Paranoia

Chance the Rapper's Paranoia off of his most recent mix tape Acid Rap came to mind when we were asked to defend a song as poetry. I think his intention and also the theme of this song is displaying the constantly ignored and overlooked violence in Chicago. During the first verse of the song there is a line that reads "Down here it's easier to find a gun than it is to find a f*ckin parking spot." It is not really easier to find a gun than a parking spot but by making the comparison between the availability of the two Chance demonstrates that it is extremely easy to obtain a gun in Chicago . This contributes to the theme of this song because the availability of guns is one of the root causes of the gun violence in Chicago.

           In the same verse it reads " Why you think they don't talk about it? They deserted us here/Where the f*ck is Matt Lauer at? Somebody get Katie Couric in here/ Probably scared of all the refugees, look like we had a f*cking hurricane here". Chance uses Katie Couric and Matt Lauer who are both pretty famous news reporters as a symbol for the news in general. By asking "where the f*ck is Matt Lauer at?" Chance is questioning the lack of news coverage of the violence in Chicago. He also compares Chicago's ghettos to places that have recently been hit by a hurricane. With this comparison he not only demonstrates how run down the ghettos in Chicago are, he also demonstrates why the news should be covering the violence in Chicago. The news constantly covers places that have been hit by a natural disaster or that are facing other situations so why shouldn't they be reporting on the ghettos of Chicago when they look as if they have just hit by a Hurricane? These lines give examples of how the violence in Chicago is overlooked, thus contributing to the overall theme of the song.

     Another use of multidimensional language used in this song is in the last verse when is states  "Cause everybody dies in the summer/ Wanna say ya goodbyes, tell them while it's spring." This line is an exaggeration, not everybody dies in the summertime  but the murder rate is so high in Chicago during the summer that it can seem that way. This is why Chance tells his audience if they want to tell someone goodbye "to tell them while it's spring"  while it is much safer.  These two lines contribute to the theme of the song by exemplifying how intense the violent situation in Chicago really is. Throughout the song Chance uses multidimensional and figurative language to give his listeners insight on what the experience of living among the violence of Chicago is really like.This helps him get across "the what" or theme of the song, which is to me why this song can be considered poetry.