When people think of Memphis, Tennessee, it is often that music comes to mind first. Memphis is a unique city that has become known for its electric rhythm and soul that fuels just about every well known attraction in town. It’s most well known area, and I mean well known by much more than just the locals, is the downtown area. In all the photos of this part of town, you see nothing but its musical history and artist culture that is deeply engraved in this city. Downtown Memphis is displayed as this special place where soulful live music plays and cultured locals roam. Every Memphis logo can be found sporting at least some symbol indicating that Memphis is in fact music.
Now when people that aren’t from around here think of Memphis music, it’s safe to say one very famous artist comes to mind at some point. Elvis Presley. He is a staple item to this city. Some would call it the city’s pride and joy. Not to discredit Mr. Presley’s once remarkable talent, but the music that came out of Memphis, and still continues to, is much more diverse than rock and roll. That brings me to my argument. What is Memphis music and what makes it unique to this culture rich city we live in?
I find this question difficult to answer and I think the reason being is that there’s no one answer. If you actually break down Memphis’s vast musical history, you will find that artists from just about every genre have gotten their start here. So for me, I think the genre that best represents the constant hustle, the grit, and the devastating crime and poverty that is often overlooked is the genre none other than rap. This city is constantly moving and changing but many of the areas some extremely well known rappers have lived in are still just as dangerous as they used to be. I will dive deeper into this later, but it’s important to understand the unique rhetoric that these specific areas of Memphis carry. Rappers tend to get their inspiration for their lyrics from the difficulties they’ve had to overcome throughout life and the hardships they’ve faced. Let’s listen to an example from the legendary, Three 6 Mafia.
If you forward to the 0:38 you will hear these city and location defining lyrics that rhetorically describe the city of Memphis at the time this group of rappers were making a name for themselves in 2005.
“Done seen people killed, done seen people deal
Done seen people live in poverty with no meals
It’s messed up where I live but that’s just how it is
It might be new to you but it’s been like this for years
It’s blood sweat and tears”
CANONS OF RHETORIC:
This is only one section of lyrics that uses multiple canons of rhetoric. I found that this rap group focused the most on style and delivery. Each member of Three 6 Mafia put their heads together to create simple lyrics about life experiences that their audience would be able to relate to right away. This local rap group has a style that discusses the hardships they faced living in Memphis before the money and the fame. I picked “It’s Hard Out Here For a Pimp” because in this project, I wanted to focus on the rhetoric that local rappers use when describing this city as a whole.
My argument is centered around the idea that Memphis is often perceived by non locals to be a more “put together” version than what it really is. As I mentioned in my introduction, it is more common for people to think of artists from the nicer, less gritty side of Memphis. Elvis Presley is an artist that is immediately thought of in this part of Tennessee. In addition to him is the well known boy band member, Justin Timberlake. Although these are two great, award winning artists, I think the city of Memphis is better defined by the rap artists that have gotten their starts here.
To show the stark differences in the rhetoric used to describe Memphis, I have linked a video to Elvis Presley’s song, “Memphis, Tennessee.”
“Her home is on the southside, high upon a ridge
Just a half a mile from the Mississippi bridge
Help me information more than that I cannot add
Only that I miss her and all the fun we had
But we were pulled apart because her mom did not agree
Tore apart our happy home in Memphis, Tennessee”
In these lyrics, a very different Memphis scene is lyrically described for this audience. Presley talks about Memphis in a way that comes across as distant or disconnected to me. In this section of lyrics, he is describing the whereabouts of a woman who lives in this city. If you take these lyrics literally, this woman lives in what is called Harbor Town today. Also known as Mud Island to some. This is one of Memphis’s nicest areas of town being highlighted in these lyrics as opposed to the Three 6 Mafia lyrics we analyzed in the beginning.
I chose to compare the rhetorical cannons used to describe this city from a white male pop artist and an all black rap group to show that what’s most commonly known as Memphis music, doesn’t always share the full story. Elvis’s style and delivery is very clearly structured for a much different audience. His song is made to reach the hearts of those that have put together, safe homes here in Memphis. He highlights the Mississippi Bridge which is a well known nicer landmark this city has. As I mentioned before, Presley’s style in this work came across very distant from Memphis. At first listen, you would not immediately assume that he was a Memphis local. When you go back and examine the lyrics from Three 6 Mafia, their style of work comes across more credible in my opinion due to their honesty about the hardships they faced in their side of town. Ethos comes across most frequently when looking deeper into this rap group’s lyrics. Proof of this is the fact that they won the Oscar for Best Original Song for “It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp.” The message in that song resonated with thousands of people so much that they saw it fit to win an Academy Award. When discussing a place that is significant to you as an artist, giving your listeners the most honest depiction of that is sure to set you ahead.