A Rhetorical Rap

Link to Jay-Z: The Best

JAY-Z: THE BEST

Out here representing my boy Jay-Z

He’s here for you; I know he’s here for me

Let’s make it happen

Strolling down the street to the Pepsi Center last week

Seeing New York’s finest, the mountain peak.

Coming to the 303 to put on a show,

You know HOV comes with his views fo sho.

HOV, H to the O-V

All there to see that boy Jay-Z.

Or should I say Carter, Shawn Carter,

That’s his name you see.

The kid raised in Brooklyn with nothing but his mind,

Eventually growing up to be one of a kind.

Yea yea, yeah I see you.

Rocawear, Roc-A-Fella, Platinum Albums galore

Jay-Z runs the game, he’s the best and more.

Already at a half bill, the greatest artist ever,

He knows what it’s about, question him? Never.

Entrepreneur, rapper and the greatest MC

Jay-Z know it all, even political policy

Supporting Obama since campaigning day one

Like Yoda would say, doubt in him, he have none.

My President Is Black, like Jay-Z would say

On Obama’s side forever Jay will stay.

First black president in our nation’s history

Believes he’s the right man for the entire country

HOV thinks the Pres’s policies are great

His plan of action will surely save us from our fate

Jay thinks that you should love Obama too

So at his concert he expressed his political view

In the middle of the show, Jay stopped and stared

Doing things that some artists would never dare

Showing on the big screen a clip of Barack

Brushing off his shoulders like he was Young Joc

The crowd whooped and cheered, showing love to the man

Obama may have just won a few more fans

It was smart showing a vid of the Pres being gangsta

Jay ain’t a dud, you know he ain’t a wanksta

Next HOV reached out to the crowd

Making every person present feel proud

Shining the big light on each and every section

Describing people with the utmost affection

Jay loves the game, but loves his fans more

He’s a great man, straight down to his core

A leader in culture, a leader in the press

There’s no doubt about it, Jay-Z is the best

Analysis

The first night back for the 2010 Spring Quarter a large group of friends and I attended a concert at the Pepsi Center in downtown Denver. The main event of the concert was the famous rap artist Shawn Carter, more commonly known as Jay-Z. Although I was not quite concentrating on rhetorically analyzing the concert while in attendance, I can still vividly remember numerous specific details pertaining to the exigence, purpose of the show.

The exigence was Jay-Z expressing his political views, mostly involving President Barack Obama. Shawn tried to increase Obama’s volume of supporters by showing his support during the concert. Throughout the concert, Jay-Z frequently referenced to Obama and his policies. To show even more support, Shawn expressed his views by singing his famous hit “My President is Black Remix.” The lyrics of the song clearly translate to the happiness Jay-Z felt when President Obama was elected. Shawn even showed a clip off the President “brushing off his shoulders,” in reference to a popular song Jay-Z performs. By showing these clips and singing these specific songs, a bridge is created between Obama and the audience. Once this bridge has been established, a bond of trust exists between Obama and the audience. I think Jay-Z’s techniques were extremely successful, simply by observing the raucous reactions of the crowd.

The audience of the performance, completely based off of observations, was a crowd of about 16-30. The majority of the general population was non-Caucasian, although many Caucasians were present. The range of age goes higher because Jay-Z has been present in the rap game for approximately 20 years. Henceforth, the range of his audience is quite wide. Although I only witnessed the concert at the Denver Pepsi Center, Jay-Z went on tour all across the United States. The tour consisted of over a dozen stops, ranging from Los Angeles, California to Boston, Massachusetts. This does not even include the cities in which the performance was televised. As such a popular artist, Jay-Z’s audience is enormous, giving him a large amount of ethos appeal. With such a massive following, Shawn Carter’s opinions and, in the case political views, are taken to heart by many of his fans. Even though only a fraction of a percentage point of his entire audience has the ability to vote in the Senate or pass Bills, his influence is still important. Whether his words and performances influence those who can vote now, or those that will be able to vote in the next election, Jay-Z surely has an impact on which way votes will sway.

If the lyrics are not clear (as most musical lyrics are symbolic some way), hopefully I can help make better understand of what they specifically signify. The beginning three or so verses set up the scenario of attending the concert, as well as some back history on Shawn Carter. He grew up in poverty, and as the song said “with nothing but his mind.” Shawn is an intelligent individual, which is why he has been able to accomplish everything in his career.

The next verse establishes his “ethos” status. Being an accomplished entrepreneur, as well as a successful artist, has made Jay-Z extremely wealthy. Already amassing over 500 million dollars in worth, it is safe to say that Shawn has excelled through multiple industries.

The next few verses express Shawn’s support of President Obama. Like it says, since day one Jay-Z has been supporting Obama. Whether it is producing songs with his name in it, or making pro-Obama comments at performances and events, Jay has backed the current President fully.

The final verses depict some of the occurrences that took place throughout the concert. Besides making remarks about the President, Jay-Z showed a video of Obama “brushing off his shoulder” prior to performing “Dirt Off Your Shoulder.” The crowd went wild, and was quite pleased with the clip. This was extremely rare, in my opinion, though. I have witnessed many different concerts, and never before have I seen an artist be so politically active throughout the performance. This clip made a connection with Obama and many members of the audience, a very important part of the whole performance. Also, in a point during the show Shawn just completely stopped the performance and had the spot lights shined on each section. When shined on a section he would say something like “Yeah I see you in the blue, you too in the orange. Thanks for coming out I really appreciate it.” This continued for about 15 minutes, each part of the audience getting time with Jay-Z. This, too, I had never seen before. The compassion Shawn showed to the audience was above and beyond anything any artist has offered. The fans of Jay-Z actually LOVE him for the performances he does and the way he conducts himself.

Ultimately, the concert was incomparable to anything my eyes had ever witnessed. Jay-Z has an enormous influence all throughout the United States, whether with culture, music, or political views. What a lucky guy Barack Obama is for having Shawn Carter on his side.