I have highlighted the text to correspond with the references that are highlighted in the same color.
Lyrics
[Hook]
“Niggas fighting over rings
Niggas wanna be the King, but
Long Live the Chief
For a li' ol' thang lil' boys bang bang
Long Live the Chief
Niggas fighting over rings
Niggas wanna be the king, but
Long Live the Chief
Now watch pretty mama while I slang my cane
Long Live the Chief
Uh”
[Verse]
“Cockroaches and the rat shit
Hand me downs with the patches
Mama put a little money in the mattress
Taught me how to make a silver spoon out of plastic
You can either sink, swim or be the captain
Get the last word Ima get the last laugh in
Now they say "Jidenna why you dressing so classic?"
I don’t want my best dressed day in a casket
You can either lead, follow or get out the way
Make a fuckin' move it would make my fuckin' day
Got a 100 year plan you jus' think about today
Always been about time more than been about pay
Can't rump with me
Usain couldn’t run with me
Chief come to find you
You don’t come for me
At best you can run a lil' company
Nigga at worst, I could run the whole country*
Thats right - pimp game like a brothel
Thats why - I don’t judge a niggas hustle
I AirBnB the crib like a hostel
Summer rate cheaper because the streets get hostile
Shaka boy, this fire from Mojave boy
So no I won’t record for your homie boy
I turn the party out like a naughty toy
Then I go and hide in plain sight like a lobby boy
Yessuh, that's Jidenna on the banner
Ridin' for my niggas gettin' locked up in the slammer
Elders saying everything's a nail to a hammer
And niggas can’t spell but we know our Instagrammar
Well done's better than well said
I read niggas well, a nigga well read
Really I ain't met nobody smarter
Thats why I got admitted but I still rejected Harvard
I’m the fresh prince, in a school where they couldn’t read
Mama put me in a school with the Kennedys
When I met Bill Clinton I was seventeen
But dead presidents is all my niggas need
Dining with the governor's daughter
And her father say I remind him of Obama*
I’m the chief diplomat...every day
And I’m black and white...Janelle Monae”
[Hook]
“Niggas fighting over rings
Niggas wanna be the King, but
Long Live the Chief
For a li' ol' thang lil' boys bang bang
Long Live the Chief
Niggas fighting over rings
Niggas wanna be the king, but
Long Live the Chief
Now watch pretty mama while I slang my cane
Long Live the Chief”
Here is a link to the full song, the Vevo Live recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk67TqxQzGo
Musical aspects:
In the intro (0:00-0:11) uses electronic
percussion in a heartbeat like dotted quarter and 8th rhythm in alternation
on an indistinct pitches roughly a Eb4. Then at the words “be King” those
pitches begin to move roughly outlining a tri-tone going from Eb up to A
natural up to Eb spanning a full octave until 0:32. After “uh” a more drum like
electronic sound joins the tri-tone. At 0:51 the voice stands alone saying
“best dressed day in a casket.” 0:54 the electronic accompaniment returns with
the drum like line. The voice solos again at 1:14 “nigger at worse I could run
the whole country.” 1:17 the accompaniment comes back but the tri-tone movement
was moved to a lower register and is a quieter dynamic. 1:38 voice solos again
with the line “Then I go and hide in plain sight like a lobby boy” 1:40 the
accompaniment returns exactly the same as at 0:32-1:14 2:00 accompaniment fades
out 2:22 voice solo then hook returns exactly the same as the beginning to end this song.
The main focus of this work is definitely the lyrics. Nothing crazy different happens, a few slight changes in rhythm and texture but every time the electronics cut out to leave the voice to stand alone it really highlights those phrases. The use of the tritone is very significant, the tritone in early music was avoided literally like the plague because some people believed the tritone could curse them, possibly give them the plague but now the tritone is used a lot more frequently as a means of text painting and adding color and added dissonance to music, this parallels how black people were viewed in the U.S. as slaves, then as a minority to keep separated from those with lighter skin, then as just another human being no longer separated by race but there are still issues, friction or you might say dissonance created by the difference in skin tone. However, the tritone is an octave split equally in half it plays the note that is exactly in the middle of the octave. You could think about how this applies to the principals of equality and compromise, each side must give something up to balance out the equation, to create a fair and exactly equal treatment. Privilege must be sacrificed for discrimination to be removed to achieve true harmony but as musicians know harmony is not exactly equal in its fundamental major and minor chords, those are not major thirds stacked on major thirds or minor on minor but rather major with minor and minor with major, which create western music's harmony. Not everything has to be the exact same to be equal, we don't all have to be black, white, female, male, gay or straight but equal treatment is key and that is what the tri-tone represents to me in this song, asking boldly for equal treatment despite the power struggles that continue to happen around the world.
The main focus of this work is definitely the lyrics. Nothing crazy different happens, a few slight changes in rhythm and texture but every time the electronics cut out to leave the voice to stand alone it really highlights those phrases. The use of the tritone is very significant, the tritone in early music was avoided literally like the plague because some people believed the tritone could curse them, possibly give them the plague but now the tritone is used a lot more frequently as a means of text painting and adding color and added dissonance to music, this parallels how black people were viewed in the U.S. as slaves, then as a minority to keep separated from those with lighter skin, then as just another human being no longer separated by race but there are still issues, friction or you might say dissonance created by the difference in skin tone. However, the tritone is an octave split equally in half it plays the note that is exactly in the middle of the octave. You could think about how this applies to the principals of equality and compromise, each side must give something up to balance out the equation, to create a fair and exactly equal treatment. Privilege must be sacrificed for discrimination to be removed to achieve true harmony but as musicians know harmony is not exactly equal in its fundamental major and minor chords, those are not major thirds stacked on major thirds or minor on minor but rather major with minor and minor with major, which create western music's harmony. Not everything has to be the exact same to be equal, we don't all have to be black, white, female, male, gay or straight but equal treatment is key and that is what the tri-tone represents to me in this song, asking boldly for equal treatment despite the power struggles that continue to happen around the world.
Lyric references and significant diction choices:
Pink/Hook
History.com staff member, “The Rawanda Genocide,” http://www.history.com/topics/rwandan-genocide, 2009, web. Dec.4, 2015Even though this was written 6 years ago it still serves as evidence that these kinds of problems have being going on for a long time but are not just a thing of the past, these are struggles for power and acts of hate that have happened only about a decade ago, and for some events not even ten years have passed since they took place. These Genocides and the political unrest in many African countries bring many African people to America in this age, which is very different from when they were forced against their will to come to America but they still have to face a different challenge once they reach the states, racial discrimination. This rap very cleverly highlights the plight of many African American people, who have to choose everyday which they would rather have to deal with in daily life, as they strive to make a better future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs6Kt0lJY14 The history of Nigeria is very complex and is imperative to understand, along with the history of many other African countries, in order to why many people are coming to America from those countries.
History Documentary, “Nigeria’s Hidden Conflict,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKv7G9Ye29Q Dec. 13, 2013, web accessed Dec. 4th 2015
These last two sources are videos that show the history of Nigeria and conflicts that they have faced in recent history. Under the name of religion there has been a lot of conflict and many people have been killed as a result, especially those of a Christian based faith. These are problems that play a large role in the history of black people and what ultimately uprooted them or their ancestors and brought them to America. This is what remains a problem, radical groups within a religion not accepting that other religions should coexists with their own.The next source also explains this but these topics are addressed in the chorus of this long verse rap.
Rev. Majed El Shafie, is a reverend that is an advocate for aiding Christians in African that are being persecuted by Muslim extremists.
“The Beginning of a Genocide in Northern Nigeria? Urgent Action Needed to Stop the Massacre of Christians” http://www.onefreeworldinternational.org/the-beginning-of-a-genocide-in-northern-nigeria-urgent-action-needed-to-stop-the-massacre-of-christians-2/
https://fearandfancy.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/in-memory-of-chief-oliver-udemmadu-ogbonnia-mobisson-1943-2010/
Jidenna’s father was a chief in Nigeria who passed away 5 years ago. The text also nods to his father and his leadership and his heritage and ultimately who Jidenna is.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igbo_people This is a description of the tribe that Jidenna’s father was the leader of. This group is often called Ibo instead because the “gb” is difficult for some to pronounce, this could be why Jidenna chose to say Kamb instead of king, highlighting the common mispronunciation of his tribe’s name. He also says rang as well which could be a choice he made to make the slant rhymes sound closer to a sight rhyme.
Yellow
Talking about his childhood moving to Boston dealing with slum living conditions, getting hand me downs, his mother trying to save moneybuying cheap plastic ware and putting money aside. http://places.findthehome.com/l/42798/Boston-MAhttp://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Slums.aspxHe goes on to talk about how he was able to get an education and have many diplomatic opportunities. *He also talks about many U.S. Presidents, the Commander in Chief, an interesting parallel with the title and the subject of the hook, what is happening in various places in Africa and the parallels of the power struggle here in the U.S.A, especially in regards to police brutality and black rights.
Green
This part reminds me of the poem “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley.http://fisherslasercarvers.com/invictus-custom-plaque.shtml
You can either sink [and be depressed about your situation], swim [just barely get by] or be a leader the captain of your soul (maybe this means as a chief alluding to the title of the song).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usain_Bolt
Blue
Jidenna also references an Olympic runner Usain Bolt, saying he can’t keep up with him in terms of intelligence and politically. Jidenna points out the problem of criminal injustice, racial profiling, and the problem of frequent shootings by stating that he rents out his house on AirBnB a site created to make finding cheap housing easily but the rates are cheaper in the summer because of the frequent shootings that take place where he lives. (This is a link to his AirBnB post: https://www.airbnb.com/users/show/18818258)http://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2015/12/3/fatal-east-flatbush-shooting.html Here is an article about a recent shooting that occurred in that area.
This is that part of the rap that particularly highlights what the Black Lives Matter movement is all about, and why it is important. It’s important because there are still big problems that black Americans have to face everyday whole living in the states, and being the son of a chief doesn’t let you escape that. Jidenna faced the same discrimination but he is trying to voice his concerns through this rap. There is a lot of problems that are created out of racial bias in America and we do need to find solutions
Red
Shaka Boyz is an automobile dealership, Shaka is also a Hawaiian hand sign that is also called “hang loose” or the letter y in American sign language but most importantly Shaka is also one of the Zulu chiefs that was in charge during the Zulu rise in power.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaka
Mojave is a desert in southwestern area of the U. S. is spans across multiple states and there is a replica of Afghanistan there that is used for military training.
More resources:
Link to an interviews with Jidenna:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdGSB3UdPmc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHaLl95JNYA
Great analysis. I heard this song first in the Luke Cage show and could not get it out of my head.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great song and a search of who the artist was sent me to this page. I dont feel the song is about race as much of the author of this article but more on Self Government and self betterment. http://thefederalist.com/2015/05/22/jidennas-long-live-the-chief-as-call-to-self-government/ another good analyst of the song.
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