I liked the idea of choosing a piece of media that many people come in contact with, and I know twitter is huge for social networking these days. I chose to use a tweet from rapper Wiz Khalifa. The tweet was posted in the morning, and Wiz is describing what he is doing since he's awake and ready to start his day. Wiz puts his own spin on the phrase "the finer things in life".
What is Wiz implying from his phrase "Smokin On The Finer Things In Life"?
What does this phrase mean to Wiz?
Is there significance to the rest of his post (after he says "Smokin On The Finer Things In Life")? Or is there no significance?
Does the rest of his post affect his phrase "Smokin On The Finer Things In Life"?
How does his word choice impact his audience?
Prompt #4
ReplyDeleteWiz Khalifa is a well-known rap artist and performer. In the majority of his songs, he has a specific type of ethos he writes with. Wiz writes his lyrics based on his own beliefs, morals, and experiences in his life. Looking at the song, ‘Young, Wild, n Free’, Wiz (along with Snopp Dogg and Bruno Mars) rap about their carefree attitude.
In the song, Wiz Khalifa raps, “Roll joints bigger than King Kong's fingers and smoke them hoes down 'till they stingers.” With this line, Wiz is implying that he smokes a large amount of weed. He is also writing about a personal experience with the drug. Numerous times in the song, Wiz raps, “We're just having fun, we don't care who sees.” With this verse, Wiz is telling everyone that he doesn’t care what anyone thinks of him. He believes that everyone should have this worry free and care free attitude.
Because he is so bold and open with his lyrics, his message is quite frank. As a listener, we understand the message of the song simply as: smoke, drink, be happy and don’t care if people judge you for it.
I think his use for the phrase,”Smokin on the finer things in life” while not literal is a big indication of how present drugs are in Wiz's life. As mentioned above much of wiz's music talks about drugs and the "carefree life" that goes along with it. I think this phrase an alarming indication on how casually he has come to accept drugs into his lifestyle. I also think that this phrase emphasizes how much drugs are present in our thought of the “American dream”. Wiz is a financially successful and popular figure in today’s society. To many people this is a goal in life and as seen through Wiz’s statement drugs have become a staple of this life.
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right. By tweeting about how awesome his morning is because he smoked "the finer things in life" is implying that smoking is what helps to make his life great. This statement alone helps to show how reliant he is on drugs alone to make his life better. I also believe that being such a popular public figure makes many people believe that he has a lot of credibility. With his credibility could be potentially influencing others to use substances along with himself.
DeleteTo reply to the questions...
DeleteWiz Khalifa's tweet about "Smokin The Finer Things In Life" implies that by using his status as a celebrity, he has access to a certain substance that most people can not enjoy. His position in today's society suggests that while smoking or not smoking weed is an issue that people debate on, he has chosen to embrace the effects and image of openly being a user of marijuana. As depicted in the themes and lyrics of his songs, such as "On My Level" and "No Sleep", Wiz does not shy away from the lifestyle that he has grown into loving. Using his tweet and his songs as references, his career consists of doing things he liked to do in his childhood, and has continued to do so in his adulthood. This brings up how some dreams of a young person's future can be based on the things he/she enjoyed in the past, and implementing them into your everyday life after their scholastic career.