The Manifestation of Black's Social Struggles in Rap Music in the USA: Tupac Shakur and Kendrick Lamar as Case Studies

Abstract

This dissertation delves into the historical and cultural meaning of Black Rap Music in addressing social struggles of the American Black society. It seeks to analyse how the ideas of discrimination on the basis of race, oppression, and the struggle for social justice get expressed in the music of two performers: Tupac Shakur and Kendrick Lamar. The paper does this based on Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA). From the lyrics of the targeted songs, the research identifies the social expressed through vocabulary and other linguistic elements. All this, the paper indicates, is an expression of their lived experience and resistance. How the use of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) gives authenticity to the message, and in doing so, proves that the ability in the rap music domain is most effective in the lyrics of the home front, but not confined to the home front alone, as it transcends across the world. Rap music communicates, makes demands for a change, and creates awareness of the perpetual struggle.