Harmony of Expression: Unraveling Rhyme Patterns and Social Commentary in Mixtape Analysis - Free Essay

For the mixtape analysis, shall focus on the following five songs: I'm the Man (50 Cent), The Bigger Picture (Lil Baby), Won’t Stop (Meek Mill), Power (Kanye West), and Fine by Time (YoungBoy Never Broke Again). Rhyme is created in music by two or more words having similar sounds that often occur at the end of words though not in all rhyme types. Different rhymes are identified depending on the rhyming of vowels, consonants, spelling, or entire words. Some of the rhyme types that have been identified in the mentioned songs are assonance rhyme, consonance rhyme, near rhyme, perfect rhyme, and identical rhyme.

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Perfect rhyme is the pattern in which the sounds at the end of each word match and not the spelling, whereas words have similar vowel sounds in near rhyme. In Internal rhymes, words rhyme with each other within a melodic line and can be near or perfect internal rhyme. In the song, I’m the Man by 50 Cent, an example of perfect rhyme is cryin’ and fussin’ in the first line of verse one in which both words have the same words at the end (50 Cent., 2016). Also, in the song The Bigger Problem, the words going and long in the tenth line of the song make a perfect rhyme. The fourth line of the first verse, in words, make and Change comprises near rhyme in which the words have the same vowel sounds (50 Cent., 2016). Both instances of perfect and near rhymes include internal rhyme as the rhyming words are within the same lyric line.

Assonance rhymes have words with the same vowel sounds, whereas consonance rhymes have words with the same consonant sound within the line. An instance of assonance is in the song Power in words: broken and open in the first line of verse one whereby both words have the same vowel sound /e/. In the second verse of the song, the words characteristic and egotistic in the seventh line end with a consonance rhyme (West, 2010). In the song, Won’t Stop, the words so and bought in the sixth line of the first verse have an assonance rhyme, whereas the words say and struggle, have a consonance rhyme. In the song, Fine by Time, the words same and changed in the first line of verse one have an assonance rhyme, and the words throwin', that, and throw have the same consonant rhyme.

Lastly, in identical rhymes, lines have the same word or word ending. An example is in the song Won’t Stop in the chorus, whereby all chorus lines end with the words, a billion. Also, in the song's hook, I’m the Man, all lines end in the term 'I'm the man.' The repetition of words in both choruses is an instance of identical rhyme (Baby, 2020). Composition structure is the order or template pattern in which sections of the song, e.g., the verse, hook, and bridges, are presented. Composition structures that are evident in the songs are iterative. The same phrase is repeated repeatedly, reverting whereby there is the restatement of a phrase after a contrasting one. In strophic, a larger melodic entity is repeated in different stanzas and progressive in which new musical material is continuously introduced. The composition structures are evident in the phrases, repetitive patterns, and traditional and non-traditional patterns.

The traditional song structure is the most common consisting of verse-hook-verse-hook-verse-hook. The traditional song structure is evident in the song Won’t Stop which follows the pattern hook-verse-hook-verse-hook. Most of the songs follow the song structure: introduction, verse, chorus, pre-chorus, bridge, instrumental, and outro, as is the case in the songs I’m the Man, Power, and Fine by Time. The storytelling pop song structure is utilized in cases where the artist has a lot to say. The hooks are smaller, and the main focus is on the emotion and the story being told, as is the song The Bigger Picture. Lil Baby released the song after the killing of George Floyd to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter protests in a call for justice against police brutality in the United States (Baby, 2020). He expresses his anger and confusion when he says that he finds it crazy when police shoot someone and clearly know you are dead but still tell you to freeze. The entire song has been used to express feelings of trepidation and fear.

Rhyme patterns refer to how the different rhyme types are repeated in the song or some song sections. ABAB, AABB, AAAB, and AXAX are used to show some of the rhyme schemes used. When X is used, it shows that a line ends with a word that does not rhyme with any other word in that section (Mill, 2011). In the song, I’m the Man, the rhyming pattern of the first verse is AAXXAABBBCCC whereby: the first two lines end in the same perfect rhyme, the second to lines both have different sounds at the end, the third two lines have the same perfect rhyme at the end, the next lines end in the words pot, lot and lot, which have the same consonant rhyme, and the last three lines end in the words top, stop, and stop with the same consonant rhyme. In the song Won’t Stop, in the first verse, the rhyming pattern is AABBCCXDDXXDDEEX. The first two lines end in the perfect rhyme. The second two lines end in an identical rhyme in the repetition of the word "you," and the third two lines end in an assonance rhyme. However, the seventh line of the verse has no similar sound at the end to other lines. The eighth and ninth lines end in a similar identical rhyme (Mill, 2011). Lines ten and eleven have no similar ending sounds. The next two lines have the same rhyme as lines eight and nine. The fourteenth and fifteenth lines have the same identical rhyme, whereas the last line has no similar word at the end. Lastly, the rhyming pattern in the chorus of the song Power is ABABX, whereby the first and third lines have the same identical rhyme. The second and fourth lines have the same perfect rhyme, while the fifth line has a different sound ending (Mill, 2011). The songs all pass rhetorical messages in their lyrics. Different social issues concerning the position and other perspectives are articulated. Injustice in the countries has been on the rise, especially by those in power. In his song, Lil Baby describes how the police killed a man and prevented demonstrators from protesting against the injustice by the involved police officers. He further says that the police go to the extent of killing them for no reason in line. His song is an expression of his feelings about police brutality. Kanye West mostly describes fame and power distribution in the song Power. In the first verse, he talks about the stereotyping of good and evil. He further explains how the government is the only one too powerful to move to the new world, which should not be the case. Kanye says that those with power always control those who lack power. He says that no one should have such great power in the chorus, and as the clock continues ticking, he shall wait to see it happen when the world finally changes. Kanye West says that he does not even care about what people say or think about him with his fame. He describes his infighting in life on the realization that he is grown up and needs to stand up and even change the real-world politics in the second verse. In the song Won't Stop, Meek Mill explains how he will struggle to achieve the best life and never stop until he realizes his dreams. He says that he has to work hard as success is on its way, so he has to work to get into the second verse. However, he says that those who hate will be disappointed when he attains what he wants and tells people to pray for him in the second verse (Mill, 2011). He believes that all that he dreamt of is coming real, and he will eventually have it all. Meek admires people who have already achieved their goals in the interlude and hopes that he will also fulfill his. Therefore, in the above examples, some social issues are articulated.

They also have certain truths about power that they are trying to articulate. The song The Bigger Picture by Lil Baby expresses how the powerful humiliate the powerless and are not questioned. Following the death of George Floyd, people in Minneapolis continued protesting and out-crying for justice, as expressed in the introduction. With the demonstrators aiming to see the officers who murdered Floyd, they held multiple demonstrations (Baby, 2020). However, the demonstrators were lashed by officers with tear gas and even rubber bullets. Lil Baby describes the irony in how the police, who have power, even go to the extent of shooting someone and still tell them to freeze. The police even held the Man down despite him crying out that he could no longer breathe, which led to his death. The artist further that although the police's role is to protect the citizens, they humiliate and arrest them for no reason. Despite the demonstrators' cry, the government is reluctant to serve justice for the deceased as has always been the case, significantly when the affected are black (Baby, 2020). Therefore, in his song, Lil Baby articulates how those in power use their power to humiliate and deny justice to the local citizens. Besides, Kanye West, in his song Power, describes the people in the 21st Century who want so much power that is not good (West, 2010). He says that because of their remarkable ability, the people exploit the locals and unfavorably rule others. He hopes the world will eventually change and that the new world that will be embraced will have restrictions on power.

Some of the mixtape songs have distinct opinions about identity, including sexual orientation, gender, and race. 50 Cent, in his piece, describes his struggle as the Man to get everything, unlike the women that have only been known to use what the Man already has. Lil Baby produced his song, The Bigger Problem, during the protests for Black Lives Matter. In his music video, Lil Baby joins the protests in fighting the injustices that have mainly affected Black Americans. He says their color should not judge people; instead, their minds and hearts should regard them as not all blacks are dumb or all whites are racists. Everyone, despite their color, should get justice. YoungBoy expresses his feelings about love for women as he does not know their intentions and would not want to mess up again (Youngboy, 2020). He is also afraid that people may mistake him as just any other guy despite him having been through a lot of pain, and he is finally getting over it. Meek Mill says that he will make women think about him and love him in the fifth line of verse one when he finally gets money as women associate with men with lots of money.

Moreover, from the mixtape, these songs have a tremendous emotional expression that can easily be identified in their lyrics. The songs effectively get a positive emotional response. This emotion is especially evident in the songs The Bigger Picture by Lil Baby, Won't Stop by Meek Mill, Fine by Time by YoungBoy, and Power by Kanye West. Throughout his piece, Lil Baby expresses much anger about police brutality and the call to stop the injustices. It is pitiful for the demonstrators clashed with tear gas and rubber bullets by the police when they held their demonstrations (Youngboy, 2020). Despite the many unsuccessful protests, Lil Baby hopes that they eventually find a solution against the injustices resulting from the different races. One becomes empathetic with Meek Mill, who describes his struggle for success that requires him to sacrifice many things during his life’s journey to achieve his goals. YoungBoy effectively passes different emotions when he writes that he has been down and has been through a lot of pain and knows that he will get over it with time and be fine eventually (Youngboy, 2020). In the song Power, it is emotional when Kanye West describes how some people are too unimpressive as they exploit the powerless.