Tate's Tunes

Music has always been more than just entertainment, and some songs become part of the way people understand political struggles, social inequality, and collective identity. Music can give listeners a way to emotionally experience issues that might otherwise feel distant. My thesis is that music serves an important societal role by turning social commentary into something personal and memorable and allows people not only to hear a message but to feel connected to it. Two works that clearly demonstrate this are Alright  by Kendrick Lamar (2015, United States) and My Shot  from Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda (2015, United States).   Work One: Alright  Kendrick Lamar (2015, Compton/Los Angeles, United States) Released on Kendrick Lamar’s album To Pimp a Butterfly in 2015, Alright  quickly became more than just a successful rap song. During nationwide protests against police brutality, especially those connected to Black Lives Matter, crowds began chanting the r...

One of the most powerful examples of music used to tell a story is found in Hamilton (2015), created by Lin-Manuel Miranda in the United States. Hamilton blends hip-hop, R&B, and traditional musical theater, and tells the life story of Alexander Hamilton through a modern musical lens. Miranda based the musical on Ron Chernow’s biography and transformed a historical narrative into a dynamic performance that speaks to contemporary audiences. Scholars note that the musical reinterprets American history by centering diverse voices and reexamining who gets to tell national stories (Román and Sandoval-Sánchez). A key song that drives both the narrative and thematic development of the musical is “My Shot” (2015), composed and written by Miranda. This song appears early in Hamilton and introduces Hamilton’s relentless ambition and desire to rise above his circumstances. It also establishes relationships with important figures such as Aaron Burr , John Laurens , and Marquis de Laf...