Introduction
Simply put, popular culture also known as pop culture refers to perspectives, attitudes, ideas, images, phenomena and memes that are contained in the cultural mainstream. The advent of pop culture was most pronounced in the Western culture of the 20 the century. The same is also being accentuated in the global mainstream that has become prominent in the 20th and 21st century. Popular culture has therefore suffused mass media and is readily manifested in the day-to-day lives within the society. In most cases, popular culture may betray the perspectives or representations of race and race relations in a particular society or culture.
The representation that has been chosen as a manifestation of popular culture is the lyrics to the song, Gotti. The song Gotti was done by Lil Wayne who collaborated with the Lox. Lil Wayne (real name, Dawne Michael Carter, Jr., b. September 27, 1982) is an American rapper who hails from Louisiana, New Orleans. The Lox on the other hand is an American rap trio. The lyrics to the song Gotti can be followed by following the link: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/lilwayne/gotti.html
The song is made up of three verses, a hook, two bridges and an outro. The lyrics to the song speak about the themes that are common in or characteristic of rap music. Some of these topics in the song are misogyny, getting away with crime as serious as murder, being morally grotesque, berating traditional religious beliefs and the love for filthy lucre. The actual meaning of the phrase and title of the song Gotti is unknown, though it could have its meaning in slang. The slang meaning for Gotti is a person, especially a white man who wishes to become part of an Italian mob, or a gang in New Orleans known as the Gotti Boys. This gang is all about drug dealing and gangbanging (Tanner, Asbridge & Wortley, 699-702).
Analyzing the Significance of This Representation in Social and Historical Context
The lyrics to the song can be understood much easier when they are put within historical context. In the first place, the phrase Gotti gains its meaning in its etymological meaning. Initially, the word was used to refer to an Italian mob, before it was used to refer to a person who wanted to be associated with the group. With time, the phrase was used to refer to the Caucasian, as the Italians were also white. There is therefore credence in seeing the term as being used to spite the Caucasian. The inspiration behind the use of words to spite the other race may in turn be a culmination of the unequal and discriminative race relations between the majority white race and the people of color, particularly, the African American (Smith, 156).
The point immediately above clearly shows that racial identities in the United States are still malfunctioning. This is seen by the virtue of the fact that Dawne refers to Caucasians in the United States with a derogative name, gotti. The idea that is also communicated in racial identities is also communicated through stereotypes and wrong generalizations. To refer to all white people in the United States with a phrase that connotes drug dealing and gangbanging is to make a thoughtless and baseless generalization. Neither are all white Americans amenable to gangbanging nor are African Americans and other people of color totally free of gangbanging and drug dealing.
Another instance in which the issue of race is remotely mentioned is in the tenth stanza of the second verse where the rapper speaks of coming from the third world. The rapper in this case closely associates the third world with the hardship, starvation, uselessness, poor diet and poor health. Hardship is spoken of in the instance where the rapper speaks of beginning to rap in his fourth grade to ensure his survival. Starvation is spoken of directly in the ninth stanza of the same verse while poor diet is spoken of in the instance the rapper speaks of life’s circumstances making them vegetables as a result of what they ate (lines 7 and 8). The rapper associates the third world with poor health when he says that they had to be vegetables, meaning that they had to stay patient because one is what he eats (lines 7-9).
In the case above, it is true that the rapper, Carter, Jr. reinforces a lot of stereotypes. This is because he closely associates the third world with poverty, malnourishment, hardship and poor health. It is true that generally, the third world is poorer compared to the developed world. It is also true that third world suffers more socioeconomic setbacks because of much minuscule GDP. However, it is logically fallacious and stereotypical to ascribe hunger, poverty, financial distress and ill-health to the third world. The developed world has its share of the same. For instance, even if the developed world minimally struggles with poor health because of starvation as its developing counterpart, yet the developed world still grapples with health issues due to occupational exposure, sedentary lifestyles and the consumption of fast food (Keeva, Goldberg & Hansen, 36.
Again, there is a subtle generalization of the African American as rebellious and misogynist. The subtlety in this attempt makes the detection of the same since the generalization is made indirectly and in a sporadic manner. First, by claiming to come from third world, Lil Wayne (properly known as Dawne) insinuates that his roots and descent stretch back to Africa. The fact that Africa is third world and Dawne is a black man underscores his insinuation as an African American. As a matter of fact, so much does Dawne identify himself with the African American that he is trying to use his identity as ethos to communicate the plight of the African or the African American in stanza 2, lines 9 to 13.
In respect to the foregoing, it is clearer that the faulty generalization of the African American as misogynist is therefore done in an indirect manner. Dawne does this by using pejorative and denigrating terms such as bitch to refer to women. Dawne is purporting to speak for the African American but is referring to women as bitches and speaks of taking the lives of women with arbitrariness, as if life is a very light thing. This is in the instance where Dawne speaks of “eating steaks at the same spot they killed Paulie in Frank White’s” This is in line 11 of the first stanza. The same indictment against Dawne’s misogynistic thoughts is further reinforced in the third stanza, lines 15-19, where he derogatively speaks of stuffing narcotics into a condom and into a woman’s vulva, as an artifice to sneaking drugs across the airport. Logic or simple common sense has it that the entire African American population cannot be lumped together with Dawne in being misogynist and cheapening life. There are many African Americans who are neither misogynist nor misandrist (Tanner, Asbridge & Wortley, 699-702).
Just as Kubrin and Nielson point out, the case above is also applied in Dawne’s portrayal of the African American as rebellious. This is done through Dawne’s self-portrayal as an ideal African American while he uses the occasion to flaunt his rebellious nature. His referring of wine as holy water in the first stanza and line 8-9 is tantamount to making an expression which borders along blasphemy. This is especially as far as Christianity is concerned. Dawne and his collaborators, the Lox also begin their song by bragging about their ability to bypass the legal system. Dawne and the Lox speak of the judge or the jury not being able to spoil their ways in the first line of the first stanza. The same combination also brag about how their murderous skills and ways are inescapable such that when they strike, the digging of the hole (grave), the buying of the wood box (coffin), the bringing in of the florist (for funeral wreaths) and the involvement of the pastor (to conduct a funeral service) are inevitable (Kubrin and Nielson, 185-211).
It is obvious that the immediately foregoing is a faulty generalization. This is because crime or criminality is a phenomenon that is spread across all racial and cultural divides. Even approaching Dawne’s point of view from a Marxist approach does not make it plausible. This is because, taking a Marxist approach to answer race relations as is depicted by Dawne cannot sustain any logical argument. Taking a Marxist approach to explain Dawne’s generalization will have someone thinking that the violent nature of African Americans is a culmination of the African Americans who are economically oppressed and alienated from factors of production (land, labor and capital) (Rampersad, 8, 9).
This standpoint immediately above may stand in the period that antedates the Civil Rights Era when the African American was unable to access social goods and public services. To an extent, the same standpoint may have a remote sense of credence when it is considered that before the Civil Rights Era, the factors of production were largely in the hands of the white American. In this light, one would understand Dawne’s anger or negative attitude towards the white American.
However, the standpoint above cannot stand since after the Civil Rights Era, there have been radical and sustained structural and systematic institutional measures to have other racial minorities and cultures empowered. For this reason, although the white American is generally richer than the African American, yet the African American is relatively rich and empowered. In fact, Dawne himself destroys the prospects of understanding his lyrics from a Marxist standpoint since he himself brags about driving expensive cars and donning gold chains.
Conclusion
The foregoing discourse shows clearly that Dawne’s representation of art is an affirmation of stereotypes, regarding race relations and racial identities in the United States. Dawne identifies himself with the African American before coming out as a misogynist and Caucasian-hating person. The glorification of crime and the ability to escape the systems of criminal justice equally reinforce the portrayal of the ideal African American as being street-smart, gangster, lawless and racist. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth than this misplaced notion.
Works Cited
Keeva, Steven, Goldberg, Stephanie & Hansen, Mark. “D'Alemberte Raps Crime Policy.” ABA Journal, 78. 12 (2008): 36. Print
Kubrin, Charis E and Nielson, Erik. “Rap on Trial.” Race and Justics, 4.3 (2012): 185 – 211. Print
Rampersad, Arnold. The New Negro. NY: Touchstone, 1997. Print
Smith, E. Suzanne. Dancing in the Streets: Motown and the Cultural Politics of Detroit. Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1999. Print
Tanner, Julian, Asbridge, Mark & Wortley, Scot. Listening to Rap: Cultures of Crime, Cultures of Resistance. Social Forces, 88.2 (2009): 693 – 722. Print
