Song Analysis - Cleaning out my closet

This is a rap song called “Cleaning out my closet” by Eminem, it's first released in 2002. In the song Eminem express his anger about his childhood. At the beginning Eminem mentioned many people demonstrate against his lyrics, and the rest of the song tells why his song contains that much anger. Eminem's story is public that almost ever one knows. His Father left Eminem and his mother when he was 1 year old, and he mentioned his own daughter Hailie, said he can’t even picture leaving her,he really felt sad about that. He described how his mother mentally abused him , and in the lyrics, Eminem also mentioned his mother popping drugs in the kitchen. When Eminem grow up, his mother made him a CD trying to fix their relationship, but Eminem didn't think that can fix anything,because he hated his mother so much that he even cursed his mother in the song, and said his daughter Hailie won't even be at Eminem's mother's funeral. The other person he mentioned was his wife Kim.In the lyrics, Eminem rapped “ I’da Killed him, shit I woulda shot Kim and him both”, I think his wife cheated on him because he mentioned “him” in the lyrics. After I did some online research I found out, Eminem and his wife Kim remarried twice ,after the second time they got divorced, Kim went to jail because she refused to receive drug rehabilitation treatment. Overall, in this song, Eminem wanted to express his sad life story.

The issue that the song addresses is about how family education affects a kid, and how important it is to have a healthy family for a kid. About over two decades ago, rap songs were only underground, and were judged bad music because the lyrics are usually degrading and expresses so much anger, that was the kind of music that parents would never want their kids to hear. In truth, I think it tells the stories of the other side of the world which are hard to express. For example, your boss doesn’t treat you fairly, your wife our husband cheated on you, those issues made you so mad and you can’t do nothing. Later on, people bring rap song on stage and it has been dominating the whole music genre, I think it is because this kid of song reflects a lot of people's lives.

Most rap songs flow very fast, and there are a lot of abbreviations, so it’s hard to understand without looking at the lyrics. It is even hard for native speakers.

When we talk about rappers, we will think a lot of black people. The only white rapper that most people know and the best will be Eminem. He is famous for his lyrics and his performance which always contains such strong anger.

I like his song because when I look at the lyrics and listen to the song, I can feel his story. After some research, I found out all the names he used in the song and the stories are real.

Punk

Punk is a kind of rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. It also has a lot of subgenres, like Garage rock in the mid-1960s which was recognized as punk rock’s progenitors, and New Wave in the 1970s, Hardcore in the 1980s, and Pop punk in the 1990s. In general, Punk rock is kind of annoying to a lot of people because the beat is very fast and the singer is like screaming. Maybe you can’t tell what rock is Punk rock, but you can easily distinguish them by their appearance: like a lot of tattoos and body piercings.

How to be a Punk? The following information is from the link below

http://www.wikihow.com/Be-a-Punk"

If you're a fierce individualist who has a bone to pick with the profit-driven world, you might be a punk. Don't be a punk just because you think it's cool. Punk is a mindset and you don't have to dress or look like anything or conform to a name. You can be a blue collar and be punk. Purchasing the hair products, the clothes, and the music; that's buying into society, which is exactly what punk is against. So know who you are, know the reason for the culture, and understand the meaning behind the word. It helps a lot when you just stop trying to be punk because "punk" is just a label. Be yourself but make sure you have a strong attitude that intimidates people so they know that you're the shit and they don't mess with you. Work out a lot because being punk isn't easy; sometimes you get into fights, but win or lose who cares? As long as you are PROUD and defend yourself. Pride is the greatest thing you can have.

Music

1. Go to punk shows to see bands live whenever you can. It is a large part of being a punk. The energy is amazing. You do not have to get in the mosh pit but it is fun to watch. Play safe and have fun. Get to know your local scene, you will see the same people and bands at shows over time.
2. Familiarize yourself with the music; There are many different types of Punk music, and it is important to remember that not every punk listens to every band here. A lot of Punks focus on one era of this music genre as the style of music has radically changed over time. This is a list of each era of Punk music, and some bands that influenced it.

Pop Punk started in the 1990s, Green day is one of the bands which is still popular today.

Over all, Punk isn't all about the dress, but is a state of mind and it can be what you want it to be.

2ed Unit Reflection

As Unit 2 is called Introduction to Pop Culture, I think this unit should be like a warm up before we can go any further. In this unit we mainly learned about the four components of pop culture; people, objects, events, and places. Also we learned culture means of the people, and pop means popular, so it is not hard to understand that pop culture is about the majority of people.

In this unit, we were assigned with many researches and projects regarding the four components of pop culture, which helped me to form an outline about what we are going to focus on. After reading the Introduction to student, I also learned that pop culture is not fixed in time from an example of Shakespeare that he was only recognized by few people, but later on he became extremely popular. I think that is one of the reasons we did the research on trends and fads, because they may be reintroduced in the future.

Other than fads and trends, we also learned about people; public icons. And how did they become popular. As well as technology, and how are they related to each other.

There is another thing I found out very interesting from the youtube videos that so many people were asked about what American Culture is, and it turned out with all the funny answers. I think if I were asked the same question before, I wouldn’t know the answer either. Pop culture is very close to us, but we don’t notice. One time I was writing an essay about cross culture love, and I mentioned American culture. My friend Jun saw it and told me that there is no American culture. I asked why, but he couldn’t explain it very clearly. I think even we don’t call it American culture, but the character of the culture is very clear that it is mixed with some different cultures from all over the world. Therefore, learning pop culture is very important, and it will help us to have a good perspective when dealing with different people.

In the end, if there is a bumper sticker on my car after this unit, it would be “ I know American Culture”.