Prisoner Of Words Laurryn Hill Analysis

African American Literature African American culture in the United States of America started with the cultural traditions of many African ethnic groups. This culture is distinct and part of American culture. The principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System (U.S. Census Bureau) defines the African Americans as “people having origins in any of the Black race groups of Africa.” This culture is native to the descendants in America of survivors of the Middle Passage. The Africans were not able to practice their cultural traditions, practices, values, and beliefs in America. Over time, they turned out to have included a few things from European American culture to their system. African American culture developed apart from the mainstream American culture because of their want to practice their own traditions and continuance of racial segregation. Two famous female artists came out on a show called Def Poetry reciting their original pieces. One artist named Alicia Keys recited her poem called “P.O.W.”, which stands for Prisoner of Words. The other Artist, Lauryn Hill, recited her poem called “Motives and Thoughts”. Each poem discussed the effect of society on people. The …show more content…
The speaker questions if they could take in what she really wants to say or if they would rather see her change so she could please others rather than herself. It is important for each individual to be themselves instead of putting on a façade or filtering their words. However, it is difficult for everyone to do that because of society. Lauryn Hill discussed in a poem called “Motives and Thoughts” what society is and how it works. “Social delusion, clearly constructed / Human condition, morals corrupted,” society has great influence on people and what they think. An example of this is the media, who controls what people think and see by injecting only one thought and one way of doing things into their