God Bless Amerika, Lil Wayne
God Bless Amerika, a song introduced to me by two of my grade 12 students. With its links to American policies and the tribulations black society is still facing today, it is a song full of powerful messages and allusions throughout.
According to Lil Wayne, his song is about the following:
"In most people's eyes including my own who were raised in that environment, the Hood is the only America they know and the only America I knew growing up," he said. "I was fortunate from my God giving talents to escape the Hood and see the other beautiful places this country has to offer but most people who are born in that environment don't get that chance. That's their view of their America. That was Dwayne M Carter from Hollygrove, New Orleans view of America. That's who I'm speaking for in this song."
This connection to 'the hood' is a clear theme in Angie Thomas's book The Hate U Give. With 2Pac's song T.H.U.G. (The Hate U Give Little Infants F***s Everybody) having been brought up various times in the book. It seems even 2 decades later, we are still not any further to helping those people make their way out of 'the slums'.
