Kid Cudi x REVOFEV – Passion Post #5

This week, I will analyze a song by one of my favorite artists, Kid Cudi. No matter the track, Cudi never disappointing with his deep, mellow lyrics that resonate with beats filled with bass and synths.  Cudi is not only a talented musical genius, but manages to always gives his listeners words of advice to abide by. I hope that you enjoy REVOFEV.

Lyrics:

(Hook)Let go life does get tough
No need to stress
Hold you back too much
Let’s go I heard they found the solution
Where will you be for the revolution?

(V1)Wake up, things might get rough
No need to stress
Keeps you down to much
Wake up, I heard they found a solution
Where will you be for the revolution?
Yea I’m so high and so high and I like it, hey
I am so high and so high and I like it hey

(Bridge)I am happy today
This not like other days
Somehow I feel OK
Somehow I feel OK

(Interlude)Oh whoa oh
I am your big brother
I am your big brother

Song Analysis:

Cudi opens the song by telling everyone that life does get tough but we should not stress about it too much because it makes us the more counterproductive. When Cudi is referring to a “solution” he is implying that music can help with stress or any situation that you are going through.

In the bridge, Cudi implies that he has reached a nirvana. After stressing for so long and eventually overcoming that problem he is happy, feeling okay and “high up.”

 

Personal Reflection:

This is one of my favorite Cudi tracks because it is very uplifting and can make you feel better about anything that is happening. Now that we are in summer bridge taking rigorous classes with a lot of homework, it comes to no surprise that we may be stressed out sometimes. Cudi essentially connected to me when he says not to stress too much, because it will hold me back.

I have always looked up to Cudi musically so when he said, “I am your big brother” I instantaneously felt that Cudi was related to me in some shape or form. I have never had a big brother (only have a younger sister) but I remember growing up, I have always wanted someone other than my dad to look up to or to seek guidance from. In a way, Cudi through his music gave me the guidance through his albums, ideas and interviews.  If you listen and get to know him better, in a way you understand his struggle, where he came from and how he turned all of that around to become on of the top Hip Hop artists in the industry right now.

A theme that Cudi pushes in his music is the idea of being different. Not in a bad way, but Cudi is telling his listeners that you do not have to always follow the crowd. I noticed this when I first heard Cudi and listened to a couple of projects that he released. I eventually realized that his music is different from majority of the music that you heard at the radio during that era. So when he says, “Where will you be for the revolution?” I am pretty sure that he is implying that one day any and every type of music will be supported.

Give REVOFEV a listen in the video below.

 

The Roots x Understand – Passion Post #4

In today’s passion post I will be analyzing the lyrics to The Root’s Understand. I got the idea last night when Professor Hamilton talked about Questlove’s hair. The reference instantaneously reminded me of all the religious rhetoric and influenced me to make it today’s song of the day.

Understand is 6th track on eleventh studio album by the roots entitled, And Then I Shoot Your Cousin. The Roots go very deep religiously with the lyrics and use a church organ to compliment the engaging drums during the song.

Lyrics:

Hook:

People ask for God till the day He comes
See God’s face, turn around and run
God sees the face of a man
Shaking his head, says, “HE’LL NEVER UNDERSTAND”

Part of Greg Porn’s verse:

Holy, sugar, honey, ice tea
I guess that’s a plan for a player like me
In my church clothes making buzz on the Bible
The sweet temptation of my granddaddy’s rifle
Got me thinking ’bout doing a jihad with these guys
The only true religion look better than Levi’s
Who baptize glasses with beers and blood stains
You preaching to the choir that praise the drug game
Hallelujah

Hook Analysis:

The name of the song “Understand” refers to the way people may look up to God or seek his guidance but when he actually makes a move to intervene, they ignore him. The Roots are implying that God does not understand the way that people seek/follow him nowadays.

Greg Porn’s Verse:

As already stated, Understand is a  contextual religious song. Specifically pertaining to Porn’s verse, you can identify many religious references such as; Holy, Bible, Jihad, Baptize, “True Religion”, Preaching and Hallelujah.

Greg then goes on to say “The only true religion look better than Levi’s.” . True Religion and Levis are both popular brands of jeans and ironically, this line exemplifies the religious references stated earlier. Levi was a significant character in the bible, as he was the head of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. True Religion is pretty self explanatory, but is not the first time its name is used to commence wordplay.

The word “Jihad” can mean two things in Arabic; It can mean a struggle or Holy War. In the previous line, “The sweet temptation of my granddaddy’s rifle“, defines that a war is going on within the character of the song. Even though there is a war, a “struggle” is still taking place.

The line “Who baptize glasses with beers and blood stains” introduces even more wordplay. If you didn’t know, a baptism is a religious ceremony done by Christians where you are fully submerged in water. Greg is stating that he his “baptizing” glasses with bear and blood , implying that he indulges with both alcohol and violence.

Greg goes on to close with “You preaching to the choir that praise the drug game.” The term, preaching to the choir means that you are talking to the wrong audience.  The second half claims that the choir is praising the drug game. Greg is calling out to the many people that still sin continuously but try to go to church to make everything okay.

Paradigm Shift Topic

The topic that I want to write my paradigm shift about refers to the way that we use the internet today. On August 6th, 1991, the internet was released to the entire world with limited accessibility. Now, in this day and age the internet has connection with almost everything that we do. I want to talk about the way things were done before the internet, how these tasks were accomplished and how the with the introduction of the internet these tasks have become easier.

Elevator Pitch:

How were things done before the introduction of the internet? Is it possible to graduate and go through school without any network interaction? They answer may be yes, but it would be substantially difficult due to the way that many thing relies on the usage of the internet. Even though our generation grew up during the digital age, or the age where we basically had gadgets since toddlers; is it possible to function without the internet? Why is the internet so important today? Can we analyze the reason behind this paradigm shift?

Ted Talks RCL Blog

Ted Talk #1

Bill Gross: The single biggest reason why startups succeed

In this ted talk, Bill talked about the many companies that he founded, bought, or had a part in. He gave us the rundown and factors that you need in running a successful company.

Business Model- Somehow, a company has to find a way to make as much money and attract as many customers as possible. Someone may have a great idea, but without a proper business model, the idea is bound to fall apart.

Funding – Makes sure that a company is financially stable and will have the capital available later to expand and to deliver business expenditures.

Timing- The timing to when a company is started is also crucial. Based on results and prior experience;

Team- You need a team of people behind your idea with the se=ame vision in order to run a successful company.

Idea – Every successful company come to fruition all through a great idea. Who will have the next million dollar idea? What will be the newest innovation to hit us?

 

Ted Talk #2

Sam Richards: A Radical Experiment in Empathy

Sam Richards is an award winning professor that teaches a popular class at Penn State University entitled, Sociology 119. Known to be one of the most dangerous professors, Richards takes us into the world with the perspective of an Iraqi woman who is trying to survive during war. He claims that the Unites States only has the alterior motive to go to Iraq for their oil and the get their oil only. Richards emphasized that these people probably see the Americans as bad people because they are killing everywhere, taking their resources and coming into their home turf asserting their authority over the national civilians.

The lesson to take from here is to always try to type this in word in case that the computer acts funny.