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Rhetorical Analysis of Snoop Lion's "No Guns Allowed" Song
Rhetorical Analysis: Snoop Lion’s No Guns Allowed
Hip-hop usually depicts violence and promotes it with verses that talk about drug use and guns. Snoop Dogg now known as Snoop Lion was no exception to that for most of his music career he rapped about violence and drug use. With his album reincarnation he is trying to make a more positive message to the youth. Turning over a new leaf and spreading love and peace is all about what this song preaches.
As a teenager Snoop Dogg was frequently in trouble with the law. He was a member of the Rollin’ 20 Crips gang in Eastside of Long Beach. Shortly after graduating high school Snoop Dogg was arrested for possession of cocaine, and for the next three years Snoop was in and out of prison. Being a self proclaimed pimp and being in gangs and living a lifestyle that was dangerous for a long time, once he got older he realized that his music was promoting violence and expelling hate. When he converted religions to Rastafarian he changed his image and renamed himself Snoop Lion upon his so called reincarnation he changed the music he was making to give a more positive message to the youth. A rhetorical analysis of the song No Guns Allowed will prove that Snoop is trying to spread a positive message and change his ways.
The Situation
The situation for No Guns Allowed is set after all the recent school shootings that have happened such as Sandy Hook, and Columbine. Snoop Lion and his daughter Cori B come together on the track to talk about the horrible tragedies that have happened in school shootings across America. Their message is clear that they don’t want to see anymore gun violence. Lyrics such as “When the bodies hit the ground, there's nothing left to say, ay, ay
Me don't want to see no more innocent blood shed
Me don't want to see no more youth dead” prove that Snoop and his daughter Cori B are done seeing youth added to a list of casualties due to gun violence.
Context
The song No Guns Allowed was in response to shootings that have been happening around the country lately. In the video for No Guns Allowed Snoop stops the music and shows actual news feed from the Columbine shooting, Sandy Hook shooting, and the Dark Knight Rises shooting. You get images of people crying and sounds of gun shot filling the air and children screaming. Listening to that as part of the song makes the message very powerful that gun violence needs to end. It brings each individual incident of gun violence into one video to make it clear that it’s a problem in not just our country but around the world.
The Audience
The intended audience of Snoop Lion’s music was young inner city male and females. Although, Snoop Dogg’s music was more popular with African Americans when he was rapping and making hip-hop tracks when he converted religions to Rastafarian and started spreading a positive message with his music he gained popularity with other races.
The Purpose
The intended purpose for the song No Guns Allowed was to serve as a way to draw attention to the issues of gun violence in our country and to try and get listeners to bring a stop to gun violence. Which is done by showing news clippings of shootings that have happened recently and playing news feed from shootings that have happened recently during the course of the song playing out. And is also shown with powerful lyrics that get people to think about the cost of gun violence all over the world. Verses such as this are evidence that gun violence has become a problem and we need to start recognizing it and taking action.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah news from back home, This when it hurts to be gone, Two more young names to be carved out of stone, One summer day that went horribly wrong, Got my dawg on the phone, Cryin’ and sayin’ to leave him alone, but I’m not leavin’ his side, I know that somebody died, somebody’s child, Some people ducked down and some people hide, Some people cannot react in time, Bullets do not choose a victim, It is the shooter that picks ‘em.”
Ethos
Snoop Dogg was a part of gun violence for a long time because he was in a gang and dealt with gun violence on a daily basis. Dealing with gun violence on a regular basis opened his eyes to how it effected the people around him and dealing with the loss of people he loved due to gun violence. Once he lost people he loved to gun violence it changed the way he looked and gun usage and made him not want to write songs that talked about gun violence anymore so he started writing Rastafarian music with a positive message.
Pathos
Snoop Dogg uses current events in the video from shootings that have happened recently to appeal to the emotion of the viewer and make them see how gun violence effects the peoples lives that it touches. When I watched the video it made me stop and think about what gun violence really does cause in our lives and it made me want to take action to change gun violence happening around the world. A good way that he appeals to emotion in the song is with the sound of children screaming and gun shots going off and people crying. You just feel emotional when you hear the panic of a shooting and the fear in peoples voices. It really makes you stop and think about the damage that guns can do to peoples lives.
Logos
Snoop uses logic to appeal to the listener by showing news articles, and playing news footage from mass shootings. These are real historical events that Snoop is using to reinforce his message of ending gun violence. I think using the footage from the actual shootings and news articles from these tragedies made his message stronger. Stopping the music to play news footage and have the people from the shootings speaking in his video gives a logical backing to his message. The while the song is playing there is video of mass shooting scenes and articles about it rolling across the screen.
The Conclusion
A rhetorical analysis of the song No Guns Allowed by Snoop Lion reveals that the message behind the song is to make changes to help prevent gun violence. The reason that I choose to do No Guns Allowed by Snoop Lion is because I love the message behind the song because gun violence has touched my life and I really support the message behind this song. Gun violence could be prevented if we all stepped up and voted to get stricter regulations on guns and gun ownership. Change is necessary to protect our youth and youth around the world from gun violence.
