Values

The people in the stories that we have been reading for the past few weeks have all been placed in horrible situations. But yet the majority of them have faith that things will turn around and eventually get better. In Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round’, the narrator is showing the determination to march to the freedom land and now one will stop him, not the officers or any other white man. In the song, We Shall Overcome; there is hope that their freedom in due course will be granted. It is similar to the song, All God’s Chillen Had Wings, the slaves were told by the old man to wait for salvation, they needed to get to their lowest point before they could “fly away” from their suffers and be free.. The Strange Fruit reminded me of The Message and N.Y. State of Mind and how graphic both were. The narrator in The Message spoke about the life in the city and how drugs and violence were part of the daily routine. In Strange Fruit, the story gives the reader disturbing scenes involving the treatment and killing of slaves. All these stories are all about giving the singer/reader inspiration to keep fighting, to help them keep moving one foot in front of the other when things get rough. Some songs also tell the reader the hardships people have to go through in life.

John Henry

John Henry gave hope to the African American population because he beat the white man’s steam-powered drill in a race to see who could drill through the mountain faster. After he completed the tunnel and beat the white man’s drill, he died of exhaustion. He worked hard everyday to survive. John Henry went through a lot of hardship in his life, being prosecuted by whites, stuck in slavery, and also when digging a tunnel using only a hammer. The hardship John Henry went through showed in the ballad and it inspired others to be like him and to push through when times got a tough. The similarities between John Henry and both Nas’ songs, The Message and N.Y. State of Mind is all three talk about the hardships they have to or had to endure in their life. The hardships are different between Nas and John Henry, Nas is not a slave, but for Nas and many others in similar situations had to work hard everyday in order to see the following day. Nas talked about the life in the ghetto and the rough times that came with growing up there. Nas had to protect himself from other gangs when he lived in the city, he says in N.Y. State of Mind: “Try to cock it, it wouldn’t shoot now I’m in danger.” Some people look to Nas songs for inspiration and some even want to be like him because in today’s world it is cool to some to be gangsters. But though John Henry did not need a gun to protect him, he still had to hit pieces of steel with his hammer carefully because it could lead to his or others death if not taken seriously.