Arauz_Blog7
In The Culture Industry Adorno and Horkheimer argue that, “culture now impresses the same stamp on everything.” (1) They go further into this argument by giving an example on how trends in culture all revolve around the same ideas, “As soon as the film begins, it is clear how it will end, and who will be rewarded, punished, or forgotten. In light music, once the trained ear has heard the first notes of the hit song, it can guess what is coming and feel flattered when it does come.” (3)
To go further into what Adorno and Horkheimer argue, I will be using a couple of popular songs on the radio to help explain how culture sets off the same trends through media. I argue that the majority of music, especially rap, mostly talk about money, drugs, and/or women in degrading ways. First, I used the song “I Luv Dem Strippers” by 2 Chainz where lyrics revolved around the following:
Money
“When I’m in kitchen, I make plenty cash”
Drugs
“Every line is dope, you can snort it”
Women
“Tell shawty come here, she got plenty ass”
Next, I used the song “Bandz A Make Her Dance” by Juicy J
Money
“Like a broke atm I'm a spillin all this cash”
Drugs
“20 stacks in one night, I be on trippy shit”
Women
“She start twerking when she hear a song, the stripper pole her income”
“She put that ass off in my hands, I remote control it”
Last, I used the song “Pop That” by French Montana.
Money
“Ballin’, ballin’, like I play for New England”
“Spend it, spend it, spend a stack every minute”
Drugs
“We pop a molly, she buss it open”
Women
“She got a big booty so I call her Big Booty”
“2 for me, 2 for you
Feed them bitches carrots
Fuck ‘em like a rabbit
Sorry thats a habit”
There are many other songs that I could have included lyrics to just to give an example of how certain trends are constantly implemented in today’s music. However, as you can see, from just three popular songs in the radio, I was able to easily find lyrics that pertained to all three (money, drugs, women). Money is usually rapped about in terms of amount and how money is usually spent on drugs and is thrown “in the air” because they have such an excessive amount. Drugs are usually rapped about in terms of having so much money that they also have an excessive amount of money to go toward drugs to live the life of a celebrity. Women are usually placed in the same category as money and drugs, just another object to make men happy.
Something I found interesting is that two of these songs mentioned “Al Capone” and “The Godfather” in terms of looking up to them. If there are rappers looking up to their lifestyles, then of course they’re going to want to live a life filled with women, drugs, money, and violence. By repetitively enforcing these ideas in the media, the audience slowly accepts the concepts that are being portrayed and therefore act on those ideas in their everyday life.
On a final note, Adorno and Horkheimer also argue that in films with sound, the individual gets lost in the storyline of the movie and therefore loses any form of imagination and becomes a part of the film—which they then turn into reality in forms of their lifestyle. (4) The same can be argued when it comes to the music industry. These lyrics give off ideas to individuals on how it is “expected” for women to act and how to treat them, that blowing off money for drugs will make you carry an “ordinary” lifestyle and attract women, and that drugs will make the ride worthwhile. The beats of music, which is a reason why most people listen to rap music, distract us all from the real content in the music but also make us “okay” with the idea that these lyrics are used in this type of music for the only reason that it has a “good beat”.
In The Culture Industry Adorno and Horkheimer argue that, “culture now impresses the same stamp on everything.” (1) They go further into this argument by giving an example on how trends in culture all revolve around the same ideas, “As soon as the film begins, it is clear how it will end, and who will be rewarded, punished, or forgotten. In light music, once the trained ear has heard the first notes of the hit song, it can guess what is coming and feel flattered when it does come.” (3)
To go further into what Adorno and Horkheimer argue, I will be using a couple of popular songs on the radio to help explain how culture sets off the same trends through media. I argue that the majority of music, especially rap, mostly talk about money, drugs, and/or women in degrading ways. First, I used the song “I Luv Dem Strippers” by 2 Chainz where lyrics revolved around the following:
Money
“When I’m in kitchen, I make plenty cash”
Drugs
“Every line is dope, you can snort it”
Women
“Tell shawty come here, she got plenty ass”
Next, I used the song “Bandz A Make Her Dance” by Juicy J
Money
“Like a broke atm I'm a spillin all this cash”
Drugs
“20 stacks in one night, I be on trippy shit”
Women
“She start twerking when she hear a song, the stripper pole her income”
“She put that ass off in my hands, I remote control it”
Last, I used the song “Pop That” by French Montana.
Money
“Ballin’, ballin’, like I play for New England”
“Spend it, spend it, spend a stack every minute”
Drugs
“We pop a molly, she buss it open”
Women
“She got a big booty so I call her Big Booty”
“2 for me, 2 for you
Feed them bitches carrots
Fuck ‘em like a rabbit
Sorry thats a habit”
There are many other songs that I could have included lyrics to just to give an example of how certain trends are constantly implemented in today’s music. However, as you can see, from just three popular songs in the radio, I was able to easily find lyrics that pertained to all three (money, drugs, women). Money is usually rapped about in terms of amount and how money is usually spent on drugs and is thrown “in the air” because they have such an excessive amount. Drugs are usually rapped about in terms of having so much money that they also have an excessive amount of money to go toward drugs to live the life of a celebrity. Women are usually placed in the same category as money and drugs, just another object to make men happy.
Something I found interesting is that two of these songs mentioned “Al Capone” and “The Godfather” in terms of looking up to them. If there are rappers looking up to their lifestyles, then of course they’re going to want to live a life filled with women, drugs, money, and violence. By repetitively enforcing these ideas in the media, the audience slowly accepts the concepts that are being portrayed and therefore act on those ideas in their everyday life.
On a final note, Adorno and Horkheimer also argue that in films with sound, the individual gets lost in the storyline of the movie and therefore loses any form of imagination and becomes a part of the film—which they then turn into reality in forms of their lifestyle. (4) The same can be argued when it comes to the music industry. These lyrics give off ideas to individuals on how it is “expected” for women to act and how to treat them, that blowing off money for drugs will make you carry an “ordinary” lifestyle and attract women, and that drugs will make the ride worthwhile. The beats of music, which is a reason why most people listen to rap music, distract us all from the real content in the music but also make us “okay” with the idea that these lyrics are used in this type of music for the only reason that it has a “good beat”.