This drum and horn pattern becomes a staple throughout the song and is a key part of the song maintaining its sound. The guitar is used in slightly different ways throughout both songs, but is important to both songs. For B.B. King, the guitar adds a more soulful and sorrowful dimension to the song while for Masta Ace, a similar guitar sound creates a unique and funky sound that captivates the listener immediately and draws attention to the lyrical content of the piece. The different use of the guitar sounds is symbolic of how hip hop and blues use the guitar to perform different tasks. For Blues the guitar is almost a necessity to the sound and is a key indicator for the style and direction of the song.…
The North and South’s style of fighting Civil War, a war fought between the North Union and the South Confederacy. The war started in 1861, and ended on April 9th 1865. The Unions style of fighting was used first by the Teutonic/Anglo-Saxon fighters. The Confederates style of fighting was the Celtic style. Culture had a lot to do with how each side fought.…
The 1950’s was a decade full of prejudice and oppression, which was greatly relevant in the urban ghettos. In this time period, it was significantly hard to make anything of yourself as a young black man. The majority of black men lived substantially poor and found themselves trapped within the confines of their community. The stories “Fences” by August Wilson and “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin touch on what it was like to be a black man living in the inner city ghettos. Although these two stories are written decades apart by separate authors, they have many key similarities, including historical setting and characters.…
The Civil War was a war that was fought in 1861 – 1865 between the Union (the North) and the Confederacy (the South). The two sides fought for years to see which side may take control over the country and change certain things about the government’s policies one of which included slavery. However, both sides had their reasons on why things should either change or stay the same but if they did not have the advantages needed to survive this war then they would certainly be defeated.…
As any country music fan comparing Hank Williams Sr. and Willie Nelson was an interesting challenge. Both are country music idols noted for changing the industry. The lives of both legends have similarly beginnings, with times of struggle, and time of success. But what marks the difference in these two influential men was the means of how they ended up coping with fame of being in the lime light.…
Each person has his or her individual path to follow, no two paths are exactly the same; but, every now and then, paths interweave and people construct bonds with each other. In the case of Sonny and his brother, the narrator, in James Baldwin’s short story, “Sonny’s Blues”, their paths were parallel with one another until they grew up. Sonny left the slums of Harlem, aspiring to become a musician, while his brother settled in Harlem and became a teacher. Although the narrator and his brother ended up with completely different lives, the narrator being a family man with a teaching job and Sonny, an ex-convict playing jazz at a club, are ironically more similar than they are portrayed.…
The late nineteenth century and early twentieth century was an era of radical ideas that lead to the rapid creation and transformation of several new music genres including the blues. African-American were not allowed to record many songs until the rise of race records which were “records manufactured to present separate lines of material targeted at African American consumers” (Wald). There were several African-American women, including Gladys Bentley, Mamie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Bessie Smith, who have contributed to the creation and the rise of the blues and who transformed music for later generations. During the late nineteenth century and early twentieth, several musical genres and types of entertainment became popular such as the blues. The blues was a musical genre that gained popularity during the 1910’s and 1920’s.…
In his article, To the Deep Water, Robert P. McParland states, “The blues live in Baldwin’s story as a respite from disaster. They suggest a space of suspension between the trouble of life and that breakthrough to wholeness that is temporary.” Sonny was surrounded by drugs and always felt alone and cut off from others. His ability to play Jazz helped him deal with his troubles. It was his means of communication, “Sometimes you’ll do anything to play, even cut your mother’s throat”…
Although both stories are happened in the ghetto neighborhood, both settings are happened in the different location and under different element of inequality. In the story “Sonny’s blues”, the setting is happened in Harlem, New York. This place has predominantly African American residents. It is also a place that you can hardly find any white American. In the text, the author Baldwin describes the environment in Harlem as worst condition.…
What is it that Jimmie Rodgers and the Sugarhill Gang have in common? Both of these artist have created what is now known as the country and rap music genres. Country music was began in Southern United States from folk and blues music in the 1920’s. As well, rap music began in the 1970’s by inner city African Americans. Though, rap may be favored by many country music has a better quality.…
Music is a powerful language which speaks to us, move us, and fills us with emotions. In “Sonny’s Blues”, the voice of jazz reflects the relationship between two brothers. The unnamed narrator who represents one of the one of the sides of the African American experience. Sonny the titular character of the story, Sonny represents the other side of the African American experience. In “Sonny’s Blues” we find an important description of how a musician can express his feeling through his music.…
We see this same concept in the narrator’s reaction during Sonny’s performance. Jazz was something created by the African Americans. It was not only the spreading of a type of music, but the spreading of culture. In Sonny’s Blues, the narrator’s brother “Sonny,” loves playing jazz and would like to live his life just playing jazz. He tells the narrator this, and he replies “`Are you serious?’”…
Compare and contrast racial conflict in the South and the West. This essay will discuss and analyze some of the racial conflict that happened in the South as well as the West. There continues to be racial conflict throughout the world and it has been that way for quite some time now. So does racism, racial profiling and racial conflict differ depending what part of the world or country a person is from?…
Jazz Compare and Contrast Jazz was the music of the 20’s people who listened to it back then were considered rebels. The artists that really got the ball rolling with this new sound was Jelly Roll Morton, Joe King Oliver, Sidney Bichet, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington. These men changed the way people looked at music for ever. They come from different backgrounds but impact the music world in a long lasting way, which leads to their own situations by the end of their careers.…
Jazz is one of the most popular American music genres that arose in the past decade. Jazz has developed around the late 19th century to early 20th century, the time frame when music was an essential part of America. It was an entertainment for everyone who was worn out by the tragedy and misery that arose from ongoing wars. The many music genres that were formed during that time contributed their best traits and formed the well known Jazz. The representative music genres were Ragtime and Blues.…