Euphamisms in Music


 Recently, I have been fascinated with the social nuances of communication described in Steven Pinker's piece, "Words Don't Mean What They Mean". So much so that it reminded me of a certain Drake song that makes extensive use of social euphemisms throughout its lyrics: Drake's "Diplomatic Immunity"(featured in his 2018 album, Scary Hours) illustrates a sophisticated way to communicate indirectly. This indirectness allows him to accomplish a sort of authority ranking: a social frame that allows individuals to demonstrate their relative authority within a particular social group while still demonstrating appropriate decorum. As Pinker points out, the primary function of indirectness is to allow us to manage relationships and avoid coming off in an undesirable manner. 

Drake accomplishes this goal of managing his face by describing his lifestyle through a series of euphemisms that convey his status without simply stating that he's richer or has more power than others in the music industry. In a way, he cushions his feats with these sophisticated euphemisms. The title of the song in itself is a euphemism; Drake does not have immunity from a legal perspective, but has immunity in the rap game for being such a unique and accomplished artist.

In addition, Drake uses several other euphemisms to describe the structure of his life, beginning with how he refers to his home: "I call the house the embassy, the studio the chapel." Here, he refers to his home as an embassy, which implies that it is a site of legal leadership or importance and therefore enjoys some form of legal immunity. In effect, he demonstrates his immunity to the law (in the music industry, not actual law), as well as saying that he's richer than you without explicitly stating so. 

Similarly, Drake's reference to having a "Security Government Tier" further reinforces an authority ranking that places him at the same level as other heads of state and therefore conveys his sense of security and stability within the rap game that others cannot achieve. Obviously, he has no legal power; he's trying to tell the listener that he has power in his own field through creative lyricism.

The most successful threats are those that are couched in sophistication; thus, Drake demonstrates his ability to establish himself as a hip-hop superior through a more refined and diplomatic means of establishing authority than simply boasting about it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Srevol Cisum

Anthropologists are often struck by the auditory practices of the tribe known as Srevol Cisum. Day in and day out, the members of this cult-like tribe shove sacred cords into their ears. Some even maintain this sacred level of holiness without cords; they use devices that resemble white stones that seamlessly blend into their appearance. These are known as Sdop Ria. These devices, when paired with a black magic slab, allow the user to perform a brain-pleasing ritual in which they become consumed by the invisible vibrations of sound that are emitted into their ears.  The audiophiles of the Srevol Cisum tribe have come to believe that the human spirit has a natural tendency toward "the silence", a frightening nothingness that may only be kept at bay through the continuous creation of rhythmic sounds. To avoid the emptiness, many members of the tribe go through the ritual of utilizing their holy Sdop Ria. Through their production of an unending series of incantations, each membe...
Read more

Whistling Vivaldi and the Art of Disarming Prejudice

Image
"I first began to know the  unwieldy  inheritance that I'd come into--the ability to alter public space in ugly ways." - Brent Staples   The quote above is a statement made by Brent Staples in his piece "Just Walk on By" in which he encounters the deep realization that his race has an overwhelming effect on public space--a realization that shouldn't be true, but is an unfortunate reality of the society we live in. In this piece he explores the idea of him being a victim in a world where men like him are painted as a threat, creating a dynamic irony that intrigued me to write about him in my blog.   One thing  that I found especially  intriguing  was the fact that Staples felt the need to sing "sunny selections from Vivaldi's four seasons" in which he labeled this action as a precaution to seem less threatening. Music usually serves as an escape, but it was a shield for Brent Staples.  Perhaps in  the realm of literature, nothing rivals the ha...
Read more

The Overwhelming Burden of a Wife

Image
  In the recent weeks of AP Lang, we spent a great deal of time discussing a  rather controversial  yet intriguing topic: gender roles. One piece that especially sparked my interest was I Want a Wife by Judy B rady.  In this piece, Judy discusses the overwhelming burden that a wife must carry  through the  satirical  perspective of a husband’s demands:  a wife that can cook, clean, take care of the kids, give up education, stay loyal, etc.  By adopting the perspective of a demanding husband, she highlights how selfish and one-sided traditional marriage roles are. She  isn't   looking  for a wife; she is exposing how  much  wives are exploited.   After reading this piece,  I was left in sheer awe with the burden of  a wife . It left me in a state of  true appreciation  for women like my mother who do so much around the house . However, I hold  just   as much  appreciation f...
Read more