Sorry to fill up the comments section, but this should be my last one. (If you haven't noticed, I like talking about this song.) I first heard this song when I was nine, and even though I didn't fully grasp the entirety of it, I was hooked. Now that I'm an adult and a white man with two black sons, this song hits so much deeper. What I take away from "Gangsta's Paradise" is that Coolio is speaking to the young people who live in the kinds of neighborhoods he grew up in and wanting something better for them. He's a grown man who had to get into this way of life in order to survive, so he seems to see himself as a bit of a lost cause, but wishes that the kids who look at him and think he's a cool tough guy (the same way he did with the gangsters in his neighborhood when he was a kid) will have a better future. By the time this song came out, Coolio had children of his own, so I can imagine that he was probably reflecting on himself quite a bit and thinking about what kind of example he was going to set. On a separate note there two other things you mentioned that you said didn't have the whole picture of, so I'll touch on those quickly. The opening line is indeed a biblical reference but with a twist. The verse comes from Psalm 23: 4. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." Short version: it's a verse telling the listener to stay strong in the face of difficulty because as long as God is with you, you have nothing to fear. Coolio's version goes, "As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I take a look at my life and realize there's nothing left." He finds himself in the same kind of difficult situation that the Bible describes, yet he feels no comfort and has no sense of hope for himself because things are really THAT bad (and they were and continue to be). As for the connection to Stevie Wonder, this song, like a lot of hip-hop songs, samples " Pastime Paradise "by Stevie. This still goes on today, but in the 90s, a lot of rappers took hooks from old B-sides and deep tracks from R & B, soul, gospel and funk artists and then re-contextualizing them into songs about their own lives. If I were to bet, I'd be willing to guess that a lot of these tracks were from songs they probably heard from their families' record collections.
@MidnightNotion
2 жыл бұрын
No need to apologize-comments are helpful! Thank you for speaking up about it! This is a really great write-up, and I appreciate you sharing the knowledge. Much respect.
@jvondd
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you, friend!
@MKDumas1981
Жыл бұрын
I want my anger to be healthy, and I want my anger just for me. I need my anger not to control, and I need to set my anger free.
@jvondd
2 жыл бұрын
"Power in the money. Money in the power." is an example of chiasmus. Another good example is when Malcolm X said, "We didn't land on Plymouth Rock. The rock landed on us."
@MidnightNotion
2 жыл бұрын
Yes! Thank you! I’ve learned all these rhetorical devices and forgotten most of them, so when I only have a few minutes to film a reaction, I forget what they’re called. 😂
@jvondd
2 жыл бұрын
I'm glad I still remember some things from my time as a teacher.
@jvondd
2 жыл бұрын
Loc is another word for a crip, and Coolio did hang around with them after he moved to Compton.
@MidnightNotion
2 жыл бұрын
Ahhhh, thank you. That makes a lot more sense. Curious: how does Crip become Loc? Is it a code word or an acronym or something?
@jvondd
2 жыл бұрын
The best explanation I found was that LOC stands for "love of crip." I guess over time it became used as a synonym.
@sophiet1576
2 жыл бұрын
Stevie Wonder doesn't get enough credit for writing this great song.
@MidnightNotion
2 жыл бұрын
Truth! I’m excited to check out the original.
@MKDumas1981
Жыл бұрын
Loc' - short for "loco", Spanish word for "crazy". To loc is to "act a fool", if you will.
@MKDumas1981
Жыл бұрын
19:06 - Speaking of "feel the weight", review "The Motherload" by Mastodon, please.
@snworbatory386
2 жыл бұрын
Can't promise that the song would get a lot of views, but Cocaine by The Josephines would be interesting for you to break down. The band has three guitarists, ones a singer that uses an acoustic, one's on electric, and the other goes between electric and pedal steel guitar.
@carollipton4584
2 жыл бұрын
News flash-don't be making a video deconstructing Gangsta's Paradise if you don't know it was sampled from Stevie Wonder's classic "Pastime Paradise".
@MidnightNotion
2 жыл бұрын
News flash-don’t be a gatekeeper. Everyone learns at their own pace. Not to mention the fact that “Gangsta’s Paradise” charted much higher than “Pastime Paradise,” so not knowing this fact should be pretty common. Take a deep breath. It’s all going to be okay.
@nahoka4378
Жыл бұрын
@@MidnightNotion Yeah, I didn't know it, too, and I know the lyrics of the song by heart. Gate keepers are really dumb af.
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