Pure Imagination - Lyrics (By: Richie Cunning)

[INTRO]

[VERSE 1]
Woke up, couldn't remember what my dream was
But it was probably the same one
Where I'm sitting at a easel in the rain with a masterpiece
Trying not to let the paint run
It ain't really nothing new, cousin, bareknuckle boxing
With the snooze button, but he never stays down
I've had mornings where I wanted to tell them I wasn't coming
But man thats how I'm feeling every day now
Take a breath, punch the clock, here we go again
Straighten out the nametag, tuck the polo in
Trying to swallow my pride, but going out of my mind
Taking orders from mother******s I'm older than
Lunch break, come back to make chump change
Starting to feel like I'm running out of somedays
Cross my heart, hope to die
My love letter with no reply, close my eyes and imagine
What if anything could really happen
What if daydreams was everlasting
I know it's silly ain't it, but what if I really made it
And could say that I rap without feeling humiliated
I would send a thank you to everybody I proved wrong
Be in the studio before I put my shoes on
Jump out my bed every morning like a youngin on
December 25th and tear the ribbon off a new song
They would love it and they'd play it loud
Pour out my heart on the cut, they'd soak it up like a paper towel
They would stop me in the street every week just to say
"Keep holding down the city, boy you make us proud"
I'd be happy as can be, duke
Like I jumped right out of the fishbowl and into the deep blue
But there I go letting my mind get ahead of me
Swimming in a rainy day reverie

[VERSE 2]
Clock out, bus home, and change costumes
Sometimes I wonder what I'm in it for
Another night, another 20 minute chance to convince
20 people that I'm worth 20 minutes more
If I knew that even one lone listener was with it
I would spit it 'til the club had to close down
Like a tired old hornplayer blowing
With his case propped open on the street in a ghost town
Take a breath, grab the mic, here we go again
Crowd thinning, I pretend that I ain't noticin
They said "Richie, yo you know we got your back, but it's late
And we ain't siting 'round waiting for the show to end"
Type of night that turn bangers into sad songs
Didn't even make enough to catch a cab home
Same train, same lonely ride
The cold world rolls slowly by, close my eyes and imagine
What if anything could really happen
What if my profession was my passion
What if I could sit in the back, hit every city on the map
And get the hell up out this labyrinth I'm trapped in
It goes hotel, motel, holiday inn
Around the world with my crew trying to follow the wind, for real
No more waiting on a wish, no more hanging 'round
Put the sails up and never let the anchor down
I would light up every face in the crowd
Cold tearing up the mic like ice in a blender
Laughs and wild times, hellos and goodbyes and
Too many unforgettable nights to remember
I would wonder if it all could be what it seems
Nobody wake me up, please, life is but a dream
But there I go letting my mind get ahead of me
Drowning in a rainy day reverie
Pure imagination..

Top 10 Song Defenses

1 - Pure Imagination -Richie Cunning*
2 - The Cold - Richie Cunning*
3 - Say What You Say - Eminem*
4 - Do You Remember - The Last Emperor*
5 - Uncommon Valor - Jedi Mind Tricks*
6 - Street Lights - Jedi Mind Tricks*
7 - Spaz Out - Jedi Mind Tricks*
8 - The Station - Richie Cunning*
9 - White America - Eminem*
10 - Soldier - Eminem*

*1 - Pathos - This song touches me emotionally, because it relates directly to one of my favorite movies, which is Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory, the background music and title are identical to that of the famous  "Pure Imagination" song, sung by Gene Wilder in the movie.
Ethos -  Richie Cunning being an underground rap artist, doesn't have a huge following, which you could say makes him not popular, but then again no underground rap artist is really popular, to a widespread fan base.
Logos - I  think its not really how popular the song is to everyone else, its more to me how you feel when you listen to the song, and what emotions and thoughts sturr up, and when I listen of this song, it makes me really happy, and I feel like I can do anything I put my mind to, and that's really why its my number 1.

*2 - Ethos - The artist is very keen on what he is trying to point out, which is just that the cold effects everyone.
Pathos - It touches me emotionally, because I've had "Cold" things happen to me before, and this song reminds me how life is hard, but its hard for everyone.
Logos - The song speaks to everyone the same, it shows that fighting for what you want is okay, and that being unhappy about something isn't a crime.

*3 - Ethos - Eminem is just very intense in this song, and uses a powerful flow to intise the listener.
Pathos - His emotion is his voice, and how powerful he uses it.
Logos - What he says makes sense, and its insightful allowing you to tell he thought it through.

*4 - Ethos - Do you Remember is a song that brings me back to my childhood because of its relevance to camping and what not, I find it fun to think back about all those times me and my dad went fishing, and camping.
Pathos - Whenever I think of my dad, or anyone in my family it obviously is going to bring up emotions, maybe slight but they do, you just think of the fun times, maybe you think of some of the bad, but regardless your think of them.
Logos - I just think he does a great job of utilizing emotion, as well as even know hes underground he reaches out to a large fan base.

*5 - Ethos - Uncommon Valor was hard to place this high up on my list, because of its strong emotion, and his just pure talent.
Pathos - This song is all about The Vietnam War and it touches me like it should touch everyone, because it truly tells you what happened in a summed up gruesome, yet intellectual way.
Logos - The things he says are very accurate, and he knows what he's saying.

*6 - Ethos - Street Lights is a very well put together song, what impresses me more then the morale, is the wordplay how it is immersed inside rhymes.
Pathos - Just gives off a very evil emotionally feel, which isn't a bad thing, hate is part of life, and if handled correctly doesn't need to be a terrible thing.
Logos - Shear genius in rhyming, and a mastered skill of emotional contact with you thoughts, gives personified feelings to the songs ability to touch your soul.

*7 - Ethos - Also another song that wordplay is a huge part of, well even more of a huge part then many other songs, it gives a new light to the art of music.
Pathos - Its brings emotions of dominance especial with the opening lines, which give you a power unseen, but heard.
Logos - This song has hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube, which is a good evidence of its integrity.

*8 - Ethos - Richie Cunning again, this is his best wordplay/rhyme song he has, its fun because he disses on basically all other artists, in a fundamental way.
Pathos - It touches your emotions by giving reasons to why others aren't as good as he is.
Logos - It rhymes perfectly, and seems that it would be impossible to stop him from rapping it, if that makes sense. Like hes confident.

*9 - Ethos - What can I say, the best anti-governmental mainstream rap song in the history of the genre.
Pathos - Sturrs up emotions, because sometimes I dought the ability of our government.
Logos - On the highest grossing album in the United States post 21st century.

*10 - Ethos - One of the strongest songs I've ever heard in my entire life.
Pathos - The most emotional song I have ever heard in my entire life.
Logos - Also on the highest grossing album in the United States post 21st century.

Top Song Defense Peer Feedback

Fiction Story

Zachary Freedman

Scotland Story (Fiction)

The strong fog subsided as a creek came into view, you see a young man, probably 20 or 21 years of age, dressed in large leather armor cascading over his body. Fashioned to his left waist line is a sheathed bronze long sword, the tip only inches from the ground. On his back lay a large leather shield with the engraving “Elam” spread across the middle. The boy seems well built, maybe 6 feet with boots, he has red hair, and a beard, he also has a very pungent smell, its smells of sweat, and meat. As the man kneels down to scoop up some water to drink there is a loud booming noise followed by a voice in the distance, “Keith! Keith!” Instantly Keith’s mannerisms change, and he averts his attention to the voice “Christopher? Christopher is that you?” Christopher appears out of the bushes to the north, his eyes are bloodshot with stress, and his face filled with uncertainty, his body stricken with panic distraught he responds “Keith where have you been? There has been a terrible accident at the port, your mother, she, well she….”  Christopher pauses, seemingly to change the way in which he is going to say the next sentence to Keith. “Keith I’m very sorry, your mother, she, she didn’t make it.” Before Keith has time to shed a tear their is a barrage of voices from beyond the forest yelling “Death to the southerners, death to the southerners” as Christopher hears this he quickly gathers himself, and grabs Keith’s hand “Come quick.” They arrive in the small port town of Terenstoff, wear they approach a group of men that are harassing a young man, “He’s from the south, burn him- I say take him to the port throw him off, No off with his head that is fitting” Keith is appalled, and immediately jumps to the mans defense, “Stop yelling at this man at once” says Keith. “Who are you to defend a southerner?” one of the men exclaims. Before the man can react Keith already has his long sword thrust upon the man’s neck, “Who am I to defend another human being with the same thoughts and opportunities as all of us?” The man stood back startled, “But he’s from the south” a women yelled from behind the group of men. Keith’s eyes turned dark with anger “What gives us the right to hurt a man from another place, what did he do to deserve our cruelty!” The group was dumb-founded; they’ve never heard such and accusations, or a defenses statement against a southerner. “You peoples blood runs cold with corruption, you can’t see the beauty in others only yourselves.” This brought forward no applause from the crowd, but they backed off partly because of the sword, but also because of the words Keith spoke, they almost seemed to flow together in a way that gave purpose to them, gave a reason for others to hear them, gave these northerners a reason to be kind. Keith lowered his weapon, “You people build prisons, for men from the south, when your children don’t even have a proper schools to attend, were is the logic in that?” with his eyes heavy, and his mind drifting to thought of his mother he says “I ask who put these laws that say the north is superior, when the southerners have just as much heart, and soul as us, I say that in this life, it’s hard for all of us, why make it harder on others?” At this moment a man dressed in all black, and a hood walks out from the crowd, he looks at Keith and mumbles a few words, then pulls out a knife, and he stabs Keith in the heart, Keith juts forward, and his tears falls from his face to the ground. The crowd is stunned, Christopher yells “Nooooooooo!” as he unsheathes his sword, running at the man he starts to swing, as he does this he is hit in the arm with an arrow. Christopher is thrust back dropping his sword on the ground, He yells “Keith!!!” as he is staring at Keith’s motionless body sprawled out upon the ground he notices on the end of the arrow there is a small golden letter “N”. With tears rolling down his cheek he says to the man “Why, why him? What type of devil are you?” The man turns to Christopher, “I am no devil, but a saint to the north.” He proceeds to pull out a small steel sword, and walks leisurely over to Christopher. He bends down in front of Chris’s crippled body, and almost to light for Chris to hear, the man says “We rule, and you shall fall.” The man then stands up and walks away through the crowd as he leaves Chris notices the same letter “N” on the strange mans shirt, but then suddenly Christopher is overcome with grief,  before he can even weep out his brother’s name, another arrow from no recognizable direction comes out and hits Christopher in the heart. As the road lay quiet no man, women or child speaks, no breaths taken, no thoughts thought, and all as quick as this started, everyone dispersed in every directions possible, and in a matter of moments the road lay empty, no women, no children, just one man stand there, the man Keith defended, he lay knelt on the ground, his eyes dark with hate, his palms moist with sweat, he stands up. He looks to the sky as it begins to rain. “WHY! WHY this day of all days you punish me, punish us, what gives the right of one man to kill another, what gives the right of one man to rule another, who respects the corruptions of our world enough to allow it to prosper, who, who WHO!!!” The man sitting in the mud, with no clothing more then his pants, no happiness more then death, no will to move on. But yet the man stands up, and begins to run, run as fast as any man could run, and he keeps running. He comes up barley a mile from Terenstoff to a remote shack made of stone. He approaches the door, and knocks, 1……2…….3 times, and the door suddenly bursts open. He walks into a room with a table, the table is Nordic with a gold trim, imprinted in the center of the table is a large letter “S” in silver writing, the man sits. On the other side of the room there is a door, it opens and out comes a large man maybe 6 feet 8 inches, he speaks “David, is that you? Impossible, you can’t be, you couldn’t have? How, how did you survive?” David wipes away a tear, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a piece of parchment, he places it on the table. “Is that?” the larger man says “Is that the parchment of ethos?” “Yes” said the younger man “Yes it is.” The large man suddenly runs over and gives David a giant hug, propelling him off the ground. “I can’t believe my eyes it is! This is it what we need to defeat the North, but how? How did you get this? Only Ethos himself carries it.” Theirs a long pause as the small man thinks, “He was there, there in Terenstoff, I was caught in a crowd of northerners who were relentless in their pursuit to have me killed, if it wasn’t for this man named Keith I would never had made it. He stood up for me, regardless if he was from the North, he said that life is hard, and that it’s hard to make it, he also said something that really got to me, he said to his people that their blood runs cold with corruption, and that they can’t see the beauty in others only themselves, he showed me that either side your on regardless we are all brothers, and that no one man should lead another.” The large man stood puzzled “So you say we should all live in peace, but then why does the north kill their own, kill people who do not believe what they do.” David stood “This is because they are corrupt and a corrupt mind is hard to mend, we as southerners aren’t always cordial, we are bitter to the north, what I took from this man Keith is that it doesn’t matter where you were born or what you believe, the only thing that matters is that the world should be united in peace, and that war is just a mechanism to block out our ability to love each other in peace and harmony.” ”Now I stand here with this parchment of ethos and see his credibility see that his writing is true, and what he says are what we need, the place of the northern shrine, but what do you expect of us? To go to this shrine kill all of the people their, and ride away in happiness, because I refuse, those people aren’t terrible people they just have been brought up in a corrupt world, and I myself believe that a corrupt mind, cant be changed by another, but only by within, this is why I stand here proposing upon you that we burn this parchment, and we live out our lives far from all of this turmoil, exile ourselves from the south and give these northerners their own free will to allow people like Keith to rise up upon the north and lead them to a world of peace, and a word of love, do you agree with my proposition?” The large mans eyes suddenly stop moving at a hundred miles and hour, and look right at David, “I agree this day will be known as a day of recognizing, today is that day, the day us southerners move to a new land and break our bond with the north allow them to find their own way to peace just as we have, FOR THE SOUTH!” as the large man alerts the elders of the tavern, and the leaders of the south that there is a call upon the lands to move, those messages spread across the lands of the south and bring forever, a migration of good, for the benefits of peace!

Plagiarism

Part I.)

“Animal Planet”

Paragraph: The Allegory in this song is the constant mentioning of animals that are portrayed in a personified sense. This personification is their because if you think of it these animals are just doing things that everyday humans in society do. Example: “You see the chimps they grow hemp they hustle and sling in the trees” now imagine the chimps as drug dealers, the hemp as the drug, and “sling in the trees” as maybe escape from the elephants mentioned in the next line. All of these things enhanced the unique yet fantastic use of an allegory in the song Animal Planet.

“Right in Two”

Sentence1: In “Right in Two” the allegory stems from where they mention monkeys, these monkeys are meant to be humans, and I think that the son of the father spoken is maybe Jesus or another religious figure shown to be controlling these animals, that seem to be meant as the human race doing human like things that monkeys wouldn’t normally do.

“The Trees”

Sentence2:  The song uses Allegory to explain a much deeper point about civil rights and African American segregation in previous years, by saying “So the maples formed a union and demanded equal rights.” Is a clear indication that this song is an allegory, and that it is about the lack of equal rights for many people in earlier years.

Part II.)

1.)   @Plagiarism: Noun; The practice of taking someone else’s work or idea and passing them off as one’s own.

2.)   @During the 80’s there were multiple law suits and settlements involving Led Zeppelin, for example Led Zeppelin's song "Whole Lotta Love" contained lyrics that were derivative of Willie Dixon's 1962 song "You Need Love." In 1985, Dixon filed a copyright infringement suit, resulting in an out-of-court settlement. Later pressings of Led Zeppelin II credit Dixon as co-writer. This is important especially to me that lyricists indentify the plagiarism of their songs, without it the world would run amuck with plagiaristic thieves which would make a living off stealing lyrics from classics, one hit wonders, most of all non-popular songs, which are less likely to be convicted because their less likely to be heard.

3.)   @In 2003 Michael Cottrill and Lawrence E. Wnukowski claimed that Britney Spears’s "Can’t Make You Love Me," from her 2000 album Oops!... I Did It Again, misappropriated substantial melodic material from their "What You See is What You Get". The court was skeptical on the question of defendant’s access to the plaintiff’s work. This example is technically a coincidence because it wasn’t proved to be plagiarism so it cannot be technically defined as plagiarism, placing it as undefined allowing me to label it a coincidence.

              Citations: @Google definitions, @Goldstein, Patrick. "Whole Lotta Litigation". Los Angeles Times, 3 February 1985: N72, @"Cottrill v. Spears, No. 02 – 3646, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8823". (E.D. Pa. May 22, 2003). http://cip.law.ucla.edu/cases/case_cottrillspears.html. Retrieved 23 November 2008.

Comparative Analysis

Zachary Freedman

The Poetry of Song

11/19/12

                Both Eminem and The Last Emperor are two “stars” with laid back personalities that write rhymes enjoyed by millions of people throughout the world. This talent that they posses is unique yet intriguing, and gives the people the ability to judge what has been rapped, and yet feel completely comfortable. The powerful comparison between these to artists allows for a theoretical clash of perpetual wordplay, dynamic allusions, and original transitions unmatched between various other artist comparisons. With this in mind, the two artist’s clashes could be defined, or portrayed as fundamental all around yet at many times inconsistent with each other. These thoughts create a contrasting differential that ultimately forms a mean Venn diagram.

                The differential in the lyrics of both songs “Monumental” (TLE) and “Square Dance” (Eminem) highlight the good and great aspects of each song. For example, In Monumental TLE says “Sure, for that kind of capacity, you’d need a crazy large arena that might stretch from west Philadelphia to east Medina” this is a great example, because it shows the simple, but respectable use of rhyming, almost a childish sort of rhyme. “I’m back to ambush this bush administration” is a perfect example for the different aspects of the two songs. Eminem uses just a simple rhyme using the word ambush, and bush in a clever scenario to produce a simple yet effective rhyme. These two quotes compared side by side create a feel of opposites which leads on to the fact that these songs are different, yet parallel simultaneously.

                The similarities in these two songs are alluring because they both tend to reference people using allusions, and have similar yet original transitions which allows for the song listener to have variety in multiple lyricists. Each artist takes on a sinister and, monstrous tone which gives the listener a feel of anger, and pride that projects a rebellious aspect which is synonymous with teenagers. This rebellious aspect is a great reason for why people listen to these artists, because they can relate to them. When you can relate to something you are much more likely to identify with that particular thing, in this case it is allowing for more listeners to fancy the same music. These similarities are consistent with many other songs by these artists showing that they both respect music, and the aspects it brings to the table every night.

                Both of these rappers can be respected for what they have wrote, and produced, but what most people don’t notice are how similar two songs can be, yet still be worlds apart. They can get to the same point, but stray from similarities within each individual song, making song analysis an art when dealing with hard headed ideas. With the ability to produce an analysis it allows people the opportunity to compare two “non-related” songs, and relate them, stumping plagiarism, and enhancing the similarities and differentials brought on by genres. From the quaint mellowness of “Monumental” to the strong passion of “Square Dance” both songs show that there will always be differences in songs, but similarities just as much.

Tonal Analysis

Zachary Freedman

Poetry of Song

Mr. Kefor

10/25/12

Tonal Analysis

Shifting from the relieving experiences of the first verse to the dramatic realization at the end in “Pure Imagination” Richie Cunning uses powerful imagery, prosperous allusion, and struggling tone to portray the tone of struggle in the life of rappers, and people throughout the world.

In “Pure Imagination” Richie cunning uses a dark and defiant tone that radiates his childish and deep lyrics. This tone is immersed with imagery that makes you imagine people with not much but the clothes on their backs and the will to continue. The tone in his voice is very intense, and truly brings out the true emotions in the audience. Richie Cunning does a suburb job of relating to the audience, but that is probably because all the things that he is saying are real conflicts, and issues in his everyday life. One thing I like about this rapper is the way he represents himself, he is the prototypical struggling rapper, yet manages to trump the rest with his lyrically, and emotional domination. Cunning is one of the reasons I continue today to listen to underground rap, because you find rappers that haven’t “made it” but are even better (by a lot) then many that have.

Allusion is a very popular device in many songs, but in this one I feel it is used in such a way that it dramatically adds to the experience. For example “Pure Imagination” the title is an allusion in itself, because it is a direct reference to the movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, I know this because I looked it up, aswell as it is quite obvious because of the instrumental, and the context clues in the lyrics. This brings me back to tone, Cunning uses a unique tone that corresponding with the music, and refences to children, and happiness that has been the staple of the movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory for years. Much different from most rappers, Cunning uses familiar children, and adult pop culture to enhance and give you the unique feel that “this song was wrote for me”. Without the constant use of abstract allusions, imagery, and tone throughout the song, I don’t think his music would be such as fantastic, and purposeful as it is.

Finallly the theme of this analysis, tone. Tone is the main reason that you can listen to a song and identify immediately the authors intensions, and mood without directly looking at the lyrics. Tone gives us our perseption of the author, and his masterpiece, without straying to other indifferent devices. Richie Cunning uses tone in such a dynamic way, this is shown by the amout of emotion he uses, and the way that he distributes it in such an odd, but pleasureable way. “Taking orders from mother******* I'm older than” is such an important line in the song, that I had to share it. This line is really the definition of the use of tone in lyrics. The way Cunning pronounces this line gives you the immediate feeling that he strongly dislikes this particular job, which shows that, that line represents the underlying attitude of the songwriter.

Tone is probably one of the more simple devices, but the different types, and sounds of tone throughout the world, make it one of the most complex. To wrap up, Richie Cunning is on of the greatest rappers to use in an analysis, especially a tonal analysis, because the way he uses devices and tone is so unique, and correct that it is hard not to find an example. I want to personally thank Richie Cunning for making my life so easy in writing this analysis, because I didn’t need to search far for a song of his that represents many devices, including tone, that is easy, and humbling to talk about.