ENGL110 - Rhetorical Analysis Essay PDF

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1 Chukwu Chibuikem Chukwu Dr. Grogan Seminar in Composition September 22, 2020 A Rhetorical Analysis of Lil Baby’s “The Bigger Picture” In the trail of protests over the death of George Floyd by the Black Lives Matter Movement and other activists, Dominique Armani Jones, professionally known as Lil Baby, dropped the music video for his new track “The Bigger Picture”, a video getting 78,932,679 views on YouTube. Dropped on June 12th of this year, this video displays astonishing and gruesome images reminding viewers of the racial discrimination and police brutality. Lil Baby uses his voice, his music, hard facts, and evidence to draw attention to the inequality and treatment his fans must face, who mainly are 15 – 30 year old African – Americans. While riding a bike, wearing a “BLACK LIVES MATTER” shirt and “NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE” mask, Lil Baby uses his influence in the world of rap and hip – hop as well as his successful career as an African – American rapper to increases awareness of racial discrimination and police brutality in society while calling for answers to the unjustly murder of George Floyd, specifically targeted at the black community. While rapping in his video, Lil Baby represents instances of racial discrimination, as well as destruction and violence caused by protesters, drawing on his viewers’ emotions and feelings. At the beginning of the video, it shows Black Lives Matter Movement protesters walking with signs saying, “BLACK LIVES MATTER, NO PEACE UNTIL RACISM CEASE !!!”, “DARK SKIN IS NOT A “CRIME”!!”, “SAY THEIR NAMES”, “ALL BALCK LIVES MATTER”, and many others (Jones). In the music video from 0:06 seconds to 0:10 seconds, you see protesters

2 Chukwu burning buildings and vandalizing property, along with firefighters trying to put out burning buildings, and a burning car (Jones). All these things are happening because the people are angry and furious about all the racial injustice and unjustly murders of black people going on in America. This shows that people are sick and tired of this and that is has gone on for far too long. Then, from 0:34 – 0:36, you see images of protesters destroying property and burning pieces of furniture; and you see a police cruiser riding in the middle of protesters, with protesters on top of the vehicle, and a man break the back window of the police cruiser (Jones). These acts of vandalism and violence sends a message that the pain of these killings is too much for people, and they take out their anger on their cities because the cities are the ones allowing for these things to happen. Later in the video, you see people walking inside a ransacked store and see people throwing Molotov cocktails into the same store afterwards people armed with shotguns, Ars, and equipped with bulletproof vests; also, you can see police cars and firefighters trucks trying to get through the line of cars to put out the burning police car. This demonstrates that protesters understand that violence is the only way for their government and state representatives to hear them. They don’t want to do this, but to the protesters, they see this as the only way that the world will understand their pain and what they are going through. Also, you see a crowd of angry protesters surrounding a car while a protester smashes a bat on the car and several protesters flip the car over. While rapping in his video, Lil Baby represents instances of police brutality through images, his lyrics, and his emotions. In the video, you see tear gas and hear that police are shooting protesters with rubber bullets. He said in the video, “I find it crazy the police’ll shoot you and know that you dead, but still tell you to freeze/Fucked up, I seen what I seen/I guess that

3 Chukwu mean hold him down if he said he can’t breathe” (Jones). This shows that Lil Baby is thinking about how ludicrous the state of mind of police is. This line describes the police’s lack of humanity and thought process that prioritizes defending themselves, instead of the communities that they took an oath and are getting paid to protect. Baby is describing an experience, one that may be familiar to many people, who have probably experienced police brutality or have watched videos of police brutality. Later in the video, he said, “Corrupted police be the problem where I’m from/But I’d be lying if I said it was all of them” (Jones). In the music video, you see a female police officer hugging a little boy, which I assume is her son, with the boy’s father standing on the side. This demonstrates that although some police officers have the mindset to protect themselves rather than the community that they serve, there are some police officers who actually care about the wellbeing of their community and are against the excessive use of force by police officers in society. Baby said, “Crazy, I had to tell all of my loved ones to carry a gun when they going outside/Stare in the mirror whenever you drive/Overprotective to go crazy for mine/You gotta pay attention to the signs/Seem like the blind following the blind” (Jones). Also, during those lyrics, you see burning trees, people marching on the streets, police with gas masks and shields, officers that are wearing masks have their knees on protesters backs, tear gas being thrown at protesters and protesters kicking the tear gas back at the police, a woman hitting a police officer with a bottle, a line of officers with shields as something explodes behind them, and protesters being beaten by police with batons. Baby describes his conduct and cautions as overprotective, but in fact, he’s just reacting on his instincts to protect his family and friends. This lyric utilizes feelings to connect to the emotional situation of a constant urge to protect those you care about.

4 Chukwu Baby said, “I got power, now I gotta say somethin’”. “The Bigger Picture” is more that just a song. It voices the difficulties and problems that the African – American society are dealing with, showing facts while demonstrating the change that the African – American society wants to happen. Baby is using his power to promote awareness about the excessive force used by police and the racial injustice that African – Americans are being shown today. These lines prove his stand on making a change in society: “It’s a problem with the whole way of life/ It can’t change overnight/But we gotta start somewhere/Might as well gon’’head start here/We done had a hell of a year/I’ma make it count while I’m here/God is the only man I fear” (Jones).

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Works Cited Jones, Dominique Armani. “Lil Baby – The Bigger Picture (Official Video).” YouTube, YouTube, 12 June 2020....