Diving into “Doo Wop”
Sometimes as human beings, we can only see the surface of things. We look at air planes flying in the sky, bridges over bodies of water, or even an artistic work of art and may question a little on how it came to be; but it is not until we choose to gain another understanding, until we choose to dig deep; this is when we realize that what we chose to observe, came with a lot of background history, information, thinking, meditation and practice to actually become a genius form of expression. “Doo-Wop” by Lauryn Hill is just one of those songs. Anyone can get lost in the flow, the beat and harmony waving out of their mom’s old radio, cd and cassette player; or by listening to it on a new modern day technology, the “iPod;” but until one chooses to actually “listen” and hear the lyrics, one can see that there is a lot of background history, information, thinking, meditation and practice that helped shape the song into what it is today, pure genius. A lot of the information that helped Doo Wop become the work of art that it is today is based off of Hill’s experience with her society, environment and observations of different of different mediums. I would argue that societal trends with men and women in the African American community caused Hill to revolt in a way where she wanted to raise a level of awareness and create more “conscious” minds through her music to help change these trends.
The title “Doo Wop” sets listeners up for what they are about to hear. Doo Wop is a style of R&B music which emerged in the 1940’s and 50’s, from blues and jazz artist. Doo wop consists of harmony, nonsense syllables, a simple beat, little to no instrumentation and simple music and lyrics. Lauryn Hill definitely shares her message in this way and although these lyrics are simple, they tell a story and give a message, so that it will cause people to think.
One of the ways were Hill tells a message and expose a truth is by simply shedding light on things that are done corruptibly, and her focus is on African American men and women . “It’s been three weeks since you been looking for your friend, the one you let hit it and never called you again….” Hill is talking to women who put themselves in situations where they minimize their worth all for the value of a buck. “Remember when he told you he was about the Benjamins, you act like you don’t hear him then give him a little trim….” Hill is directly talking to women who relate or have done similar things such as promiscuously giving up their bodies in order to gain materialistic worth such as money. Hill is exposing the “ignorance” in women who act in this way and manner. She is telling women that this is not the way to go and even puts herself in there, saying that she has gone through similar situations and that she was once blinded. Hill was in the dark and came to a truth and is now sharing the light. She exposes women who claim to be religious and follow Christianity or Islam, but chooses not to follow the Sirat al-Mustakeem which is an Islamic term meaning: following the straight and narrow path toward heaven and God. Instead these women are acting like Jezebel who in the Bible uses her sexuality for gain and power. Hill is showing the hypocrisies in women who
R & B/Hip-Hop
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