3. A dead metaphor is: A figure of speech that has lost its force of imaginative effectiveness. Through frequent use. It is not a creative metaphor anymore.
"An example of a dead metaphor would be the 'body of an essay' In this example, 'body' was initially an expression that drew on the metaphorical image of human anatomy applied to the subject matter in question. As a dead metaphor, 'body of an essay' literally means the main part of an essay, and no longer suggests anything new that might be suggested by an anatomical referent. In that sense, 'body of an essay' is no longer a metaphor, but merely a literal statement of fact, or a 'dead metaphor.'"
(Michael P. Marks, The Prison as Metaphor. Peter Lang, 2004)
The history of rap has its roots since the day of slavery. It was developed especially in African American urban communities. They used rap music to represent the pain and mistreatment they experienced in their personal life's. Rap is spoken word poetry. Rock and roll played an important role in the birth or rap music. Black people wanted to demonstrate society how important they were as well as white people. They weren't going to let them feel inferior. "Im black and Im proud" became a universal anthem for the black power. Also Rap is used to describe life often in areas like "the ghetto", because rap music also developed in this poverty areas.
"Keep in mind when brothas start flexing the verbal skillz,
it always reflects what's going on politically, socially,
and economical/y." --Musician Davey D
Rap can be interpreted by most people as a form of expression in they daily life's, which includes racism, sexism, violence, drugs and war. However others might belief it's a vulgar form of music, specially not a good influence for kids as most rappers/artists include many swear words in their songs. Millions of people enjoy rap, it depends upon your taste and if you grew up influenced by it. Nevertheless, lyrics might be inappropriate in some cases.
Some of the most recognized Hip-Hop/Rap Artists
Gangsta rap is a different type of rap which is associated with urban street gangs and is characterized by violent and tough talking. One of the most influential bands described as gangsta rappers are the NWA.
Now a days rap is getting more commercial. Which means that artists are just making their songs to get money out of them. Some rap artist such as Nelly and 50 Cent think of rap as just a business now and are doing as many commercial tracks to sell cd’s.
Furthermore, rappers express their personal issues throughout their songs. This can be a way of relieving their stress and problems. They experience hard and difficult situations about life, most people feel identified with their songs because they might be going through the same situation and it gives them hope, which is why they like their music.
Raps Future
The rap industry is growing at a fast rate, political issues are also being addressed in some of the artists songs and in the media. For example recently Lil Wayne has a song over Kanye West’s beat for “Damage is Done” where he briefly discusses the event of Hurricane Katrina.
What is Hip Hop Culture?
"Hip Hop is the constantly evolving spirit and consciousness of urban youth that keeps recreating itself in a never-ending cycle"
Hip hop and rap are very similar, it's difficult to define why are they different. Some of the main differences are musical features, culture and message. Also their musical features are different. For example Rap is a combination off rhyming an poetry to a musical beat, while hip hop music includes rhythm, blues and beat boxing. Some people say that “Rap is something you do, but hip-hop is something you live.” They first developed in New York City in the 1970s.
Most of the best known hip hop musicians are male, however woman started rapping in the 1980s. Salt-N-Pepa, Queen Latifah and MC Lyte were among the first.
MC Lyte
Mc Lyte is an American rapper, she gained fame in the 1980s. She was the first solo female rapper to release an album with 1988's called Lyte as a Rock. Apart of being a rapper, she was also an actress. Her first song was called "I cram to understand you" I think she was trying to show how being in the shoes of someone else feels.
Opinion
I personally think that the music you listen to defines who you are. Rap can be seen and interpreted in many ways and it depends on the type of rap you listen to. For me it might mean some bunch of words that are not even understandable but we can't judge that because for the artist it can be something significant and powerful. If you read carefully the lyrics of many rap songs, they show a deep meaning and they even include many similes and metaphors. It could just be the way they release their anger and fears, their way of projecting their pain and most of the time we won't understand if we haven't gone through the same situations. We shouldn't judge rap because of the stereotype it has been given of drugs, sex, violence and money. Some artists content might have a different point of view which can be positive in some cases. We should learn from the positive aspects rap demonstrates. I don't listen to rap music because I think people have degraded it's meaning, artists from the 1970s and 80s did rap because they felt the need of expressing their feelings and emotions, most of the rappers now just want to sell records to produce money. They are giving music another meaning and they are doing it without the passion.
Island Man by
Grace Nichols lived in Guyana until she was eight years old and then she
immigrated to the UK. Her poem projects how Nichols feels very identified with
“Island Man” as she remembers the sound of the oscillating waves compared to
the roar of the urban traffic in London. The poem is short and it can be
divided into two different sections, one being the Caribbean dream and the
other being the London reality. The poem includes different line lengths used
to create rhythm and rhyme but also to specifically show that the poem sideways
represents tall buildings just like the city. Besides it does not include
punctuation to allow the poem to flow easily.
At the start of
the poem the reader might question if the Man in the island is consciously
awake because he seems dizzy and confused as “island man wakes up/to the sound
of blue surf”. We can interpret this just like if you’d be awakened by your
alarm clock in the morning and you have just been dreaming but you suddenly
wake up in a completely different room which is not yours and you feel confused
because a minute ago you were in a different world and it takes you a moment to
recognize where you are. Also this stanza is an example of sensory image. Nevertheless,
the man then feels he is where he should be, for instance, “the steady breaking
and wombing” the word wombing relates to “womb” which can be associated with
motherhood. This is a positive aspect because the man feels he is at home therefore
feels secure and content like you would feel inside your mothers womb even
though he might have been woken up and found himself disorientated.
Furthermore, in
the second verse it jumps from being in a relaxed place like the womb to the
“wild seabirds” this shows that the man is now clearly awake and he can hear
and see the “fisherman pushing out to the sea”. There is a repetition of the
“s” sound, therefore sibilance in this stanza and the next “the sun surfacing
defiantly”. It is also an example of alliteration because it is giving the sun
human qualities like “surfing”. The word defiantly represents that the man does
not want the sun to rise but it is going to happen anyway, this can be like a
clue to tell the man something is going to change and that the peacefulness of
the island might come to an end. In addition, the use of colours like “blue”
and “emerald” represent how the island is precious and valuable to him and also
it creates imagery of the gradual change in colours you would normally see in
the Caribbean Sea. The final line “he always comes back groggily groggily” shows a gap, this
could have been done in purpose by Nichols to show that he is moving to reality
and if you see the poem side ways it shows one of the tallest buildings which
can represent that he is closer to the city.
On the second
section of the poem, there is now a transition between the island and the city.
The first stanza “ comes back to sands” the words come back link back to
the island because they are repeated to the last stanza. The man feels the need
to go back to the “sands” feel the texture and the warmth he is unable to feel now that he has moved to the city. In contrast to the nice colours “blue and
emerald” in the city Nicholls decides to interpret it as “grey metallic soar”.
This links to the dull weather of England but also the word metallic symbolizes
stiffness and coldness, it gives the impression of industrialisation and
worthless in comparison to the valuable emerald. There are a lot of words in
the second section that are associated with nature to describe the city. This
is a juxtaposition of the city parallel to the island.
It is clear that
the man is not enjoying London and that he feels fatigued by the traffic, for
instance, “dull North Circular roar” is a very busy highway in London and
Nichols might have changed the word “road to roar” on purpose to explicitly
show how travelling through this road feels like. It’s impressive how she is
able to play with the words making the reader vividly imagine them. Another
example is “his crumpled pillow waves” the word pillow shows how at least when
the man goes to bed at night it reminds him of the soothing waves that he left
behind and this is all he possesses in the foggy city of London. This has also got connection to the
“island man heaves himself” because we can interpret he is finding it difficult
to get out of bed and survive “another London day”, this last line has been
left separate to the rest of the poem to represent how the man feels, lonely
and misunderstood but he has got to deal with it as it is his normal reality.
All of the
literary techniques used by Grace Nichols make the poem full of emotion and by
then end the reader can feel what the Island man is feeling. The techniques
enlighten the poem even though it is only a few verses long it manages to
represent what moving away from your own fantasy means. Finally, the poem makes
you reflect what it means to have a major change in where you live and to leave
your roots behind.
