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Lyrical Analysis Outline:?Thesis: In Lil’ Wayne’s angry protest song highlighting the negative treatment of New Orleans citizens during and after Hurricane Katrina, he asserts a link between the treatment of Katrina victims and institutionalized racism, emphasizes the physical and mental turmoil of the oppressed, and criticizes President George W. Bush in order to reveal his anger about the tragedy. ??Topic Sentence 1: Through his discussions of the police and the media, Lil Wayne highlights the institutional racism that he believes permeated the treatment of New Orleanians during Hurricane Katrina. ??Topic Sentence 2: In the song “Georgia… Bush,” the artist’s emphasis on the sufferings of the victims further condemns the handling of this tragedy.?Topic Sentence 3: Within the song, President Bush is heavily criticized, revealing what Lil’Wayne sees as his poor handling of the tragedy. ?Sample Lyrical Analysis Body SectionPurple: EvidenceTurquoise: Analysis In the song “Georgia… Bush,” the artist’s emphasis on the sufferings of the victims further condemns the handling of this tragedy. The tone of the song is sad and mournful. This begins from the first note when it becomes clear that Lil’ Wayne samples Ray Charles’ classic song “Georgia on My Mind.” Charles’s homage to the state of Georgia functions very differently here. Whereas in the initial version Charles’s bluesy voice is a soulful celebration, in this version the tone matches the dolefulness of the destructive aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Having “Georgia on My Mind” as a backdrop underscores the emotion of the victims’ hardships. The hardships of Katrina’s victims are also evident in Wayne’s uniting himself with the victims of the tragedy. He makes the situation personal. For example, he states “Look at the bullshit we been through” (Lil’ Wayne). His use of the collective pronoun is significant. He includes himself as a victim. He is insisting on a level of unity between himself and the causalities of the tragedy. In the lyrics “But I know people that died in that pool/ I know people that died in them schools, the artist highlights the people being trapped and facing death in community spaces that are supposed to be benign (Lil’ Wayne). He is also indicting the government’s handling of the situation since those are public places that should have been secure. By noting the places of these deaths, a pool and schools, he underscores how widespread the destruction was and the extent to of the mistreatment of the victims. The song also implies that the outside world ignores the humanity of the victims. In the previously noted lyrics, the artist takes people who have been treated as nameless faceless victims and asserts their subjectivity by insisting that he knows them. As a star, noting his connection to the deceased, he calls attention to the horrible circumstances of their deaths and makes his audience acknowledge their humanity. Moreover, when criticizing the media who “Make[s[ it look like a lotta stealin goin on,” he states “I ain't no thief, I'm just tryin to eat” (Lil’ Wayne). Again, he uses the first person, but he also takes on the voice of accused here. Lil’ Wayne, who is worth millions of dollars, was not one of the victims forced to raid local businesses for resources during Katrina, but he gives voice to those who were. This line is simple yet powerful. The need to eat is a basic function that takes on even more significance when destruction and carnage are very present and the need to survive is paramount; thus he is pointing out the ridiculousness of claims of widespread looting by Katrina survivors. Lil Wayne further highlights the poor treatment of the people of New Orleans by asserting how the citizens have been neglected after the tragedy. He uses hyperbole in the chorus for dramatic effect. He says “We from a town where (Georgia)/Everybody drowned, andEverybody died, but baby I'm still prayin wich ya”(Lil’ Wayne). Everyone did not literally drown and die. However, according to Alyson Plyer in an article from , 80% of New Orleans was flooded; 986 people died in the city, and 40% of those deaths were due to drowning (Plyer). Wayne’s hyperbole is appropriate because while everyone did not die, it may have felt that way to citizens. Entire neighborhoods were destroyed; some of these neighborhoods never recovered. Hence, he insists upon the totality of the destruction. Just as the destruction is enormous, so is the grief. In the chorus, Wayne explains that “Everybody [is] crying.” Wayne acknowledges the collective anguish of the event. The grief of this community is palpable in this line. A sense of the frustration of the victims is heightened by the line “Aint nobody tried” (Lil Wayne). The authorities have ignored the people, and the humanity of the survivors has been diminished. Wayne posits prayer as the victims’ only recourse; prayer is often something that takes places when control is out of the hands of the one in need. Thus, Lil’ Wayne leaves his reader with a sense of the powerlessness that the people feel. He continues with the theme that the people have been ignored after the event by giving voice to the impact of bureaucracy on the New Orleans citizens. He says “Wait, have you heard the latest, they sayin you gotta have paper if you tryin to come back” (Lil’ Wayne). He is noting how difficult it is for people to return to the city after the disaster. “Paper” may have a dual meaning. Paper is slang for money, and paper can represent the documents that identify citizens, such as drivers licenses, social security cards, and birth certificates. Because for many people all earthly possessions were destroyed in the hurricane and flooding, they do not have the proper identifying documents. Moreover, in the aftermath, some of the poor neighborhoods are being redeveloped for more prosperous citizens. Thus, people have been displaced and replaced and the absence of identifying documents means that some people, if only temporarily, are being erased. Furthermore, he delivers this line using a tone that is conversational, as if he is one of the people subjected to these circumstances. The implication here is that new assertions that survivors need papers in order to return is just one in a long list of bureaucratic requirements needed to reclaim their lives. The previous line is followed by “Niggas thinkin it's a wrap, see we can't hustle in they trap, we ain't from (Geeoorrggiaa)” (Lil’ Wayne). “Trap” here may work in two ways as well. Trap in Standard American English is either a circumstance in which an unsuspected attack lays in wait or a space that allows no exit. According to the Urban Dictionary, one of the slang definitions of trap is a situation in which one engages in illegal activities in order to earn money. Both the standard and slang definitions are appropriate, Wayne suggests, in regards to the way that the government treats the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The government prompts the victims to move away from home to places where they face poverty, confront unfamiliarity, and contemplate the uncertainties of return. Worse yet, this trap was created by governmental failures in maintaining the levees of New Orleans; these failures were due either to disinterest or cost saving measures; both of which are criminal. The theme of suffering New Oreleanians in the face of disinterested authority figures continues. Wayne’s asserts that “now the white house hatin, tryin to wash away like we not on the map” and “Noooww it's them dead bodies, them lost houses, the mayor say don’t worry bout it.” He is insisting that the people of the state are criminally neglected. Likewise, he notes “the children have been scarred, no one’s here to care bout em”(Lil’ Wayne). The New Orleans newspaper The Times-Picayune noted that by 2010, 25% of children studied suffered from depression related to Katrina. This further illustrates Lil’ Wayne’s message. By including the claim about the pain of the children near the end of the song, he illustrates the hardships of the most vulnerable victims of the event. He uses the word “scarred” because scars never fully disappear; they may heal, but evidence of the former wound remains. Therefore, he notes that the far reaching effects of the storm will last forever. Those scars go ignored by people in power. Thus children, like all of the other victims, according to Lil’ Wayne, have been horribly mistreated during and after the tragic events of 2005. ................
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