RHETORICAL SONG ANALYSIS
HILLTOP HOODS “FIFTY IN FIVE”
Hilltop Hood’s “Fifty in Five” reveals the problems and events that have occurred in the past 50 years with the purpose to spread awareness of the trauma the world has faced and that we need to make a change. The song was released in 2009 by the Australian hip hop group Hilltop Hoods. It was released in the album ‘State of the Art’, Hilltop Hood’s fifth studio album release that went on to win the 2009 ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) Award for Best Urban Album[1]. This song, like many others by Hilltop Hoods, spreads awareness about global issues, including the conservation of natural resources. It spreads awareness through connecting with the audience using logical and emotional appeals.
Hilltop Hoods are one of the most successful Hip-Hop groups in Australia. The group was formed in 1991, containing MC Suffa and MC Pressure. The two met as classmates, both graduating from Blackwood High School in Adelaide, South Australia. They also both grew up in the suburb of Blackwood, which is where the name ‘Hilltop’ originated from, as they both lived near Hilltop Road. Later, in 1999, the duo met DJ Debris through mutual friends, who went on to join the group. Their success grew after this group expansion, with ‘The Calling’ (2003) being their first album to gain ARIA platinum status. In fact, this album was the first Australian hip-hop album to do so, making Australian music history. Since this album, Hilltop Hoods have received 14 ARIA platinum statuses from eight albums, making them one of the most successful hip-hop groups in Australia. They have achieved this through having a diverse range of songs and exploring personal and global issues in their lyrics. ‘Fifty in Five’ is one of these songs, as it explores a wide range of global issues.
Hilltop Hood’s “Fifty in Five” states a wide range of issues that the world has faced in the past 50 years. Coinciding with the title of the song, Hilltop Hoods address these global issues in five minutes. The large range of problems include 9/11, terrorism, serial killers, global warming, appearance modifications and plastic surgery, death of Princess Diana and the Kennedys, poverty, going to the moon, sexual assaults and raping, nuclear wars and many more. Another global issue mentioned in the lyrics is the conservation of natural resources: “Doubled population halved accommodation, carved up resources and we starved the poorer nations”.[2] Hilltop Hoods describes this issue as devastating, through stating “Generation X and Generation Y, and the generation next will degenerate and die”. This is a metaphor used to describe that the current generations are overexploiting natural resources, leading to the next generations having no resources left to use to survive. Hilltop Hoods also relates this issue to global warming and greenhouse gas emissions: “Cause we got holes in the ozone that we put there ourselves, now the poles are a no-go earths cooking itself” and “Greenhouse gas turned the world into a sauna”. These lyrics used to describe natural resource conservation and global warming state the impact that it is making on the world and the environment. These lyrics also highlight the importance that we need to make changes to resolve the issue, using bold and strong lyrics that we “will degenerate and die” and “earths cooking itself”. Hilltop Hoods lyrics in “Fifty in Five” display the global issues that the world is facing and that changes need to be made to resolve these issues.
The large list of world issues stated in Hilltop Hood’s “Fifty in Five” appeals to the audience’s logic, leaving them shocked with the quantity of negative events and problems the world has faced in the last 50 years. The vast range of global issues that Hilltop Hoods includes in their lyrics allows the audience to be able to connect with the song. This connection is made with the audience’s logic, through the use of logos as an appeal to the audience. When the audience listens to the song and identifies a global issue or event that they have experienced, a connection is made. Hilltop Hoods purposely makes this logical connection with the audience to make them aware of the impact the issue has made on the world, and that the issue needs to be resolved. The conservation of natural resources makes a connection with majority of people around the world, as using natural resources for energy, food and goods is apart of our daily lives. When the audience listens to the lyrics regarding conservation of natural resources, they immediately make a connection with the song and come to the realisation of the negative impact this issue has on the world. Hilltop Hoods also uses a rhetorical question at the end of the song to connect with the audience: “Can you believe what we have become?”. This appeals to the audience’s emotions, an incorporation of pathos, which makes the audience think about their impact on the world and their contribution to the mentioned global issues in the lyrics of the song. The purpose of incorporating both logos and pathos in the lyrics to “Fifty in Five” allows the audience to connect both logically and emotionally to the song and allow them to realise the negative global impact they may be having on the world.
Hilltop Hood’s “Fifty in Five” is a song depicting the global issues and events that have occurred during the last 50 years. Released in 2009 in their “State of the Art” album, the global issues and events stated in the lyrics include the conservation of natural resources. Hilltop Hoods used logos to connect with the audience’s logic, through naming the large quantity of issues and events that many of the audience have experienced. The Australian hip hop group also connect with the audience’s emotions, through the use of pathos, as a rhetorical question used in the lyrics makes the audience question their actions that may contribute to global issues, potentially leading to a change to resolve them. The connection Hilltop Hoods makes with the audience can be related to the issue of natural resource conservation, as many individuals around the world contribute to this global issue that needs to be resolved.
[1] https://thevogue.com/artists/hilltop-hoods/#bio
[2] http://hilltophoods.com/discography/state-of-the-art/state-of-the-art-lyrics/
RFERENCES:
Hilltop Hoods. “Fifty in Five.” State of the Art, Suffering City Productions, 2009, http://hilltophoods.com/discography/state-of-the-art/state-of-the-art-lyrics/
“Hilltop Hoods.” The Vogue, Forty5, 2022, https://thevogue.com/artists/hilltop-hoods/#bio