift’s version describes a sad moment in her life. In one line of the song, she sings:

“ Do you remember?

The 28th night of September”

This lyric depicts a significant date, when Swift ended her relationship with a man. This is the opposite of the funky song from Earth, Wind and Fire, where the date was simply selected to make the song flow rhythmically. In addition, the groovy baseline is lost and replaced with acoustic guitars and banjos. Essentially, it seems Swift has taken a groovy expression of African American pride and converted it into a somber ballad describing a breakup. Swift  “manages in three minutes to strip the song of its iconic funk elements, its soul, its rhythm, its ba-de-ahh in the hook” (Craven). The rhythm is slowed, the lyrics are changed into a personal story, and the song is transformed into a near antithesis of the original.

It is also significant that she is a white woman, while the song is a symbol of African American pride in their heritage. As pointed out by Craven, Swift’s cover of the song changes it from a funky jam to a depressing ballad that is disrespectful to the African American community, as it is an example of where “a white person strips something of its blackness and packages it for a white audience. It’s as old as America” (Craven).  Swift’s cover also “lacks the passion, the liveliness, the rhythm and, frankly, the soul to properly honor the song” (Craven).

Through Taylor Swift’s’ cover of September, it has become clear that cover songs are a risky endeavor for artists. The artist must be conscious of the meaning of the song in regards to the original artist and their race, cultural background, and social upbringing. Those all contribute to the original meaning of the song. Even though covers are supposed to be different than the original, there is a level of scrutiny placed upon whether the original artist was respected. In this instance, many would consider Swift to have disrespected Earth, Wind and Fire due to how she changed the genre and the elements of the song that were iconic.  In conclusion, an artist is definitely taking a risk when covering any song because they are subjecting themselves to a world of critics and evaluations not only in regards to how their version sounds, but also in regards to whether their version is respectful to the original. This makes the song even more difficult, as it is inherently challenging to create a song that listeners will enjoy, but it is even more challenging to create a song that also respects the previous meaning of the song, the artists and cultural settings.

Word Count: 1591

Works Cited

Charnas, Dan. “The Song That Never Ends: Why Earth, Wind & Fire’s ‘September’ Sustains.” NPR, NPR, 19 Sept. 2014, www.npr.org/2014/09/19/349621429/the-song-that-never-ends-why-earth-wind-fires-september-sustains .Accessed 10 March 2019.

Craven, Julia. “I Listened to Taylor Swift’s ‘September’ Cover so Y’all Wouldn’t Have to.” Huffington Post, 13 Apr. 2018, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/i-listened-to-taylor-swifts-september-cover-so-yall-wouldnt-have-to_us_5ad0ff15e4b016a07e9c4d82, Accessed 21 Mar. 2019.

Fire, Earth Wind &. “Earth, Wind & Fire – September (Official Music Video).” YouTube, YouTube, 11 Jan. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs069dndIYk.

Muscato, Christopher. “History of Funk Music.” Study.com, Study.com, study.com/academy/lesson/history-of-funk-music.html.

Nicholas, Tucker. “The Impact Of Funk.” Atavist, 11 Apr. 2017, sc17s2.atavist.com/funk.

Swift, Taylor. “September,” Youtube. 14 Apr. 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnDnphYTb0Q, Accessed 24 Mar. 2019.

“Taylor Swift – September.” Genius, 13 Apr. 2018, genius.com/Taylor-swift-september-lyrics.

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Kelsey Mckinney of Splinter News claims that “A great cover presents a song to a new audience in a language they can understand”. Rather than subtracting from the significance of the former, well-received covers construct a new layer on top of a pre-existing foundation. However, these new layers sometimes clash with the sonic, cultural, or instrumental architecture of their forebearers, often projecting into an entirely new direction. The degree of modification among covers goes from barely recognizable to starkly similar. Both ends of the spectrum have proven successful in some cases. A well-known example of the former is Jimi Hendrix’s 1968 electrifying rendition of Bob Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower. Others elect to simply reinforce a particular aspect without disrupting much of the work’s identity, as heard in Alien Ant Farm’s popular 2001 rock-infused take on Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal. On the other hand, some covers appeal far less to the public. As a general rule, covers that vary highly from the original are placed under heavy scrutiny, especially when the original is well-liked.

One simple reason that artists cover songs is to pay homage to the original. In my opinion, choosing to cover another artist’s work inherently honors the original artist, even if the song in question is radically altered, because covering a song acknowledges the value of the original as a work of art. Sometimes artists create cover songs because they believe that the original can be expanded upon in some capacity. Ranging from alterations made to vocal components, tempo, instruments, rhythm, pitch, or all of the above, the covering musician strives to augment the original by placing emphasis on musical elements that were (in their opinion) underdeveloped. However, there is a risk that they may also lose what made the original so admired. If the artist intends to add a new dimension to an existing work, rather than simply honoring it, the covering musician’s objective should be to produce something new by adding depth to an existing creation. This type of cover should refrain from creating a sonic clone because creating a copy of the original work achieves nothing except substantiating the greatness of the former. Rather, a cover with the intent to build upon the original should contribute to the cultural, as well as the musical meaning of the song as a whole in a novel manner. Cover artists that succeed showcase their individual perspective while replicating the best aspects of the original.

One popular cover style is created by performing a pre-existing song without the use of electronics or electric instruments. This is called an acoustic version because sound is produced by acoustic, rather than electronic means, and often results in dramatic variation from the original. Acoustic versions can bring out the best in a song that is centered around instrumentals and/or expression through vocals. Used appropriately, acoustic covers transform a mere average song into a chart topper. However, other acoustic covers fail to live up to their predecessors. In particular, Taylor Swift’s tender, acoustic recording of Earth, Wind, and Fire’s iconic hit September received harsh criticism from a variety of sources. Julia Craven of The Huffington Post asserts that the country-turned-pop star lacks the “passion, the liveliness, the rhythm and, frankly, the soul to properly honor the song”. September, hailed as “a classic—truly an all-time-best record” by music aficionado Israel Daramola of Spin.com, delights millions of listeners around the globe. Versatile and uplifting, the acclaimed single is “perfect for weddings, cookouts, reunions, or just a night out at a bar (Daramola)”. The same cannot be said for Swift’s version, which is better suited for a funeral or someone’s post break-up playlist. The original September caught fire in the public eye due to its funky rhythm, uplifting message, and catchy musical structure. Jeffrey Peretz, a professor of music theory at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute, asserts that the song’s very structure is an endless cycle of four chords that keeps us dancing and wanting more. On the other hand, Swift’s cover feels like a hollow shell of the lively, soulful EW&F hit, despite her melodic voice and skilled instrumentals. Swift’s failure to impress her audience is rooted in the significance of what she changed about the song, rather than the quantity of alterations. The reason that Swift’s cover of September received so much backlash is that she neglected to pay tribute to the parts of the song that make the original so revered. Experience the magic of Earth, Wind, and Fire’s performance here. Listen to the underlying chords that Dr. Peretz mentioned, as well as the groovy rhythm, not to mention Maurice White’s contagiously energetic persona.

 

 

Even the staunchest Taylor Swift hater cannot deny her talent. Sporting 10 Grammys, 23 AMAs, and the record for most billboard music awards of any artist, she certainly has the resume to legitimize it. Therefore, Swift’s cover of September floundered not for lack of musical talent. Fundamentally there were no issues with her execution. In fact, I believe that had she been the original progenitor of the song, it would have been extremely successful. Her vocals exude a youthful purity that harmonizes beautifully with the banjo chords in the background. Melancholy and wistful, Swift reveals the poetic brilliance Earth, Wind, and Fire’s lyrics. And that’s exactly where she went wrong. A timeless “cookout staple” (Craven) September is cherished for its grooviness and feel-good energy. In the words of co-writer Allee Willis, it is “the happiest-sounding song in the world”. The lyrics, which became the primary focus of Swift’s acoustic cover, were the most expendable element of the original song. Critical components that gave the song its cultural significance are nowhere to be seen. According to Craven, ([Swift] manages in 3 minutes to strip the song of its iconic funk elements, its soul, its rhythm). By choosing to record an acoustic version, Swift traded the heart of the song in favor of its skeleton.

Although her notoriety may top the competition, Swift isn’t the only artist who has created an acoustic cover of an extremely renowned, upbeat track. In 2016 Irish singer-songwriter EDEN released a heavily modified acoustic version of the infamous OutKast hit Hey Ya! OutKast’s lively song is comparable to September in its funk, soul, and R&B influence, in addition to its energetic beat. Just as Maurice White of Earth, Wind, and Fire did with September, Andre 3000 of OutKast performed his work with a contagious enthusiasm that spread around the world, so much so that Hey Ya! can be heard ubiquitously, from “playing at a middle school dance, or on a mother’s radio as she drops the kids off at Chuck-E-Cheese’s”, Josh Shaffer of The Houston Chronicle proclaims. EDEN decelerates the song’s rhythm and sings in a somber tone, revealing deep pessimism behind its lyrics. His raw, sobering performance is the complete antithesis to OutKast’s funky hip-hop sensation. Ironically, most listeners to OutKast’s version have no idea of their melancholy nature. Universally recognized and critically acclaimed (It won a grammy for Record of the Year in 2003), Hey Ya! is regarded by columnist Adam T. Brown of Cracked.com as “the happiest-sounding song released during that entire decade”. That’s precisely why it’s incredibly surprising to people who discover that the lyrics of the song are actually depressing:

“If what they say is ‘Nothing lasts forever, then what makes, then what makes, then what makes, then what makes, then what makes love the exception?” -Andre 3000, Hey Ya!

EDEN’s portrayal of Hey Ya! exposed the pessimistic nature of the jubilant-sounding song, and OutKast fans reacted negatively, as Andy James of DJBooth.net asserts. “Turning “Hey Ya!” into a song full of sorrow and hopelessness kinda takes away from the magic of the original”, he claims. He’s right. The grand success of Hey Ya!, just like September, spawned from its addicting beat, fast paced rhythm, contagious energy. These elements cemented these two works as joyful anthems in the cultural context of society. Andre 3000’s effusive enthusiasm caught fire across America because Hey Ya! is a feel-good song. In the infamous music video, exuberant fans are seen screaming ecstatically along with Andre. Adam T. Brown of Cracked.com attests that “[The fans’] reaction is pretty much a perfect summary of how the world as a whole reacted to this song: just pure, unadulterated adoration”.

 

EDEN proves to us that the lyrics have nothing to do with what made Hey Ya! so successful. Andre 3000 himself professed during his live performance of the song on stage “Y’all don’t want to hear me. You just wanna dance”.

The acoustic covers of September and Hey Ya! subtracted from the meaning of the original by removing the mechanisms that incited feelings of joy. Taylor Swift and EDEN presented the songs in a way that conflicted with society’s preconceived idea of their identities, which caused listeners to feel betrayed. Ultimately, Swift and EDEN neglected the vital aspects of September and Hey Ya! and left their audience feeling deprived. After all, the significance of a song lies in how it makes people feel. It is the confluence of beat, rhythm, tempo, melody, instrument, and voice that make September and Hey Ya! great. The lyrics weren’t what made the originals special. Maurice White of Earth, Wind, and Fire echoed this belief in his response to co-writer Allee Willis in 1978. Confused by the soon-to-be infamous line “Ba-dee-ya…” she asked White “What does it mean?”. He candidly replied “Who the fuck cares?” recognizing that lyrical semantics should never get in the way of the groove.

Works Cited

Axeals. EDEN- Hey Ya. YouTube, 19 June 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCvTC3hasdU. Accessed 8 March 2019.

Brown, Adam T. “6 Popular Upbeat Songs You Didn’t Realize Are Depressing.” Cracked.com, 19 Apr. 2012, www.cracked.com/blog/6-popular-upbeat-songs-you-didnt-realize-are-depressing/. Accessed 9 March 2019.

Charnas, Dan. “The Song That Never Ends: Why Earth, Wind & Fire’s ‘September’ Sustains.” NPR, NPR, 19 Sept. 2014, www.npr.org/2014/09/19/349621429/the-song-that-never-ends-why-earth-wind-fires-september-sustains. Accessed 10 March 2019.

Craven, Julia. “I Listened To Taylor Swift’s ‘September’ Cover So Y’all Wouldn’t Have To.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 13 Apr. 2018, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/i-listened-to-taylor-swifts-september-cover-so-yall-wouldnt-have-to_us_5ad0ff15e4b016a07e9c4d82. Accessed 10 March 2019.

Daramola, Israel. “Taylor Swift’s ‘September’ Cover Is Joyless: Review.” Spin, 13 Apr. 2018, www.spin.com/2018/04/taylor-swift-september-earth-wind-fire-cover-review/. Accessed 9 March 2019.

Earth Wind & Fire, director. Earth, Wind & Fire – September (Official Music Video). YouTube, 11 Jan. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs069dndIYk. Accessed 8 March 2019.

Kajal, director. Taylor Swift – September Cover (Earth, Wind & Fire). YouTube, 14 Apr. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnDnphYTb0Q. Accessed 7 March 2019.

James, Andy. “The 7 Best OutKast ‘Hey Ya!” Covers on the Internet.” DJBooth, 23 Mar. 2017, djbooth.net/features/2017-03-23-best-outkast-hey-ya-covers. Accessed 10 March 2019.

McKinney, Kelsey. “The Art of a Good Cover Song.” Splinter News, Splinter, 24 July 2017, splinternews.com/the-art-of-a-good-cover-song-1793848557. Accessed 10 March 2019.

OutKastVideoVault. OutKast – Hey Ya! (Official Music Video). YouTube, 25 Oct. 2009, www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWgvGjAhvIw. Accessed 8 March 2019.

Shaffer, Josh, and Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “What’s Cooler than Being Cool? Outkast’s ‘Hey Ya!’.” Houston Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, 24 July 2011, www.chron.com/entertainment/music/article/What-s-cooler-than-being-cool-Outkast-s-Hey-Ya-1567383.php. Accessed 8 March 2019.

 

 

 

Most of the music one listens to today is unoriginal. With the changing landscape of the music industry, and the struggle artists face to sound different, most of the music heard today draws from many previous songs. The most obvious forms of artists’ use of other songs are samples and covers. Samples use only parts of older songs, whether it is lyrical, musical, or the direct copy and paste of a sound bite from the song. Covers, on the other hand, rework the entirety of the song: keeping the same lyrics but usually changing the music behind them, recreating an entirely new sounding song. The difference between the two is obvious; however, the implications each bring can be cloudy. Samples are inherently less risky: taking only a section of a song and placing it within a larger piece of work comes with less scrutiny, and in some cases, requires more creativity. However, with covers, keeping the exact lyrics and changing the feeling and sound behind them often times leads to controversy and subsequently requires more thought. Songs like Drake’s “Nice for What” and Young Thug’s “High” effectively sample the brilliance of both Lauryn Hill and Elton John, bringing the best out of their work and making it sound unique. However, covers like Taylor Swift’s “September” not only makes a fun-loving song a tear-jerking one, but also brings with it some serious cultural connotations that leave many listeners feeling uncomfortable due to its racial implications. These examples affirm the notion that covers are riskier than samples, and as a listener or an artist, one must think critically towards a piece and ask if it truly honors the song used.

Drake’s “Nice for What” finds new meaning in a historically famous song by sampling its most recognizable hook with creativity and homage. Using Lauryn Hill’s acclaimed anthem “Ex-Factor,” Drake reworks her previously introspective and regretful tone and forms it into an empowering, upbeat dance song for everyone to get down to. “Nice for What” is “weightless, but pounding, and vitally participatory,” and finds joy where Lauryn Hill seemed to find little (Peters). The message of her song surrounds the internal struggle she faces with a man for whom she keeps falling but who does not treat her with respect. The song is relatable for many women who find themselves in situations where men take advantage of them, and the song highlights the feelings many of these women are left with. However, twenty years later, these sentiments should be mute. Drake has created a song that, put into today’s social context, is one that many women can play and feel empowered through.

By changing Lauryn Hill’s hook into a fast-paced, fun-loving anthem, he shows women that they should never feel dragged down by the men in their life but instead find joy within themselves. In the music video for “Nice for What,” “[Drake] assembled a plurality of Women Doing the Damn Thing,” showing famous women in pop culture, sports, and other areas dancing with confidence (Peters). Not only in the actual song, but in the portrayal of the music video is Drake making his point clear to women across the world. With the changing context surrounding women in society today, contrary to Lauryn Hill’s era, Drake’s song can also be seen as a lesson on social change: “you can peel back the feel-good vibes to reveal the circuitry underneath — how could something like this not play well in the thick of the #MeToo moment?” (Peters). Similarly to the #MeToo movement, Drake gives women a voice and a strength that previously may not have been found in much of the hip hop and rap heard today, where many songs patronize and disgrace women. With this sample, Drake changes the feeling behind Lauryn Hill’s words, transforming them into an inspiring and uplifting song for all women to hear and walk away feeling special. At a time where women may seem vulnerable due to the continuous discoveries of heinous acts of sexual assault, Drake shows them that finding power in their own voices can take them farther than ever. He, undoubtedly, created a song worthy of the praise it has already received.

On the other hand, Taylor Swift’s cover of the classic hit “September” fails to pay homage to and respect the greatness of Earth, Wind & Fire and creates a cultural conflict where there never should have been one. First off, Swift’s version of the groovy dance hit fails to make anyone feel energized. Like a classic Swift song, it dwells over a lost boy with whom Swift never made it with and “strip[s] the song of its iconic funk elements, its soul, [and] its rhythm.” (Craven). When previously this song made everyone, especially the black community, feel uplifted and ready to let loose, Swift turns it into a sad love song, inciting an opposite feeling in its listeners. Although there is nothing wrong with changing the meaning of a song, it becomes an issue when the original has a meaning for a group of people. She, for more reasons than one, does not possess the tools to recreate this song effectively: “Swift lacks the passion, the liveliness, the rhythm and, frankly, the soul to properly honor the song.” (Craven). Swift’s musical style does not meet the standards for what this song’s intention was, and covering a song to repurpose the entire meaning of it eventually can lead to larger issues.

Aside from the conflicting message the song offers, the creation and misuse of the cover caused many to feel angry and betrayed. Primarily because Swift is a white woman who is not apart of the black community that holds this song in such high esteem as a culturally inspiring anthem, she frankly does not have a place to be recreating it. The fact that “September” was used, altered, and profited off of by a white artist who made the song sound inherently white, raises issues surrounding the validity of Swift’s version: “A white person strips something of its blackness and packages it for a white audience. It’s as old as America.” (Craven). Swift lacks the firsthand understanding of the history of the black community and is coming from a perspective of privilege. Crossing racial and cultural lines that divide music, or any type of art form for that matter, can always lead to issues of appropriation and a lack of empathy. This is precisely why covers are so difficult to pull off. If the original works so well, why change the feeling and mood behind it, especially for an entirely new audience? It is almost like misquoting someone: if you want to sound uniquely original, use your own lyrics.

These two examples of contrasting results highlight a broader claim surrounding samples and covers: covers bring with them a larger cultural context that the artist must take into consideration. For example, although Drake in part changes the meaning of “Ex-Factor,” the fact he didn’t use the entirety of the song limits how many issues the artist or others can take up with the sample. He, however, changes the meaning in a positive and topical context. Other samples like Young Thug’s “High” and Kanye West’s “Blood on the Leaves” also honor the original artists’ work by placing their intentions within modern day sound. When it comes to covers, it is harder to clarify the intentions of the artist due to the fact it is the same exact song lyrically, and there is less room for new creativity: “‘respect’ and “authenticity” are a subset of a more general, and deeply problematic, conception of “intention,” and determining the intention underlying one artist’s recording of another is fraught with substantial philosophical difficulties.” (Mosser 12). It is hard to create something that is original and came from solely one’s own creativity, so when someone else uses it and completely changes the meaning of it, it is hard not to be critical. Covers like Britney Spears’ “I love Rock n’ Roll” and Justin Bieber’s “Let it be” also fail to respect the original hits from Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and The Beatles by not adding a clear new perspective with substance, but instead seem to be lazy one off shots at making an extra dollar. There is also something to be said about crossing genres. When covering or sampling a song in a completely different genre (i.e. what Taylor Swift does with “September”), there is even more room for scrutiny. Whether it is because of a social restriction or an obvious failure of creativity, society will always be quicker to attack covers for their lack of ingenuity. And although many covers work fine in today’s world, we must be careful moving forward as a society and as artists to always remember to strive to respect our past hits and artists: because it’s getting harder and harder by the day to create completely original work.

Works Cited

1. Craven, Julia. “I Listened to Taylor Swift’s ‘September’ Cover so Y’all Wouldn’t Have to.” Huffington Post, 13 Apr. 2018, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/i-listened-to-taylor-swifts-september-cover-so-yall-wouldnt-have-to_us_5ad0ff15e4b016a07e9c4d82, Accessed 18 Mar. 2019.
2. Peters, Micah. “Nice for What” Is Another Inevitable Victory for Drake.” 9 Apr. 2018, https://www.theringer.com/music/2018/4/9/17215998/nice-for-what-drake-single-video, Accessed 20 Mar. 2019
3. Mosser, Kurt. “Cover Songs”: Ambiguity, Multivalence, Polysemy” Popular Musicology Online. https://ecommons.udayton.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1023&context=phl_fac_pub, Accessed 20 Mar. 2019.
4. Drake “Nice for What,” Vevo. 6 Apr. 2018. https://www.google.com/search?q=nice+for+what+music+video&oq=nice+for+what+mus&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i60l2j69i57j0l2.4500j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8, Accessed 19 Mar. 2019
5. Swift, Taylor. “September,” Youtube. 14 Apr. 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnDnphYTb0Q, Accessed 24 Mar. 2019.

This is Dr. Dre’s 1992 song Bitches Ain’t Shit. The repetitive percussion beat, rhythmic staccato rapping, and the lyrics all date this song as being a clear product of the early nineties. The song features themes of crime and violence often associated with hip hop. With one verse of the song having the singer getting out of the county jail and immediately getting his gun to try and teach someone a lesson. The song also focuses on the theme that you should not trust women and if you do, they will only end up hurting you. This is a theme that if a song so explicitly focused on today, it would likely destroy the artist’s entire reputation; however, since this song was released in the nineties it was able to get away with this more questionable message. That is why it is so surprising that in 2005 an alternative singer-songwriter by the name of Ben Folds released his own version of the song, and even more surprising than that is the fact that the song actually released to find a decent amount of success.

           Ben Folds is an artist who regularly tries to push boundaries in the mediums he performs in. He first achieved success by writing music utilizing his classical piano skills in combination with rock style and themes. This was something no other artists at the time were doing so, through his ingenuity, Folds was able to make a space for himself in the industry. Along with his unique style, Folds was able to achieve success by providing many different themes in his songs with incredibly different messages. One of Folds’ first majorly successful songs Brick tells the story of a high school abortion in an incredibly slow and emotional style. The very next song on the same album, entitled Song For The Dumped, features heavy use of drums and a chorus that sings “Give me my money back, you bitch” Folds has gone on to achieve success with songs like Rocking The Suburbs which focuses on making fun of middle-class white artists complaining about the difficulties in their lives. This all culminates at the end of the song which is a cacophony of bass, drums, electric guitar, and Fold’s screaming.

Then comes Ben Folds’ version of Dr. Dre’s Bitches Ain’t Shit. Comparing this with Folds’ other works it is strange to imagine that he didn’t write it. Folds performs this song in a mostly slow tempo making it into something of a tragic ballad. The song opens with a few seconds of ambient wind and then it goes into the piano and a quiet folds singing “Bitches ain’t shit” This song is everything that makes Folds’ music Folds’ music. Presented in a highly emotional style centered on piano coupled with Folds’ high nasally voice the song is able to evoke an emotion that is a lot harder to find in the original. Folds is also able to almost completely transform the themes of the song. Folds is able to change the story of the song from being that of a man who is resentful and suspicious of all women, to a man who is hurt by the betrayal he experiences. The song becomes something to connect with and feels like a dissection and critique of the original’s themes and message. Combining the gritty dark and sexist lines with Folds’ trademark nasally voice and classical piano feels almost comedic and because of this, the song is able to be a parody while still being able to stand alone as being distinctly one of Folds’ songs. It is no wonder then that the song has become a favorite of Folds’ fans with recordings of the song on YouTube getting hundreds of thousands of views more than Dr. Dre’s original version. It is worth noting that Folds does make some small cuts to the song, removing a couple of verses likely to maintain a regular length; however, in the removal of these verses Folds still keeps the verses which hold some of the most offensive lines and messages so these cuts do very little to affect the changes in theme.

Folds’ song is a type of cover called a transformative cover. He takes what Dr. Dre wrote and he transforms it, presenting it in his own style. When you compare the two versions the similarities begin and end with the lyrics. Beyond the words, Fold’s transforms everything from form to theme making it an excellent example of how to properly create a transformative cover. In terms of instrumentals, the only instruments the two songs share are the voice and drums; however, they are used in incredibly different ways. To start Dre’s song uses the drums to form the foundation, the beat that backs up the rap. These drums make heavy use of the cymbals and snares in a constantly repeated rhythm. Folds’ song uses the drums to balance the piano with the rhythm ranging from heavy use of the bass drum to a larger focus on the cymbals. Dre’s use of drums focuses on creating a foundation for his song, while Folds’ uses the drums to further the atmosphere of the story he is telling. Neither of these uses is necessarily better or worse than the other, but it stresses one key difference in the songs, that being genre. Folds is able to successfully transform Dre’s 90s hip-hop rap song into a piano ballad. Folds saw the tragic potential of the lyrics in Dre’s song and stressed this meaning by changing the presentation of the lyrics and their surroundings. Dr. Dre’s rap tells the same story; however, through its delivery and presentation, the song does not evoke this tragic feeling. Dre’s song which features an upbeat rhythm and energized verses doesn’t address the intense sadness in his words; whereas, Folds’ slower tempo and softer presentation bring out these aspects of the lyrics.

           It is impossible to discuss this cover without also discussing the topic of race. In a way, Folds’ emphasis on the tragic meaning in the lyrics and the reception of both songs provides strong support for the theory of the sonic color line. Looking at comments of the two songs on YouTube it is fascinating to analyze the trends that come up in response to each song. In response to Dre’s song, the comments are almost entirely discussing the message of not trusting women. These comments are either saying how offensive the message is or that they are still agreeing with it. To contrast comments of Folds’ song almost entirely discuss how emotional the song is and how it made some listeners come to tears. This goes with one of the arguments of the sonic color line stating, “U.S. white supremacy has attempted to suppress, tune out, and willfully misunderstand some sounds and their makers and histories” (Stoever). The key word in that quote is misunderstand, both songs share the same lyrics, themes, and story yet when Folds presents the song in a style that is seen as “higher class” it is praised for being a brilliant emotional story; whereas, the original’s traditionally “black” sound is only discussed in the context of having misogynistic themes. While Folds’ song brings up some interesting points about race it is still fairly divisive in terms of that subject. In a Huffington Post article entitled “How NOT To Perform A Cover Song” the author argues that since Folds moves the song to such a dramatic extreme that “Folds is encouraging listeners to hear the words as ridiculous, as ‘other’” (Crum). This is an argument that is not unreasonable as, there is a long history of white artists covering black artists work and as they put it in the Studio 1A podcast “It’s such a complicated question, what’s aloud, what’s appropriation, what’s homage?” (Take Me On: The Art Of The Cover Song). It’s a difficult question to answer; however, I believe that in the context of Folds’ cover the emphasis of showing that tragedy in the story Dre originally presented shows that Folds does view these problems as real.

           Folds’ cover is one that shows how an artist can take a song they didn’t write and completely transform it into a piece of work that blends perfectly into their own styles and themes. That said the song is one of many modern examples of how artists need to be careful and respectful whenever they are covering other artists’ work. In the case of Folds, he was able to bring out a message that many people missed or ignored in the original, and it is an excellent example of how changing the musical context of the lyrics and words can completely transform what people perceive as the meaning of the song.

Works Cited

Ben Folds. “Bitches Ain’t Shit.” Supersunnyspeedgraphic, the lp, Ben Folds

Crum, Maddie. “How NOT To Perform A Cover Song.” HuffingtonPost, 18 Nov. 2015, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-not-to-perform-a-cover-song_us_564a4cd5e4b045bf3df074db.

Dr. Dre. “Bitches Ain’t Shit.” The Chronic, Dr. Dre.

Lam, Barry, editor. “Cover Me Softly.” Hiphination.org, hiphination.org/complete-season-two-episodes/s2-episode-5-cover-me-softly-feb-27th-2018/.

Stoever, Jennifer Lynn. The Sonic Color Line. Race and the Cultural Politics of Listening. NewYork University Press, 2016.

“Take Me On: The Art Of The Cover Song.” the1a.Org, 18 Jan. 2018, the1a.org/shows/2018-01-18/take-me-on-the-art-of-the-cover-song.

Many people focus too much on the lyrics when searching for meaning in a song. Words written on paper are missing half of what makes a song a song. The instrumentation and background noise can tell as much to the listener as the words, and this part even takes the forefront sometimes. Take “Build Me Up Buttercup” by the Foundations for example. Just by the reading the lyrics, the song seems like it would be depressing and hopeless, but when listening, it is upbeat and almost happy. The actual sound of the music changes the meaning beyond what the lyrics are saying and gives the song a more hopeful feeling. The ability of sound to invoke meaning is also apparent in cover songs. Often times, an artist will use the same lyrics as the original, but a change in the sound, or even just the differences in their voices, can change the meaning away from the original. In music, the sound of a song often extends or changes the meaning beyond the lyrics.

Sound can play an interesting role in giving songs an ambiguous meaning or having the sound give a feeling contradictory to the lyrics. The sound or tune can either contradict the lyrics or build upon them. “Semi-charmed Life” by Third Eye Blind was a late nineties alt-rock hit with a catchy melody and upbeat pace. When the song first came out, Jay Taylor, program director of San Jose, California based radio station KOME, said he played the song 35 times a week and described the song as having “a summertime feel to it.” But when searching for meaning in the lyrics, the bright and sunny feel can fade. Stephan Jenkins, the lead singer for Third Eye Blind, came out and said the song is really about his use of meth. Jenkins told Billboard Magazine that like speed, the song is “bright and shiny on the surface, and then it just pulls you down into this lockjawed mess…It’s intended to be what the seductiveness of speed is like, represented in music” (Third Eye Blind…Elektra).

The lyrics, though, seem to be talking about a relationship with a girl, and when mixed with the “summertime feel,” the ambiguity caused by the sound is very apparent. Sam West, a writer for Vice, put forth an interesting hypothetical situation. He said, “What if you first made out with the love of your life while the song was playing at a party? Is the song still about meth? Probably not. It’s about two semi-charmed kinda lovers finding happiness in each other’s arms” (West). Although Jenkins would disagree that his song has anything to do with two lovers, he cannot control how people interpret the meaning of the song. His use of sound adds to the ambiguity of the lyrics and, although it may not have been his intention, can often differ from what the true meaning of the song is to him. Of course, there is nothing wrong with this. Music is designed to be interpreted and defined differently by everyone and the sound Jenkins used still makes sense for how he pictured the meaning of his song. Overall, though, the upbeat, happy sound used does add meaning beyond what the lyrics are actually saying for both interpretations. For drug use, it represents the seductiveness of meth or for love, it could represent a different kind of seductiveness. Sometimes a song should not be taken too seriously though. Maybe the sound is just there to develop a certain feeling. A happy sing-a-long song sounds a lot more appealing to listeners than a depressing sounding one about drug use. This observation can give some cultural insights.

A google search of “sad songs that sound happy” turns up hundreds of valuable results. However, a search of “happy songs that sound sad” turns up almost nothing. Why is this? The answer lies in our cultural values, but also shows the power of sound. “Semi-charmed Life” for example has a dark meaning but a sound that seems contradictory to the lyrics. The interesting aspect, however, is people generally would not recognize this song as having a sad meaning, as opposed to Jenkins who actually wrote the song and sees the dark meaning behind the lyrics. Like other art, music can be interpreted differently by everyone because there is no set way that a song will make a listener feel. So is a “sad” song that sounds happy really a sad song? It is up to the listener to determine this using the sound and further complicates trying to find an answer to the question. After trying to dig deeper into the question of why there are sad songs that sound happy, but not many happy songs that sound sad, I was left with no answers. Although music is art, it is also a business. It is possible some artists feel like an upbeat song would sell better even if they gave the lyrics a dark meaning. With music being art, it is also possible that this is simply a mode of creativity and experimentation with sound to give meaning. The second explanation, though, does not explain why there are not many songs with more uplifting lyrics that sound sad. There is no good answer to this question because artists have free will to write music however they want. Each individual can have different reasons for making their music sound the way it does. The main importance of looking into the ambiguity of the meaning between the lyrics and the sound is to show that sound has a powerful effect on the meaning.

Cover songs give a different but just as important view on the effect of sound on the meaning of a song. There are a variety of ways this can happen. The instrumentals, tune, or tone of the song can change. Often these changes occur without a change in lyrics which highlights how the sound itself can alter the meaning. The cover of “September” by Taylor Swift exemplifies this idea well. While Earth, Wind, and Fire’s version is the epitome of funk, Swift’s version has a country feel to it. The only instrumental part is a banjo and her voice is soft and relaxing. The sound she uses places more emphasis on the lyrics because the instrumental portion is less aggressive. The change in sound she uses changes the meaning. It adjusts the tone with the softer sound by making it more melancholy and nostalgic than Earth, Wind, and Fire’s version. Earth, Wind, and Fire’s upbeat tempo and dance beat made it seem like more of a celebration, while Swift’s style made it seem like she was longing to go back to the time she was singing about. Her cover did come with criticism, though. According to Elyse Wanshel of Huffpost, people were angry because of “the mere concept of Swift turning a funk, R&B, soul and disco classic into a country ballad” (Wanshel). Since she used the same lyrics, this means that people were angry about her change in sound or genre. Genre is a way to categorize songs based on sound and from the reaction to Swift’s cover, genre has meaning. People felt a different way after listening to the cover in comparison to the original. Overall, the change in sound of Swift’s cover shows how sound can augment the meaning of a song and the resulting reaction also showed that genre, being sorted by sound, inherently affects the meaning of a song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPz21cDK7dg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt1Pwfnh5pc

Another interesting example of a cover song that changes meaning is “Hurt” originally written by Nine Inch Nails, but covered by Johnny Cash. Josh Reznor, the lead singer for Nine Inch Nails said, “It instantly became his song … I haven’t listened to my version since then,” about the cover (Armstrong). The lyrics of the song did not change, so what was different about Cash’s cover that changed the song? Cash uses some similar strategies to Swift in giving it his own twist. The original version by Nine Inch Nails has instrumentals performed by a variety of guitars, drums, and other electronically generated sounds. Cash’s version, though, is solely his voice and an acoustic guitar. This changes the meaning by giving the cover a more lonely feeling than the original because it can paint a picture of Cash sitting there by himself playing the guitar and singing the song. Already, the words have not changed but the meaning has. Digging deeper into the sound of the cover reveals another interesting idea. Cash’s voice sounds different than Josh Reznor’s, the lead singer for Nine Inch Nails. Reznor’s is stronger, louder, and the sound even comes off as healthier. On the other hand, Cash’s voice in his cover is raspy and weak. This makes sense because he was close to the end of his life at this time, but it adds so much meaning to his cover. While Reznor is singing about what he regrets doing in life, he knows he still has time to change it. The youthfulness and strength in his voice shows this. His version of “Hurt” is about finding an alternate meaning or way to live life. The same can’t be said about Cash, however. Throughout his career and life, he had many issues he regretted as he grew older. The weakness and raspiness of his voice relates to his age and unlike Reznor, shows he no longer has time to change his lifestyle or fix his regrets. The effects of sound in Cash’s cover are what made Reznor feel like it was no longer his song. This shows the power of sound in music. It made the cover more moving and meaningful than the original.Taking the sound of his voice into account when searching for meaning and differences between the cover and the original reveals how two voices, singing the exact same lyrics, can have two different meanings. This proves that sound can extend or augment the meaning of a song beyond the lyrics.

Songs like “Semi-charmed Life” or Johnny Cash’s cover of “Hurt” are full of information on the impact sound has on the meaning of a song beyond the lyrics. Their use of sound shows how important the sound of music is for artists and must be taken into account the same, if not more than, the lyrics. Studying this topic can be interesting because they can show a lot about why certain songs are more successful or more popular and help up and coming artists tune their sound in a way that is personal or best suited to create fans. I know from my personal experience that music can have a huge impact on people’s lives and simply the sound of a song can have an amazing effect on an individual emotionally. While lyrics usually have a more concrete meaning, the meaning created by sound is dynamic and can change or vary depending on the listener and their situation. This is a special characteristic and it should be given more acknowledgement in the music world.

Citations

Armstrong, Edward, and Paul Greider. “The Presentation of Identity in the Work Songs of Johnny Cash.” Popular Music and Society, vol. 36, no. 2, 12 July 2012, pp. 216-33. Taylor & Francis Online. Accessed 24 Mar. 2019.

“Build Me Up Buttercup.” YouTube, 1 Sept. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvluBVhfGcw. Accessed 24 Mar. 2019.

“Earth, Wind & Fire – September (Official Music Video).” YouTube, 11 Jan. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs069dndIYk. Accessed 24 Mar. 2019.

“Johnny Cash – Hurt (Official Video) HD.” YouTube, 5 Apr. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt1Pwfnh5pc. Accessed 24 Mar. 2019.

“Nine Inch Nails – Hurt.” YouTube, 12 Sept. 2009, www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPz21cDK7dg. Accessed 24 Mar. 2019.

“Taylor Swift – September Cover (Earth, Wind & Fire).” YouTube, 14 Apr. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnDnphYTb0Q. Accessed 24 Mar. 2019.

“Third Eye Blind Sees Promise in Elektra.” Billboard Magazine, 15 Mar. 1997, pp. 22-24 Accessed 24 Mar. 2019.

“Third Eye Blind – Semi-Charmed Life (Official Music Video).” YouTube, 23 Feb. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=beINamVRGy4.

Wanshel, Elyse. “Taylor Swift’s Cover Of An Earth, Wind & Fire Classic Is Pissing People Off.” Huffpost, 13 Apr. 2018.

West, Sam. “This Was Supposed to Be an Article Called ‘Songs You Didn’t Know Were About Weed.'” Noisey, Vice, 9 Feb. 2017. Accessed 24 Mar. 2019.

“That’s what I’m about, making everybody have a good time: let your hair down, have fun, let’s party, shake your ass, do whatever you do. It doesn’t matter how you look, your creed, your color, let’s do it.” – Big Freedia

Stereotyping can be based on background, class, race, or gender. In The Conversation Article “Voice Control,” Trevor Cox, a professor of Acoustic Engineering, describes how machine learning echoes today’s culture and human stereotypes. When translating the Turkish phrases “o bir doktor” and “o bir hemşire” into English, the Google service returns “he is a doctor” and “she is a nurse.” However, “o” is a gender-neutral, third person pronoun in the Turkish language. The computer is influenced by humans, demonstrating the relevance of formulating stereotyping by using rules of thumb; in this case, assuming gender roles in careers (Cox). Using rules of thumb is particularly influential when it comes to labeling voice with a gender. Stereotyping how a male or a female “should” sound influences gender pronoun labels, ultimately leading to bias and altering the way a person is perceived. Big Freedia, a bounce artist from New Orleans, is regularly categorized by her sexuality based on her voice and music. In a HuffPost Live interview focused on Big Freedia’s dislike of categorization by gender identity, Big Freedia expresses how people are always trying to place others in categories, while she tries to be herself and shed light beyond predispositions made about her (Wong). Today, she uses bounce music as an outlet to express herself. Voice is an important part of her identity that she takes pride in keeping true to herself. The ability for her expression to operate through voice and choreography in music videos, such as “Explode,” is accomplished uniquely. Her music has entered into the limelight through Beyonce and Drake sampling her voice. Sampling voice and placing it in a separate context causes her motives and distinct bounce style to be expressed differently. Her message must operate solely through her voice because she is not physically represented. Big Freedia defines what it means to defy the societal norms and stereotypes of voice, while conversely demonstrates the power of using voice to influence others to be themselves, no matter their background, race, or gender.

Before analyzing Big Freedia’s message operation in her music, it is important to understand who she is, what bounce music is, and why she is so passionate about her work. Her life story, simply stated, is a gay choirboy turned bounce rapper. Her title “Queen of Bounce” stems from how she has popularized the genre. When bounce first evolved two decades ago, Big Freedia led the way to represent the new genre for New Orleans, her hometown. Bounce creates an upbeat twist on hip-hop with notable features including rapid-fire beats and booty-shaking. The lyrics remain simple to leave room for the bass, boom, knock, and for listeners to be able to be free and express themselves through dance. Bounce relies on both voice and physical expression captured visually through Big Freedia’s performances and music videos. Upon watching a music video by Big Freedia, the culture she represents can be better understood and the power of dance in expression is evident. Big Freedia’s album “Just Be Free” dropped in 2014. The theme of this album aligns with her message and encourages listeners to be true to who they are. This freedom is a commodity because not every place in the world fosters an environment to be a free individual and express yourself. There are many outlets and means of expression, but for Big Freedia it is through music and dance. She wants others to be inspired to express themselves through the outlet she has created. Viewers feel compelled to dance from her performances. The impact of Big Freedia’s individual work on listeners allows her to be more well-known on a national scale.

“Explode” is the first single on Big Freedia’s “Just Be Free” album. She coined this her first single because she wanted her audience to know she was “coming out with a bang” (Newman). Big Freedia’s message operates through this song in a unique yet powerful way. The song begins with a serious and focused tone in both her voice and the background music. In a narrative-like manner she explains,

“My music, it makes me feel good about what I do and the culture that I represent.
People get confused on if I am he or she.
I am more than just Big Freedia.
I am more than just Queen Diva. 
I am more than just Freddie Ross.
I am me. 
I am the ambassador, representing for New Orleans and for bounce music” (Big Freedia).

This summarizes why she is a bounce artist. The impact she strives to make for New Orleans represents her, not the titles or labels given to her. The identity of a person is in their actions and ambitions as opposed to their labels. After directly establishing her message, the mood shifts to become upbeat and overwhelming, as listeners experience the heart of bounce. To operate her message through the remainder of “Explode,” Big Freedia shouts phrases such as, “release your anger,” “release your mind,” and “release your wiggle.” Lines are articulated enthusiastically and heightened by the high-energy dancefloor-aimed beat. Similar to her other music videos, the “Explode” music video focuses on a group of people shaking their booty while Big Freedia remains the focal point. Dance is Big Freedia’s release and she strives to enable viewers to partake in dance by utilizing her work. In “Explode,” Big Freedia is able to operate her message clearly utilizing her lyrics and visual representation.

Through sampling, Big Freedia’s voice appears in hit songs “Formation” by Beyonce and “Nice for What” by Drake. Both of these tracks have ranked in the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Big Freedia national exposure. However, in these features her lyrics are narrowed by the respective artist’s preferences and she is not seen in either music video. These powerful forms of operating her message in “Explode” are non-existent when she is sampled. This brings into question if Big Freedia’s message operates when solely the sound of her voice, a part of her identity that is often stereotyped and affects how she is perceived, is present. To answer this question, it is valuable to hear her vocal role in both Beyonce and Drake’s work.

Beyonce’s “Formation” is a Black Power anthem she contributed to Black History Month in 2016. The song’s rich focus on African-American culture allows Big Freedia to be a positive addition given her roots. In the track, Big Freedia appears on the interlude where she adds, “I did not come to play with you hoes, haha. I came to slay, bitch. I like cornbreads and collard greens, bitch. Oh, yes, you besta believe it.” In an interview at the New Orleans Public Library, Big Freedia discusses her experience with receiving the call from Beyonce to be incorporated in the soon-to-be hit song (NOLA.com). Beyonce allotted Big Freedia nine seconds within the track to be sampled and told her to record talking “like she came to slay.” She began recording various adlibs, but her phrase about cornbread and collard greens was a favorite for Beyonce. These foods are popular southern dishes which connects to representing the New Orleans culture. Along with this tie, her confident personality portrays her ability to slay, or impress others. The sound of her voice is not only unique because it is different from Beyonce’s, but also because Beyonce has not previously sampled a bounce artist. This immediately enhances Beyonce’s work and draws attention to Big Freedia; allowing her to establish herself as an artist. Despite the sample not being as direct and upfront about Big Freedia’s goals, listeners are still able to notice her presence, grasp her roots, and gain a sense of who she is based on her fearless presence.

Big Freedia’s feature in Drake’s “Nice for What” varies from “Formation.” Drake’s work speaks about female empowerment, a movement Big Freedia can connect to through her goal of empowering others to express themselves. Big Freedia’s line says, “I wanna know who mothafuckin’ representin’ in here tonight. Hold on, hold on” (Drake). When asked about her feature on this track, she said she did not care what she said as long as she was on it. This demonstrates the presence of voice can be more powerful than the word spoken. Even though her vocal presence is brief, her voice resonates with the audience. By having this presence, no matter the scale, she sees herself making strides to progress bounce music’s culture. It is meaningful for an artist like Drake to recognize the talent in bounce music and want to share it through his work. Despite her presence being much different in her samples as opposed to her own singles, Big Freedia still operates her message, just through less direct expression.

Today, it is pressing for queer voices to be given a platform to speak their truth and express themselves; the same goes for showing the faces of these individuals. The platform is necessary for defying stereotypes and portraying their message. As Big Freedia pursues her ambitions, she desires visual representation, which enhances the message already operating through her voice. In an article from The Fader, Big Freedia discusses her exclusion from Drake’s “Nice for What” music video. She remarks that she wants proper recognition and proper credit, which can come from features in music videos. It is not fair for her inclusion, a key contributor in making these songs hits, to be backhanded with exclusion from the video. On both Drake and Beyonce’s tours to New Orleans, they bring Big Freedia on stage to perform together. Big Freedia comes in direct contact with her audience in this setting generating further exposure to empower viewers and represent New Orleans. This is a positive but can be more influential on a national-scale if she is exposed to a broader range population. Big Freedia’s work inspires others to know who they are and release it. Her story reveals the passion that defines who she is. It is her passion and ability to operate her message through music which defines who she is as an individual, not stereotypes or labels. Human stereotypes on gender pronouns, as seen by their influence on machine learning, should not be the basis of characterizing a person. Today, it is important to see who someone is by what they care about and the impact they want to make, not by assumptions that are made about them. Everyone should pursue the mark they want to make and express who they are because it has the capacity to characterize their identity. For Big Freedia, this is using her voice to represent New Orleans, while making stereotypes null.

Works Cited:

Beyoncé. “Beyoncé – Formation.” YouTube, 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDZJPJV__bQ. Accessed 22 March 2019.

Big Freedia. “Big Freedia “Explode” (Official Video).” YouTube, 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa5IV_3fVfk. Accessed 22 March 2019.

Cox, Trevor. “Voice control: Why AI Must Resist Our Bad Habit of Stereotyping Human Speech.” The Conversation, The Conversation US, Inc, 2018, theconversation.com/voice-control-why-ai-must-resist-our-bad-habit-of-stereotyping-human-speech-96310. Accessed 22 March 2019.

Drake. “Drake – Nice for What.” YouTube, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9BwWKXjVaI. Accessed 22 March 2019.

Gore, Sydney. “It’s Time to Put Some Respect on Big Freedia’s Name.” HIGHSNOBIETY, Titel Media GMBH, 2018, www.highsnobiety.com/p/big-freedia-bounce-music-legacy/. Accessed 22 March 2019.

Newman, Jason. “Queen of Bounce Big Freedia ‘Explodes’ on New Song – Premiere.” RollingStone, Rolling Stone LLC, 2014, www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/queen-of-bounce-big-freedia-explodes-on-new-song-premiere-101382/. Accessed 22 March 2019.

NOLA.com, “Big Freedia: Getting the ‘Formation’ call from Beyonce.” Youtube, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYHAuc3nhDU. Accessed 22 March 2019.

Wong, Curtis. “Why Big Freedia Doesn’t Want You To Put Her In A Category When It Comes To Gender Identity.” HuffPost, Verizon Media, 2016, www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/30/big-freedia-gender-identity-_n_5544730.html. Accessed 22 March 2019.

All fifth graders in my school district have taken field trips to the Carroll School for over a decade now. We would see the preserved school building, learn about the lives of sharecroppers during the Great Depression, eat school lunches like they did, and then pick cotton and sing songs in the field. Only this year has someone made complaints about the field trip to the media, dragging it hazily from the archives of my now college-aged friends and my memories. I’ve had conversations about it with many of my former classmates, and for most of us, the initial dominant emotions are hurt and confusion. People are horrified that in my fifty percent African American town, ten- and eleven-year-olds were picking cotton and singing slave songs—and to us it was a fun game. Anyone who says this is wrong has a strong case. However, I believe that the situation is more complicated than it’s being made out to be, and the moral verdict here could be inconclusive. In the second chapter of his autobiography, Frederick Douglass talks about how northerners believed that because the southern slaves sang, they were happy. He says that any slave would know that was not the case. To those in the group, the truth was completely different than what it appeared to be on the outside. It’s easy to apply the phenomenon he describes to the polarizing picture painted by the media. The logical conclusion that comes from reading the Fox News or Atlanta Black Star articles is that the Rock Hill school District (RHSD) is comprised of evil racists who took pleasure in encouraging fifth graders to act like slaves. The actuality is more nuanced and while anger shouldn’t be ruled out, it should be informed. In this essay I intend to apply Douglass’s logic to my experience and temper the fury that comes from the one-sided media portrayal of the field trip.

When mother of one of the children, Jessica Blanchard’s, complaint broke, people reacted furiously to the Carroll School field trip. After getting over the initial shock of it, I was angry myself. None of us former students understood how we could’ve been so utterly misled and taken advantage of. That should have been our first hint that something was amiss, but it was difficult to see past the outrage being spread by most news articles. One example of such a news article is by the Atlanta Black Star and bears the headline: “‘I Like It When You Fill the Sack’: S.C. Elementary School Students Pick Cotton, Sing ‘Slave’ Songs as Part of Class Field Trip”. As if the title isn’t strongly worded enough, the first sentence is immediately biased.

“A South Carolina mother believes a school history lesson went a step too far after her 10-year-old son and his classmates were made to pick cotton and sing “slave songs” during a class field trip during Black History Month.”

Every part of this sentence enforces the narrative that the children were evilly taken advantage of. The use of the word “made” implies either that (1) the children didn’t want to pick cotton and sing, something easily disproven by the excited yells of the children featured in the five-minute video on the field trip, or that (2) they were completely ignorant to what they were doing—meaning they were taken advantage of. There is truth to that if these malleable children were faced with the same instructions to pick cotton today, many of them would say no. That doesn’t change that these news companies are sensationalizing the story to heighten audience reactions. They mention that the trip was during Black History Month to further stoke the flames of outrage they mean to incite. To someone who knows the field trip’s true goal, which is to pass on the oral history of these rural southern African American families, this would be poignant instead of a cause for anger. Newspapers feed off these “outrage politics”. It’s a phenomenon often demonstrated on the social media platform Twitter. Users often get angry just because other people are inciting witch hunts for reasons that may not be deserving. In fact, I first witnessed the half-narrative of this field trip on the website and fell for it myself. The truth is that the Carroll School is meant to preserve the oral history of the early 20^th century African American community near my hometown. The many people calling for it to be shut down are actually working against what they should want—an opportunity for the stories of these folk to be preserved and heard.

The news articles sensationalizing the trips to the Carroll School focus only on the cotton-picking and slave song singing, whileignoring the complete picture. They usually neglect to mention what the school actually was and what the purpose of the trip was. They frame the school district’s response that the trip was about the Great Depression as a cop out for the readers to scoff at rather than the literal truth. None of the articles mention that the people who worked at the school were sharecroppers and that the school is preserved by the former students. Instead they use the phrase “slave song” and let their readers draw their own conclusions. Obviously, this leaves readers furious, wondering how the school district could traumatize and belittle their students in such a callous way. Further research reveals that things aren’t that terrible. Built in 1929, the Carroll School was part of Booker T. Washington’s Rosenwald Initiative to educate African Americans in the rural South (The Olde English District). The students who attended the school were the African American children of sharecroppers. Unsurprisingly these families continued to be extorted by unfair contracts and dirty business tactics. This is what they taught us on the field trip. They said that the end of slavery didn’t mean the end of oppression of black people. They didn’t glamorize slavery; slavery wasn’t even the heart of the conversation. They had us pick cotton to give us a glimpse into the lives of the Carroll School students. They couldn’t just force us to work so it was made into a game and we sang songs. No matter where you finally land in regard to the issue, anyone would have to admit that the trip has been made out to be something worse than it actually was. The way newspapers have portrayed it as an act of overt racism is misleading and unfair to the public.

The video about the Carroll School made by Rock Hill school district is heartwarming and tells of the true life of the students that attended the school from 1929-1954. It’s relatable to the fifth graders because many of the students at the school were even younger than them. Right from the beginning (at 0:28) the video shows one of the men who preserves the school leading a fifth-grade class through the slave song I remember singing myself when I was ten. They seem giddy and you can hear as they enthusiastically sing along and try to copy his accent. It’s worth noting that this “slave song” is one he wrote himself, as claimed in a statement by RHSD responding to the backlash towards the Carroll School. The video is interspersed with facts about the school, interviews of the now elderly students, and videos of the fifth-graders on the trip. The singing and cotton-picking don’t look so dark from this angle. You could even call it wholesome when seeing the kids cheer and treat the experience like a game. The preservation, interviews, and field trip all feature kind-looking black grandparents. In the video, they speak honestly about how hard life was for them. They’re telling an oral history of their past. That’s better than learning from a textbook, and it’s more authentic to the subject matter. The school itself serves as a vehicle for oral and physical history of a long-marginalized group. The video serves as a testament to the school’s mission and supports everything the school district restated a year later when faced with accusations of racism.

In the second chapter of his autobiography, Frederick Douglass identifies a common issue among listeners by retelling the confusion he felt upon hearing Northerners interpretation of slave songs. He says, “I have often been utterly astonished, since I came to the north, to find persons who could speak of the singing, among slaves, as evidence of their contentment and happiness.” He goes on to vehemently deny this saying “Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears.” Singing only made things temporarily more bearable. It is obvious that people don’t have to be miserable all the time to be considered generally unwell. However, the Northerners missed this because they needed to be in the group to see the full picture and react appropriately. Knowing only half the story will lead to people drawing the wrong conclusions. This is especially true to things overheard. Our field trip seems deplorable if all you hear is that the kids picked cotton and sang slave songs. If you’re in the group that participated in it, you realize that it’s part of the learning activity and is respectful to the teacher’s history. It’s part of the continuation of the oral history of southern African Americans. The whole event celebrates a school that helped to lift disadvantaged, rural, southern black families out of poverty. The trip truly was about the Great Depression. Northern South Carolinians lived off the area’s textile industry and picking cotton was a symptom of that. Just like the way African American farmers were taken advantage of is a symptom of racism and slavery. People in the group know the truth more than outsiders. That’s why northerners that may care about this issue need to take a moment to try to understand the lived experiences of the southerners. Critics of the trip need to try to see the point of view held by the people who were actually on the trip. And lastly, people who went on the trip need to think deeply about the actual lives of the people who attended the Carroll School and how/if that legacy should be celebrated. People who were on the trip know the field trip is not as bad as it seems and could even truthfully be called respectful for the way it gives these families the power to share their story on their own terms, regardless of whether or not you believe the Carroll School was actually the most beneficial it could be to its students.

The side of the story I’ve shared suggests that people shouldn’t be so outraged. So why are they? In one part it is due to the narrative of half-truths pushed by media, but there must be more. However, as a white woman, I haven’t been affected by years of oppression in the same way as my black classmates have. The school’s creation by Booker T. Washington in 1929 crystallized the larger issues surrounding the path which African American social and economic advancement was to take. Washington was willing to sacrifice economic equality for social and economic independence. He wanted African Americans to work blue collar jobs and believed they would slowly gain the respect of white folk by pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. W. E. B. Du Bois, the first African American to earn a PhD from Harvard, disagreed. Du Bois believed that the key to advancement lay in education which would lead to economic advancement and political enfranchisement. The Carroll School taught trade skills to young black men and women, which allowed them to make a living in the areas where they were raised without obtaining higher education. Du Bois would argue that it benefitted industry at the expense of complete education. So, while the school is an important part of oral history and was better than nothing for the African American families in York County, people who favor Du Bois’s logic see it as a continuation of the systematic disfranchisement of African Americans. For this reason, they could place the value of moving away from such structures over the value of the oral history associated with it. Furthermore, the action of cotton-picking is a huge reminder to anyone not modernly associated with the cotton industry of the terrible things that happened to black people in the U.S. for decades during and after slavery. This would be especially true of black people. People must be in-group to be able to see the truth about certain issues. Despite growing up in a largely African American school district, I have white privilege that allows me to live differently and often more easily than my black classmates. I can’t sit here and firmly put down the anger of Jessica Blanchard, who is part of a group I am not and therefore sees and hears things differently than I do. In the interviews Blanchard has done, she seems truly devastated that her child participated in the field trip. If she were to explain, in the scope of the Carroll School being a way to pass on oral traditions, why the exercises done there were wrong, I would absolutely want to hear that. Because I was a student on the field trip, I can speak to my perspective, but I can’t speak to the perspective of a black student. Luckily, there are hundreds of black students who have been on the trip and wouldn’t be too difficult to contact if people truly want to know their experiences. With that being said, outrage is definitely permissible in this circumstance, but it should be informed. What is being circulated by the media right now is not informed and is, in fact, deliberately misleading.

The Carroll School won’t be shut down, and fifth-graders will continue to take field trips to it. However, there will be changes. RHSD has issued a statement saying, “In light of recent concerns regarding parts of the Carroll School field experience, Rock Hill Schools has made some changes to the program that will go into effect immediately. Students will no longer participate in picking cotton as part of the experience. Additionally, the song that was written and sung by an instructor based on his life experiences as an African American during the Great Depression era will no longer be performed.” Whether or not these changes are for the better or worse is up to individual interpretation, though I confess the image of these former Carroll School students being chastised for sharing the events that happened to their ancestors by people outraged about what happened to their ancestors makes me a little sad. However, I’m not part of every group that should get a say here, and my opinion shouldn’t be placed over the opinions of people more deeply affected. And as in Douglass’s story, I could be misinterpreting the events that I heard, even though I was participating in them during that one instance. We likely won’t ever reach a satisfying conclusion on the morality of the field trip I went on. Still, the doesn’t mean the conversation is pointless. In fact, the discomfort it raises indicates just how important it is. When we have these nuanced, cloudy discussions, we come closer to seeing each other’s point of view, which only brings us closer together.

Citations:

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Clydesdale Press, 2018.

Grant, Matthew. “Rock Hill Schools Announce Changes to Controversial Field Trip.” WJZY, FOX 46, 4 Mar. 2019, www.fox46charlotte.com/news/local-news/rock-hill-schools-announce-changes-to-controversial-field-trip.

Kenney, Tanasia. “’I Like It When You Fill the Sack’: S.C. Elementary School Students Pick Cotton, Sing ‘Slave’ Songs as Part of Class Field Trip.” Atlanta Black Star, Atlanta Black Star, 22 Feb. 2019.

MsFluzo. Wade in the Water, YouTube, 19 July 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg_8L96E3eU.

Report, Palmetto. Rock Hill’s Carroll School Added to National Register of Historic Places, YouTube, 4 Dec. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xTZx3prqJI.

Rock Hill Schools. YouTube, Rock Hill School District, 18 Apr. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZBCPPDpCKg.

 “The Carroll (Rosenwald) School.” www.OldeEnglishDistrict.com, The Olde English District.