Good Kidd M.A.A.D City - The Hero's Journey by Harman Kooner https://padlet.com/hkooner1_1/gzihu07jvf2uxv67 en-us 2021-04-05 02:21:23 UTC 2025-11-08 08:13:33 UTC hello@padlet.com The Hero's Journey hkooner1_1 https://padlet.com/hkooner1_1/gzihu07jvf2uxv67/wish/1381810120 After reading through Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d city, I have come to the conclusion that this story follows the framework of the hero's journey. I believe this because this story shares many of the primary characteristics of that type of framework, including the departure, initiation, and return. 

Beginning with the departure, Kendrick Lamar is seen being offered a "call to adventure" when he takes a step back and analyzes the way of living of many of the members of his society. He notices that the majority of them are living their lives through violence, robbery, selling drugs, and other illegal ways. Since he is a "good kid" as mentioned in the story's title and in one of the song's titles, he is reluctant and hesitant to accept this call. However, after being peer pressured by his friends, he gives in to the temptation and accepts this "call to adventure." Furthermore, I believe that his friend group can be seen as a sort of "supernatural aid" as they are his companions that will help and guide him through this separate and foreign world. The crossing of the first threshold is clearly evident in the song "The Art of Peer Pressure," as in this song Kendrick Lamar describes his first experience robbing a house. He explains that he is acting completely different because he is "with the homies." This further supports my belief that his friends are a "supernatural aid." Furthermore, this is also his first "conflict"t that he experiences in the new world.

Moving on, this robbery sparks the Initiation phase of the framework. Following this incident, Kendrick finds himself on the road of trials, facing a multitude of conflicts and hardships. To begin this road of trials, Kendrick finds himself being jumped by two individuals at the end of "Poetic Justice." This incident occurred when he went to go see Sherane, his lover. Unfortunately, he was unable to do so because of these two individuals who both interrogated and jumped him. This incident caused Kendrick to lose his path in life, and render him feeling worthless and lost. This is evident on the track "good kid" where he states "with '20s, Xannies, and shrooms', some grown-up candy, I lost it, I feel its nothin' to lose..." This is important as it shows just how difficult Kendrick found this new world to be. Continuing on, Kendrick's struggles continue on the track "m.A.A.d city" where he describes how he got fired from his only job after high school because he fell into the temptations of his friends and staged a robbery. Moving on, Kendrick achieves "Apothesis" on the track "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst." In this track, Kendrick discusses his frustrations of the never-ending cycle of violence that he and his community goes through. In this track, Kendrick is able to take a step back from the events of his life, and deeply analyze what is truly going on. From this analysis, Kendrick finally realizes that this world of drugs and violence is not for him and that he must succeed and return to the other world. Finally, this phase ends with the Boon, which occurs when Kendrick collaborates with one of his idols, Dr. Dre on the track "Compton." This track can be described as the Boon as it marks Kendrick's feeling of success and worth, and feeding into his idea that he had "made it." He had escaped the world of violence, and come out as a successful rapper with a new perspective on life.

Finally, Kendrick's story ends when he "returns" from the other world as a new and changed man. Kendrick finds himself a "master" of the two worlds because he had experienced both of them. He lived the life of robbery and selling drugs, but he also experienced the life of a rapper. Furthermore, he gains the "freedom" to live because he leaves behind his fear of death in the other world. His experiences in the other world, the world of violence, could have easily resulted in him dying. However, after returning to the original world, Kendrick finds himself away and separated from that danger. Finally, Kendrick returns to his original world with a gift to the rest of society. He returns with an important and inspirational message to the youth, warning them of the dangerous and risky life of violence and crime. He hopes to convince the youth that they can turn their lives around just as he did. Thus, concluding Kendrick's hero journey.

]]> 2021-04-05 02:24:19 UTC https://padlet.com/hkooner1_1/gzihu07jvf2uxv67/wish/1381810120 Man Telling A Woman's Story hkooner1_1 https://padlet.com/hkooner1_1/gzihu07jvf2uxv67/wish/1457368516 For this blog post, I decided to read and analyze the set of poems labeled as "Man Telling A Woman's Story." I believed it would be interesting to see and listen to how these male rappers would tell a story from a woman's perspective.

The first poem that I will analyze is called "Brenda's Got A Baby" by rapper Tupac Shakur. In this poem, Tupac tells the depressing and unfortunate story of a young girl named Brenda. She is a young girl who is forced to go through an unwanted pregnancy all alone. Her negligent parents are junkies and drug addicts that do not care about Brenda's wellbeing. The only time that they even bat her an eye is when the welfare check comes in. This is so that they have priority over the cash amount of the check, allowing them to continue their drug addiction. Moving on, her boyfriend leaves her so Brenda is forced to become a single parent. She doesn't even have a safe or usual pregnancy, as she gives birth in her bathroom. Although hesitant at first, Brenda decides to raise her child and not just abandon it. She is then forced into prostitution as that is the only way for her to make money. In this poem, Tupac is attempting to illustrate and bring attention to the young females who grow up in impoverished neighborhoods and resort to prostitution to stay alive. Furthermore, he wishes to expose the constant child molestation that occurs. Tupac utilizes an AA, BB line rhyme scheme to make the poem more interesting and memorable. Furthermore, he uses a depressing tone to go along with the depressing purpose of the poem. Imagery is also used to allow readers to visualize Brenda's surroundings. Finally, he uses figurative language to enrich the poem and make it more interesting to the readers.

The second poem that I will analyze is called "Keisha's Song" by rapper Kendrick Lamar. Similar to Tupac's, Kendrick's poem also covers the unfortunate prostitution of young females as a result of their impoverished childhood. In this poem, Kendrick focuses on the life of Keisha, a seventeen-year-old prostitute. Keisha is described as a popular prostitute with lines of clients desperately wanting to purchase her services. She is willing to perform sexual actions on any individual as long as she is getting paid for it. She even performed sexual actions on a police Seargent because he told her he would allow her to continue being a prostitute if she did. As the poem continues, it is revealed that Keisha was molested at the age of ten. This is a topic that was also discussed in Tupac's poem. Unfortunately, her story ends when she is violently stabbed by a client. Kendrick's primary purpose in writing this poem was to show his little sister the dark and unfortunate lives of prostitutes. He does this in hopes of persuading his sister to never become one. He is able to accomplish this task through the use of various poetic and figurative language elements. First, Kendrick utilizes various rhyme schemes to make his poem more memorable and captivating. Next, he employs vivid imagery to depict the harsh and unfortunate events in Keisha's life. Furthermore, he writes in a dark and depressing tone to better direct his purpose of writing this poem. Finally, he utilizes figurative language, such as metaphors, to enrich the poem's content.

The third and final poem that I will analyze is called "Runaway Love" by rapper Ludacris. Similar to the two other poems, this poem focuses on bringing attention to the depressing lives of young females who grow up impoverished, have negligent parents, and are molested. Unlike the other two, however, this poem consists of three different stories from the perspective of three young females. The first story covers the life of nine year old Lisa who is living with her negligent mom, and ends up getting molested Her mom is always high on drugs and constantly beats Lisa. Furthermore, Lisa has never met her father as he left at a young age. Lisa starts to get molested by the many men that her mother brings over to the house. Since her mother does not believe her and also treats her poorly, Lisa wishes to run away. Moving on, the second story covers the life of Nicole, a ten year old girl. She lives with an abusive and alcoholic father that constantly beats her. These beatings result in multiple bruises which leads to teachers questioning her at school. However, she always lies about her bruises and living conditions.  Her life seems to turn around when she meets another young girl named Stacy. However, this friendship abruptly ends when Stacy is accidentally shot and killed during a drive-by. Similar to Lisa, Nicole decides that she wants to run away. Finally, the last story follows the life of eleven year old Nicole who become pregnant after having sex with multiple teenagers. Believing that her mother would get too mad paired with not having enough money for an abortion, she decides to run away from home. Ludacris employs the use of various poetic and figurative language elements to better push his purpose onto the readers. First, he uses an AA, BB rhyme scheme to make the poem more memorable. Next, he uses imagery to describe the unfortunate lives and surroundings of the three young girls. Finally, he employs a gloomy tone to match his depressing message.


]]> 2021-04-26 01:05:53 UTC https://padlet.com/hkooner1_1/gzihu07jvf2uxv67/wish/1457368516 Extra Credit Reflection hkooner1_1 https://padlet.com/hkooner1_1/gzihu07jvf2uxv67/wish/1506999139 I found this class to be really helpful and important for me as further developed my literature and writing skills. Assignments such as the blog posts have significantly improved my reading and analytical skills. This is because we were expected to dig deeper into the text in order to find a greater and more subtle meaning. In other words, I learned how to read "in between the lines." Furthermore, I have learned of the importance of storytelling and of its many benefits that result from it. First, I believe that stories are told to pass on cultural beliefs and historical knowledge from one generation to the next. By discussing and describing historical events n the framework of a story,  people are much more likely to understand and remember the given information. Furthermore, stories ensure that cultural beliefs and traditions stay intact through the course of time. Without storytelling, many of these traditions and beliefs would have been lost in time. Moving on, stories are also important because they have the ability to inspire and educate individuals. This is evident in the novel we read, "The Last Poets," by Christine Otten. This story was inspiring and motivational as it discussed the many hardships that future, successful individuals suffered through. This story was inspiring as it showed that individuals can come out on top of their hardships and struggles. Furthermore, the story was also educational as it takes place during the mid-1900s, a time filled with racism and prejudice. This story helped shed light on the horrible racism that African Americans had to endure during that unfortunate time.

This course has taught me that it is important to hear stories from multiple, differing individuals. This is because this would reduce or even eliminate any sort of biases that occur because of skewed storytelling. It is often said that history is written by the victors, and unfortunately this is very often true. This is really important as this creates a biased retelling of history, one that is told in such a way to praise the victors, and silence the losers. I find this to be really troubling as it eliminates any sense of unity and togetherness that stories are meant to create. In this course, the readings such as "The Last Poets" are told in the perspective of a protagonist who must fight against societal beliefs. This is great because it allows for the "losers" or lesser folks of society to have a voice to speak out. Stories allow for a multitude of perspectives to be discussed which results in a less biased and more understanding society.


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