“Everything that shine ain’t always gonna be gold.” I was put on to Kid Cudi about two years ago and he has quickly become one of my most listened to artists. His music is primarily hip-hop/rap but it blends unique and alternative elements to make a genre that is uniquely Cudi’s. I think his music is unlike anyone else’s and has an incredible unique vibe. I love his music because it’s easy to listen to and is a constant mood boost. You can’t go to a party without hearing a remix of “Pursuit of Happiness” because it’s just that good. He also has songs that are more emotional and therapeutic.

Scott Mescudi was born in Cleveland in 1984. After moving to Brooklyn in 2008 and affiliating with the label Fool’s Gold, Cudi released his first EP, “Day n Nite”. With this song gaining impressive popularity, he then released Man on the Moon: The End of Day in 2009. In the following years, Kid Cudi has accumulated 7 studio albums and over 30 singles. All of his music has topped charts and been eaten up by fans. His most recent album, Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, was released in 2020. This album features artists such as Phoebe Bridgers, Trippie Redd, and Pop Smoke. He was also recently featured on Donda, Kanye West’s new album, in the song “Moon” (it’s beautiful).

Some of my favorite Cudi songs include “Make Her Say”, “Day ‘N’ Nite (nightmare)”, “Surfin'”, “Up Up & Away”, “THE SCOTTS”, and of course, “Pursuit of Happiness”. These songs are all more up beat and casual to listen to. “Make Her Say” features Kanye West and includes a live sample of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” which I think is super cool. These songs include lyrics such as “I’ll be up up and away, up up and away/’Cause they gon’ judge me anyway, so whatever” and “Everything that shine ain’t always gonna be gold.” He also has more sad songs such as “Soundtrack 2 My Life”: “I’ve got some issues that nobody can see/And all of these emotions are pouring out of me”.

Kid Cudi’s music will be there for you no matter what mood you’re in in a way that is extremely unique and a genre unto itself.

The TED Talk I have chosen to analyze is “The First Steps Toward More Inclusive Dermatology” by Jenna C. Lester. Her primary purpose in this talk is to emphasize the need for dermatologists to be trained in diagnosing and treating dark skin, as well as hair. She makes her point through shocking statistical evidence and images, beginning with showing just how differently Lyme’s Disease prevents its self in dark skin compared to light skin. The paradigm shift here is the shift from a lack of education for dermatologists to a more inclusive world of dermatology.

Lester maintains that dermatologists need to be educated about dark skin before becoming doctors. She states that 47% of graduating dermatologists feel uncomfortable diagnosing diseases in dark skin. This shocking statistic shows us how little most dermatologists may know about diseases and black skin, despite the fact that they are acting as a skincare professional to patients with dark skin. In reference to the images that she opened with it, she emphasizes how important this is stating that Lyme’s Disease cases are increasing along with climate change and that, if left untreated, this disease can lead to nerve damage, arthritis, and more. Lester recommends that we reevaluate and make changes to how people with darker skin are represented in textbooks. There is a misrepresentation of black individuals in that they are overrepresented in sections about syphilis, STDs, etc., and underrepresented in all other categories. This misrepresentation is contributing to the stigma around people of color in associating them with dirty diseases and STDs.

This paradigm shift must be made from undereducation to inclusion. She is contributing to the shift through creating a program, the Skin of Color Program at UCSF. This program shows future dermatologist everything from recognizing diseases on skin of color to discussing with a black woman how to treat a problem with her hair/scalp.

Lester’s speaking style is very strong in her eye contact, strong diction and articulation, and clear passion for what she is discussing. Her style is formal yet easy to understand, and the examples that she uses really drive home all of her points. I think this would fall under a category of “doing a presentation” rather than “delivering a speech” because there are aspects to her presentation other than her words, and it does not seem overly memorized. Rather, it seems like she truly knows what she is talking about and could give a very lengthy presentation on it.

“I just take it day by day…” SZA is an artist who I don’t know as much about, but really appreciate none the less and would like to get more into. Her music has soul and R&B roots and offers comforting and soulful lyrics. Her lyrics are clever, thoughtful, and carry good vibes. She has also made a significant social impact through speaking about environmental justice, depression and anxiety, and sustainability.

SZA (Solána Imani Rowe) was born in 1989 in St. Louis. She began recording on the side after leaving college, her work inspired by Billie Holliday, Bjork, Wu-Tang Clan, etc. After releasing a few singles, she signed with Top Dawg Entertainment and continued to release new EPs. She came out with a top song of hers, “Love Galore”, and was featured on many high profile songs by artists such as Travis Scott and Nicki Minaj. With the release of more music and her first album Ctrl, SZA was nominated for five Grammys that year. Since then, SZA has continued to release new singles, be featured on other popular artists’ songs, and hold her own on the Top 100 List.

SZA makes R&B contemporary and really makes it her own. Her lyrics, as I said before, are creative and often soulful. A few examples that stick out at me are: “Jesus called me collect last night/It took all of me not to answer”, ““I really wish I was a normal girl, oh my/How do I be, how do I be a lady”, “Why I can’t stay alone just by myself? Wish I was comfortable just with myself”. These lyrics all speak about something – accepting blessings into your life, the impossible expectations women face, and being comfortable in one’s own skin. Her songs each take an important and make it pretty and easily palatable.

In addition to her contributions to the music world, SZA uses her platform to talk about mental health and environmental issues. She has spoken out about her struggles with depression and anxiety, which may give comfort to her listeners who struggle with the same issues. She has also aligned with Tazo Tree Corps, planting trees and making other efforts for a better future. She speaks out about the environmental crisis that we face and encourages her fans to turn their attention to it and to help.

Overall, SZA’s unique style of contemporary R&B allows her to make her thoughts turned into lyrics her own. She has made waves for her catchy and soulful music, as well as for the positive impact she seeks to leave on the world.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sza-mn0003180568/biography

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/9526563/sza-good-days-interview

“Everything I’m not made me everything I am.” Alright, this one’s a little more controversial. Personally, I have always felt that unless a star says or does something inexcusably disgusting, I can put their personal beliefs aside and appreciate the music. Also, I do think people are quick to criticize Kanye without taking his mental issues and bipolar disorder into account. In my opinion, this may not be an excuse for some of the things he’s said, but it is definitely an explanation. I don’t know everything about him, I don’t agree with many things about him, and it’s not my place to speak on some things, but all that being said, let’s get into my thoughts on just his music.

Kanye West was born in Atlanta in 1977. He made his debut in 2004 with College Dropout, followed by Late Registration and Graduation. Today, he has a total of 10 albums as well as singles. His latest and much anticipated album, Donda, is named after his late mother. Her passing affected Kanye very deeply in both his personal life and music career.

Maybe I throw this phrase around too much, but I genuinely think Kanye is a musical genius. I understand if it’s not your type of music, but if it is and you really take time to listen to his songs and their lyrics, every album is seriously a work of art in its own unique way. Most of the music that I gush about is deep and philosophical, and he definitely does have some lyrics like that, but even besides deeper meaning, his rhymes and verses are incredibly creative.

His lyrics clearly show intelligence and self awareness. An example of this is the line “Sometimes I take all the shine/Talk like I drank all the wine”, showing awareness to his dramatic tendencies. The songs “Runaway”, “Hey Mama”, “Blood on the Leaves”, and “Roses” all are full of raw emotion. From “Roses”: My grandfather tryin’ to pull it together, he strong/That’s where I get my confidence from/I asked the nurse, ‘Did you do the research?’/She asked me, ‘Can you sign some t-shirts?'”. All Falls Down discusses racial issues: “Drug dealer buy Jordans, crackhead by crack/ And a white man get paid off of all of that.”

Kanye West is intellectual, narcistic, bold, and unapologetically himself. Love him or hate him, it’s hard to listen to his music without thinking “How did he think of that?”.

https://www.biography.com/musician/kanye-west

This bumper stick conveys an intense message in just four words and one picture.  The argument it sends supports abortion rights, or women’s healthcare in general. The general message is “don’t threaten my individual reproductive rights.” While the message it portrays for reproductive rights is powerful, it does make several assumptions about the knowledge of the person who sees it.

What is actually stated in this bumper sticker argument is the statement “don’t tread on me”. This is an allusion to the Gadsden flag. It also clearly shows a depiction of a uterus. So, the bumper sticker is obviously talking about something to do with women (assuming the viewer knows what a uterus looks like) and saying not to mess with women about the issue.

The background information assumed here is, again, that a person knows that the image is a uterus and therefore related to an issue for women. It also assumes that the viewer knows what the Gadsden flag is, or at least could recognize it as the snake flag that says “don’t tread on me”. It also assumes that someone knows the flag’s history, and are familiar with the commonplace that it is often used to represent individual rights. Finally, it is necessary for the viewer to actually make the connection between the two ideas and have some knowledge of what is going on in the world at this time related to it. For example, if the person seeing this bumper sticker is unfamiliar with the policies threating reproductive rights, or, for an example more specific to this year, what’s happening in Texas, they may be confused by this.

Overall, I think the effectiveness of this bumper sticker is dependent on someone having pretty common and general knowledge. For me, the message of it clicked immediately. I believe that most people would recognize, if not exactly where the statement comes from, the tone of the message it conveys and what is relates to. I feel that, because the historical context of the statement “don’t tread on me” carries so much weight, it makes the message related to abortion that much more intense. Ultimately, I think this message would be effective to anyone who took a middle school health class.

“Honey, you’re familiar like my mirror years ago.” As the weather changes and it starts to feel like fall, I find myself turning to Hozier’s music to hear beautiful and comforting lyrics like this one. If I had to encompass my favorite Hozier songs in one word, it would be “soul-soothing”. Listening to his music feels like home. I, along with many others, have been captivated by Hozier’s music since his big hit “Take Me to Church” in 2003 and have been a big fan of him ever since.

Andrew Hozier-Byrne was born in 1990 in Ireland. He started making music when he was 15 years old. In 2013, he released his hit solo “Take Me to Church.” Right off the bat, this song took on a big social impact. It directly challenges discrimination of gay people in the Catholic church. I was only 10 when this song came out, so I just liked the tune at the time, but now as I’ve grown up with his music have even more respect for him for tackling these issues. He has two studio albums, Hozier (2014) and Wasteland, Baby! (2019) in addition to many EPs and singles.

Just like with all my favorite artists, it is VERY difficult for me to pick my favorite songs. If I had to pick, “Jackie and Wilson”, “Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene”, “Almost (Sweet Music)”, “Wasteland, Baby!”, and “From Eden” would all be some of my favorites. I would describe Hozier’s music as soulful, deep, and comforting. His music is primarily inspired by folk and blues. It’s very different than a lot of music that I listen to, but it’s still some of my favorites. His songs have streaks of darkness (Cherry Wine!!!) and passion, but above all always sound like art. All of his lyrics are incredibly artful, but a few of the most interesting ones to me are “Idealism sits in prison, chivalry fell on it’s sword… Innocence died screaming, honey ask me I should know”, “We tried the world, good God, it wasn’t for us”, “The way she tells me I’m hers and she is mine/Open hand or closed fist would be fine/The blood is rare and sweet as cherry wine.”

Hozier is extremely passionate about many issues, talking about everything from gay rights to the opioid crisis in his interviews. Overall, he is extremely talented and I encourage you to listen to his music if you want to think and feel comforted at the same time.

Biography source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hozier_(musician)

This picture goes with a series of advertisements from Bud Light using the #UpForWhatever. This marketing campaign was supposed to encourage its users to let loose, have fun, and say yes to things, using their product. However, it completely missed the mark and instead comes off as promoting rap

Why did this advertisement miss the mark SO badly?

For one, context. Maybe if this had come out in 1950, it would have been funny. But this came out in 2015, an era of #MeToo, I’m with her, and women finally standing up for things that have been ignored for too long. In a world where alcohol-fueled rape culture is all too prevalent, putting something out that encourages it, purposefully or not, is disgusting. To properly deliver an advertisement or speech, one should always consider the context surrounding the situation: what is going on right now that will influence how people perceive this? The timing and rocky cultural situation made this dicey advertisement for Bud Light even worse.

Another thing to analyze about this advertisement is how it misses targeting its audience. While it may be stereotyped that most people who enjoy Bud Light are men, women do drink beer as well. And these many who drink beer have wives, mothers, girlfriends, etc. who would see this slogan. 1 in 6 women today have been sexually assaulted, and many men have experienced sexual assault and rape as well. Anyone who has been assaulted or loves someone who has been assaulted would read this message and immediately cringe. Whether they meant it or not, the message is still out there, and the fact that this went through rounds of brainstorming without a second thought means there is a problem.

Finally, the actual point of the advertisement is confusing to me. The hashtag Up For Whatever was all over their advertisements during this time, but the actual slogans appeared on the beer cans that you only see once you’ve already purchased. I don’t understand why they wouldn’t be on the outside of the box or on billboards or commercials. Finally, the whole point of encouraging people to get drunk, fight people, be stupid, and get in trouble is interesting and seems like it could come back to bite them.

Overall, this advertisement was a disgusting oversite on their part and has now turned people away from their product instead of encouraging it.

My two artifacts explore issues of mental health and the stigmas that lie around it.

This first artifact is relatively recent, created sometime in the last 5 years or so. It is a PSA for mentalhealth.org, whose slogan is “Let’s talk about it.” Their aim is to end the stigma around mental health in hopes to encourage more people to reach out for help when they need it.

My second artifact was created by the Social Hygiene Divisional. This Progressive Era initiative is much older, beginning in the early 1900s. Their main focus was on sexual education and disease control. Later on, they branched out into a mental health initiative as well. This focused on training healthcare providers properly and working on more sympathetic care for mental health patients.

I chose these artifacts because I think it will be interesting to explore the way we look at mental health now compared to back then. I also think that even though we have made progress in mental health initiatives, we still have a long way to go. Mental health struggles are something I see every day, in myself and my loved ones, but not something that is talked about enough. When someone loses their battle with mental illness, everyone jumps in to say what a tragedy it is, or on the other side of it, when someone is doing better people are quick to applaud them. However, when someone is actively going through it, people rarely understand and often look down on them. There is such a stigma around mental illness that it often prevents people from reaching out and getting the help that they need, but I believe it should be treated like physical illness is.

These two artifacts are related in that they both put focus on ending the stigma between mental health, but the way that they do so comes off completely differently. As they were made almost a century apart, the way that mental health is viewed is considerably different which I think will be interesting to explore. I also notice that, despite its good intentions, the diction used in the 1900s poster is the type that the more recent one seeks to break down. Overall, I think there is a lot to unpack between these two posters about mental health and the differences between them.

“We’ll never be those kids again.” Frank Ocean’s music is the kind that I put on when I want to sit with my thoughts and reflect on where I’m at in life. With a discography of just three albums, a mixtape, and some singles, and his last album being released in 2016, Frank Ocean remains a popular favorite of the music world.

Frank Ocean was born in 1987 in Long Beach, California, grew up in New Orleans, and now resides in LA. As a teenager, he ghostwrote songs for artists like Beyoncé, and gained his own fan base with the release of nostalgia, ULTRA (a mixtape) followed by his first album, channel ORANGE. Blonde was released in 2016 and he has not released an album since. His brother’s passing in August 2020 is definitely a factor to his lack of new music, understandably so. Fans are anxious for new music but I think his personal mental health and healing should of course come first.

I think that Frank Ocean is a lyrical genius. Every time I listen to his music, a certain lyric will stick out to me and I’ll continue to think about it for a while. Some of my favorites are “some nights you dance with tears in your eyes” (“Self Control”), “I’m sure we’re taller in another dimension/ you say we’re small and not worth the mention” (“White Ferrari”), “mind over matter is magic/ I do magic” (“White Ferrari”), and “you kneel down to the dry land, kiss the earth that birthed you/gave you tools just to stay alive and make it up when the sun is ruined” (“Pink + White”).  I think these lyrics are all beautiful and make people visualize and feel certain things. For example, the “tears in your eyes” lyric puts a really specific image in my head and makes me think about certain nights when I’ve gone out despite feeling sad, and how you can feel lonely in a room full of people.

I also think that despite his general silence toward the media, Frank Ocean’s social impact is profound. For one, he is open about his sexuality, through a tweet about a same-sex relationship as well as implications in his music (“I see both sides like Chanel”). Furthermore, he mixes femininity with masculinity in his expression of himself, which is not something society sees super often, especially from a black man. His lyrics delve into societal issues in a way that sounds pretty, while still facing ugly issues. Even his 2021 Met Gala look was a comment on society’s focus on trends.

Ultimately, I feel that the way Frank Ocean portrays himself and what he writes in his music is unique in that it is true to him and exactly how he wants to express himself.

Biography source:

https://www.biography.com/musician/frank-ocean

“No matter where life takes me, find me with a smile.” Throughout his too-short life, Mac Miller was a ray of sunshine to the music community. In these blog segments, I will be doing profiles on my favorite music artists, starting with Mac Miller. I will be talking about their lives, my favorite songs of theirs, and some of their social impacts.

Mac Miller was born in Pittsburgh, PA- just like me, so we both have that Pittsburgh pride! Mac talks about his love for Pittsburgh in many of his songs (“I always know where my home is, I’ve got a Pittsburgh state of mind”). He started singing and rapping early on, and released his first mixtape when he was just 14. Mac signed onto Pittsburgh’s Rostrum Records in 2010 at seventeen years old. He then released his new mixtape, K.I.D.S, and went on ‘The Incredibly Dope Tour” towards the end of 2010. From then on, he gained more popularity and continued releasing albums that were loved by many.

Mac’s untimely death came in 2018 due to a drug overdose. His death was obviously devastating to all of his loved ones, as well as his fans. His posthumous album, Circles, came out in 2020.

I love Mac Miller’s music because there is a song to encompass every mood, which I think is reflective of the different stages of his life as he grew up. K.I.D.S, with songs like “The Spins” and “Knock, Knock” is upbeat, youthful, and happy. My senior quote was from the song “Senior Skip Day”- “Enjoy the best things in your life, cause you ain’t gonna get to live it twice”. I especially think this quote is special with the context of his death, as this song shows his appreciation for the simple things during his life. I love this album because it always puts me in a good mood, especially to think about how young and happy he was when he wrote it.

On the other hand, one of my favorite songs, “Ascension”, from the album GO:OD AM, is soulful, introspective, and bittersweet. I see this song as his contemplation of life and death and struggle with his mind. Another one of my favorites, “Missed Calls”, from Blue Slide Park, is a sad song about missed love. Mac’s sound changes significantly throughout the years, and I think there are many songs, especially later on, that show his struggle with drugs and mental health. The song “Weekend”, is so interesting to me because of its upbeat tempo contrasted with the discussion of his dark thoughts and substance abuse.

Mac Miller was a gift to the music world who impacted and inspired many people with his talent and by being a genuine person.