Tanya Reyes

Scott Kneece
5 June 2016
Writing Project 1
I went back and studied all the legends, developed my craft and then made Kendrick
Lamar Kendrick mastered the skill of writing rap lyrics by studying the unique peculiarities of
this genre in order to successfully convey this information. He understood it was crucial to go
back and analyze the rap genre in order to familiarize himself with his audience, the context he
is in, and the primary reason he is writing in order to become a rap legend himself.In this day
and age realistically everything is a medium of art, expression, and information. To a certain
extent, in written language the readers and the writers must aesthetically choose a style that
best encompasses their purpose as individuals and purpose as developers of information.
Therefore, a genre has been contrived and assembled throughout history to best speak to a
specific marginalized audience. Writing becomes a reflection of its surroundings by providing a
glimpse into the societal and local world during the time it was written, so it is the author's
responsibility to emphasize this by including specificities of the context. While many different
genres take on many different purposes; a genre with a large audience use formulas to convey
their information by advocating, illustrating, persuading, influencing or igniting change. Specific
stylistic conventions are chosen to construct a genre, which best represents an audience,
reflects information, and obtains an individual goal.
In societal stereotypical terms of respectability rap music and open letters are on
separate sides of a spectrum. Therefore, although the spectrum on which their audience and
context lies is also wide they can still share a similar purpose. The material of a letter varies
widely, but rap songs tend to stay within a margin of speaking on matters that pertain with
issues rappers have grown with such as drugs, money, women, inequality, racial discrimination
and violence. In this case racial discrimination is a purpose both genres can discuss, but they

take on a different set of particular rules, structure, and conventions to efficiently bring their point
across.
Rap lyrics and open letters are both connecting to a large audience. Their context is
different, but can have a similar purpose. The context for a rap genre can be analyzed by
studying the consistency of historical and present social backgrounds. It is used to tell the story
of escaping the violent and dangerous streets of urban communities. Therefore in tune with the
context rap lyrics take on melodical aspects to captivate listeners musically and connect their
lyrics both verbally and inspirationally in order to illustrate this escape. To compare the context
of an open letter is less specific. It is made in the privacy of the writer's thoughts and reflects
private intentions. However it is common that the authors of an open letter take it upon
themselves to reflect the outside world by including popular verbiages, events, and values to
hint at the necessities of the time period.
To begin, Rap songs have an ulterior purpose of selling and keeping consumers
interested, which severely impacts the conventions used and respectively their audience and
context. Rap songs have to be considered good in order to sell, so word selection and the flow
of beats they follow must be chosen wisely. Music has to sell according to corporate ideals
because without corporate support a rappers message will not reach a large audience. Rap
songs have to uphold their particular conventions to constantly widen the amount of people who
enjoy listening to this genre. In order to comply, rap music must hold a superb standard of
diction and structure. The general purpose of the artist is to share what is believed to be good
music and speak about their opinions. Letters do not have this same initiative and are not held
to a similar standard. The writer of a letter is not aware of how many people have read their
information and the success of the letter is not based on sales. Rap songs are distinctively
ranked on how well they sell, but the success of both a letter and rap song can be expressed
through reviews, interest in sharing, and responses.

To begin, audience and context are intertwined when it is vital to be a part of a certain
background to understand nuances in text. Members with an urban background become the
targeted audience of rap songs because they depict growing up in a particular way. Therefore,
the common purpose of rap songs stems from the context and attitude of the audience to speak
about being surrounded by negative influences, but also about overcoming these situations or
making the best of what it is. These topics are broadcasted through many easily accessed
mediums so the targeted audience could be broad, but mostly captivates the attention of people
dealing with similar issues. The context of living in an urban setting is very similar through the
rap genre, however; the background of writers of open letters can vary widely. Letters do not
tend to have a very specific audience. The audience of an open letter will typically vary wider
than the audience of a rap song. Whereas, a letter is acceptable to be shared and promoted in
standardized institutions such as educational institutions. Rap music audiences usually stay
within a margin of avid listeners and their companions.
The Millennial audience, which is familiar with urban living can appeal to blunt language
and aggressive tones. Adults can be more hesitant to appreciate the consistent usage of curse
words in rap lyrics and more conservative audiences may interpret some messages as
inappropriate. Rap music is particular in its ability to create controversy through the use of free
and unconstrained lyrics to reach freethinking audiences and spite conservative audiences. Rap
songs achieve this specific honor by adopting specific conventions further than the actual
structure. Rap lyrics have a wider set of conventions to follow in order to avoid being confused
with other types of music genre.

Rap songs use repetition to increase the likeliness of the audience thinking back on their
message. Repetition is used to emphasize an idea by making it memorable and easy for the
audience to keep in mind. Rhyming allows rap lyrics to easily and memorably release a flow of
ideas. To explain, in Love Yourz by J Cole his strongest verse is also the strongest structurally.

He shares with listeners that although life is a struggle it is important to see the beauty in it be
appreciating even small blessings emphasizing this particular statement with strategic sentence
formation. He emphasizes his point by mastering an art-like sentence structure. J Cole states,
Its beauty in the struggle, ugliness in the success hear my words or listen to my signal of
distress I grew up in the city and though some times we had less compared to some of my
niggas down the block man we were blessed This keeps his audience captivated and shows
the similarities in words. His play on words can allow the audience to further analyze his point.
The audience is now aware that contradicting words such as success and distress and less and
blesses rhyme accordingly to each other. Therefore they can continue to ponder a further
message. In All falls Down by Kanye West uses the same strategy by stating, Without some
ones thats clean and a shirt with a team It seems we living the American dream But the people
highest up got the lowest self esteem The prettiest people do the ugliest things for the road to
riches and diamond rings We shine because they hate us, floss cause they degrade us Words
such as dream and esteem work in harmony to increase the likeliness of his audience reading
further into his belief that the people who seem to have it all are still lacking happiness. Rap
songs often have a hidden message, which is repeated to increase understanding.
To elaborate, in addition to rhyming and repetition integrated within lyrics is the tendency
to use blunt language and reference to urban life that differentiates rap songs far from other
genres. Cole uses the term nigga to emphasize the solidarity in the black community in light of
the national events that are occurring during the time of this song. He references his city to
connect to his audience which increases solidarity by establishing similarities between speaker
and listener.
A majority of rap songs feature other artists to add a different tone or style in the hook of
the songs. Verses are the primary section in which to share the message; they can be described
as strategic and rhythmic flow of thoughts. The hook in a rap song produces a change in
ambience from an aggressive feel to a lighter feel. Many artists contrast their aggressive or

blunt verses with a melodically apt artist. Kanye West uses a gospel choir to deliver his hook in
Ultralight Beam, the choir harmonically sings, "I'm tryna keep my faith But I'm looking for more
Somewhere I can feel safe And end my holy war I'm tryna keep my faith This same message is
expressed in the verses, but amplified by the hooks with a different layer of expression. Most
songs in most music genres contain a variation of intro, verses, hooks, and outro. Therefore in
order to differentiate a rap song syntax and tone is very important. For example, West pushes
his genre by having short sentences with strong messages. He creates a unique beat by
creating a sound that sounds like a community is helping the flow of the lyrics. This is important
because although different rap artists adopt their particular style of beats and tone they all
create a sense of community by allowing their lyrics to have a rhythm that is uniquely urban. As
his featured artist states she is looking for somewhere she can feel safe and the solidarity in the
lyrics can resonate with the audience.
Another convention used in rap music is strategic usage of punctuation. Rap music is
speaking to an audience and to achieve a personal level the use of questions is often used. Rap
music provides the audience with a call to action. A majority of rap audiences are
demographically underprivileged young adults so rap lyrics become a medium, which provides
knowledge for those who are deprived. Rap lyrics maintain a common style by bringing attention
to important social issue and questioning the audiences involvement. This level of intimacy can
connect audiences through a common struggle. This is reflected as rap artist share their
experiences and offer their advice through the lyrics. In Mortal Man by Kendrick Lamar, he
shares advice by repeatedly questioning his audience. He states, Like who got your best
interest? Like how much are you dependent? How clutch are the people that say they love you?
And who pretending? How tough is your skin when they turn you in? Do you show forgiveness?"
Rap lyrics are unrestrained and their influence on their audience has great power. Rap lyrics are
known for passing the normative boundaries of freedom of expression. This ability to bluntly
speak and create art through rhyme strategies differentiates the genre of rap songs.

To contrast, Letters can obtain a larger audience because the conventions followed
provide a less constricted view. While writing a letter the author does not need to preoccupy
much thought worrying about captivating an audience with a particular liking. The size of a
letters audience also increases with the importance of the information. Letters and Rap songs
do not have the same level of urgency. Letters are more likely to be acknowledged than are rap
songs because they are personally addressed. However, although they can be addressed
personally they are still meant to circulate through a larger audience. Letters have much more
room to freely use speak on different issues from personal, social, political while still maintaining
their genre. Letters have much more room to expand the constraints of their conventions as
long as the writers include an opening greeting, a concluding farewell, and maintain a direct
dialogue.
To continue, Letters have a formal greeting followed by the person or organization they
are addressing. For example in Martin Luther Kings Letter from Birmingham Jail he opens his
letter by stating, My dear Fellow clergymen: (King). There may be a variation in punctuation;
such as commas or colons, but the opening is needed to make the desired audience clear and
to establish a respectable tone. The letter is followed by their argument and ends formally with
their signature for example, in the Letter from Birmingham Jail King concludes by stating, Yours
for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood, Martin Luther King, Jr. (King). This formal conclusion
also serves to end with a respectable tone, establish the author of the letter, and to finalize an
argument. King ends with his purpose, but usually a proper and formal farewell is all that is
needed in an open letter.
In the body the typical conventions found in letters are use of emotional diction,
quotations from both outside sources and from the person being addressed, short quoted
words, questions, first person usage, and repetition of phrases to begin new paragraphs. Never
have I witnessed such sincere hospitality and overwhelming spirit of true brotherhood as is
practiced by people of all colors and races in this Ancient Holy Land, the home of Abraham,

Muhammad and all the other prophets of the Holy Scriptures. For the past week, I have been
utterly speechless and spellbound by the graciousness I see displayed all around me by people
of all colors. Malcolm X begins his letter on a personal level. He introduces himself to the
audience by insightfully stating his own experiences and describing the emotions he felt. He
makes it clear that it is rare to receive graciousness and hospitality from different races in this
time period. His emotional words establish the context of this time period and can be used to
understand the values of his generation and allow future generations to compare and contrast
the idiosyncrasies of societal behavior. He establishes a personal level by directly addressing
the audience. His sentences are long and filled with adjectives to truly encompass a description
of his thinking.
To elaborate, paragraphs in letters are typically short but are enlarged with the
messages they convey. In Malcolm Xs Letter from Mecca his twelve paragraphs range from one
to two sentences. Each sentence usually segments a singular point. For example, Malcolm X
states, You warmly commended the Birmingham police force for keeping order and
preventing violence (Malcolm). This allows their argument to have a personal level. In order to
avoid the intended audience to be forgotten letters use address and reference forms. The
audience can then be given a certain responsibility. Similar to a rap song questioning their
audience, a letter takes a personal tone to bring their audience towards a call to action. In a few
short sentences the author can make a broad, lasting, and impacting point specifically by
addressing the readers personally.
In conclusion, genres are developed to best fit an audience. A genres purpose is to
share their opinions and information of their background as effectively as possible. However in
order to achieve maximum effectiveness they must follow the particular conventions that have
been set overtime. Although the formality, tone, and respectability of a medium can range widely
the conventions are still chosen and followed critically.

Works Cited
""All Falls Down" Lyrics." KANYE WEST LYRICS. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.
El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. "Letter from Mecca." Letter. Apr. 1964. MS. N.p.
"Kanye West." - Ultra Light Beam Lyrics. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.
King, Martin Luther, Jr. "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." Letter. 16 Apr. 1963. MS. N.p.
""Love Yourz" Lyrics." J. COLE LYRICS. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.
""Mortal Man" Lyrics." KENDRICK LAMAR LYRICS. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.
"3 SUCCESS RULES FROM KENDRICK LAMAR." N.p., 12 Apr. 2016. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.