Rationale
My written task one will be completed in the form of an
interview. The interview will be with a great and famous hip-hop artist named
Shawn Corey Carter; known as (Jay Z). Jay Z speaks about previous experiences
and adversities he faced in his life growing up in an extremely violent and
poor African American community and family; He uses African American Vernacular
English (AAVE) to express that in his music. I decided to base my written task
on an interview since I had previous experiences completing this text type, and
was looking forward to enhancing that previous interview even more. I also
thought that an interview would be a good way to throw some questions at Jay Z,
about his personal life and how he relates back to it in the lyrics of his
music, and also about the use of language in his music. The intended audience
is the poor people of the African American community he grew up with in order
to gain motivation and encouragement from his music. I chose them to be my
intended audience because I wanted them to see how Jay Z feels about the way he
grew up in his violent community, and to get some advice from him. Another
intended audience may be people that have a great interest in hip-hop/rap music
since they can understand Jay Z’s meaning and message he is trying to send out
in his music.
With over 75 million records sold globally, and 19 Grammy Awards
for his songs, Shawn Corey Carter or known as Jay Z, has surely secured his
place as one of the best rappers we have ever seen. Below is an interview with Jay
Z about his personal life, music, and language.
Interviewer: Hello and
welcome to our show, it’s a pleasure to have you here with us today!
Jay Z: Thank you, it’s my
pleasure to be here today
Interviewer: Great, I’ll
start by asking you how your career began? And what made you so famous and the
person you are today?
Jay Z: Well, I started
rapping when I was at a very young age, because I enjoyed it and considered it
to be a hobby to myself, and also to express my feelings and escape from the
poverty I lived with, and the violence that surrounded my community. I kept on
performing and writing raps when I could, and eventually by time this is where
I reached. I never thought in my entire lifetime that I would get to where I am
today; and what can I say? it's a dream come true.
Interviewer: I believe much
of your music touch on past experiences and adversities in your life. Am I
right on that?
Jay Z: Yes, that’s
absolutely correct
Interviewer Why is that? And
can you share some examples of that?
Jay Z: Yes, Definitely. I'm
sure you can tell that most of the songs I write are about past experiences I
have faced in my life. I used music to express and share my adversities and
struggles that I have faced during my personal life. For example one of my rap
songs speaks about the unfortunate death of my nephew; as he passed away in a
car accident using the car I gave him as a present. I don't know why, but I
really feel guilty for this so I wrote a song to express the extreme pain I was
and still am going through at the moment. Another example would be my other rap
song, which tells the story of the cruel life of my father and uncle. In this
song, I express to the audience the poverty I lived with when I was a child,
and the violence that surrounded the place I lived in, including my family who
continuously used drugs. I eventually got into using drugs, and this really affected
our entire family and the relationship between my father and myself. My father
later on decided to leave our family, which really affected me in a negative
way. So yeah, many and most of my songs talk about past experiences in my life;
mainly adversities faced.
Interviewer: What is one
moral you have always lived by?
Jay Z: I have always
believed that if you want to aim high and achieve your goals and success, hard
work is required. I mean, I obviously wouldn't be in this position right now if
it wasn't with all my hard work and commitment to what I'm doing. If you have a
clear objective and work hard, then anything is possible.
Interviewer: When you make
your music, what do you think of? Who do you think of? And what motivates you
to write your music?
Well, when I write my music
I think of my family, and the poor, and my fans. I think of the poor back in my
hometown since that was who I once was. I urge all my fans back home not to
commit to the same mistakes I made back those day like getting into drugs and
violence. I particularly think of my father whom I extremely miss after he left
our family as I said. Those people definitely motivate and encourage me to
continue doing what I do best.
Interviewer: Do you think
that your music impacts your audience and the society? If so, how?
Jay Z: Yes, I do believe
that my music does impact my audience in different ways such as the use of
rhyme when writing my songs. The use of rhyme allows the audience to engage
more with the song they’re listening to, which also helps them understand what
I’m writing about. I also use the language I grew up with and the language used
in my culture, which is African American Vernacular English, in order to
attract the Black audience. In my lyrics I also talk about how hard work leads
to success.
Interviewer: What is your
opinion on African American Vernacular English?
As I said, it is the
language I learnt and grew up with. I use it in my music to define who I am,
and what culture I come from, and to attract all the Black audience and friends
back home. I also believe that this is the perfect language used for rap.
Interviewer: What would be some advice you can
give to the younger rappers?
Jay Z: Well I mentioned it
before, and I’ll mention it again, hard work is a must if you want to be
successful at not only rapping, but also anything in life. I would also
convince you kids to not be shy to express your experiences and feelings in
your songs. Also, never let the haters negatively affect you because there is
always those people out there will judge you. Good luck to all of you, and I'm
sure with a bit of hard work all of you will be successful!
Interviewer: That brings us
to the end of this interview; do you have any final words? For the fans
perhaps?
Jay Z: A shout out to all my
fans around the world, love you all. Thank you, it was a pleasure being here, I
really enjoyed it.
