As discussed in the lecture, musicians and other artists have often engaged in social commentary in their music and respective art forms. Can music with a socially conscious message have a positive effect or a negative effect? Why? Give an example of a song that has addressed a social issue. How was it received? What role does the performer of the song play in the reception of the song’s message? Do the commercial aspects of the music business affect the role of the artist in terms of social commentary? Why or why not? Does art have the power to change minds?
Student 1
To me, music with socially conscious messages can both have a positive effect and a negative effect. I say this because it depends on the time and the current state of society. A time where people are more conservative might invoke more opposition to it, but a period where people are more open-minded would produce more positivity and pushes for change.
A good example of a song that has addressed social issues is Childish Gambino’s This Is America. The song sheds light on the poor state of the American system upon historically marginalized populations. The song was very popular and well-received by the public as it’s almost at 800 million views with 11 million likes on YouTube. Childish Gambino is a popular rapper before he released this song, but even if he wasn’t I still think the reception of the song’s message would still be the same as again, we are in a period where people are more open to pushing for change. There may be cases where commercial aspects of the music business affect the role of the artist in terms of social commentary, however, I think there are only a few cases of that. Currently, most music is a form of free expression and there is a lot of music made by popular artists that are considered controversial. So, if businesses are letting these artists make controversial music, I don’t think the role of the artist in social commentary changes. Overall, Art has the power to change minds as it expresses things in a different way than just pure words.
Student 2:
A more recent example of songs that address social issues that got quite popular is “Lockdown” by Anderson Pakk. This song was released around the time when the Black Lives Matter protests were at its peak, and there were multiple accounts of police brutality. Anderson raps about how in an attempt to protest about police brutality resulting in the murders, the protestors get tear-gassed and shot with rubber bullets along with the other aspects of oppression. I remember seeing something that said this was one of the songs Barack Obama had in his playlist. Another band I thought of was Rage Against the Machine. Their very name is a stance is to rage against “the machine” which I believe is supposed to be our capitalist society and its oppressive structures. I think they’re my favorite example of rebelling against the authority and promoting left-wing progressive views. They used their music platform to share ideas and participated in political protests and activism. Art absolutely has the power to influence and change minds. One that sticks out to me is Kanye Wests College Dropout album. Growing up I always heard the rhetoric of needing to go to college to be successful and the album was a new perspective to me of someone who didn’t but followed their passion and became successful taking a different path.
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