In 1989, rapper Biz Markie released his most popular song of his career, “Just
a Friend”. The song is a combination of singing
and rapping that depicts a story of a relationship between Biz Markie and
another woman. In the video Biz Markie
raps this song to his friends who wanted to be friends with some girls who had
just walked by. His indirect audience in
the song is males and fans of rap music.
This makes Biz Markie warn them about just being friends with a woman
and he raps them his story. The intent
of the video is to entertain and make the audience laugh. Biz Markie delivers his story about being
friends with a women through a comical and incredulous tone. Biz Markie succeeds in his attempt to
entertain through his wacky piano playing and storytelling.
When Biz Markie sings the chorus of “Just a Friend,” he does so in a
white powdered wig and classical outfit, while playing the piano. He quickly turns his traditional piano playing
into a hip-hop style rendition. This sequence
of events is intended to be comical and unforeseen. The reason is that because the events are
unforeseen they may draw the audience closer in to see what Biz Markie will do
next to surprise them. Playing the piano
in the outfit Biz Markie wears may seem out of place in a hip-hop video, but
this may bolster its success in the intent of keeping the audience attentive.Throughout the song Biz Markie’s storytelling intends to keep his audience on the edge of their seat. His use of cliff hangers intends to keep his audience interested and help the audience enjoy the story. The other part of his storytelling that intends to entertain is the story’s unpredictable outcome. When Biz Markie goes to his friend’s school it seems as though they were just going to hang out together and have a good time. But when he arrives at the room, his friend is with another man. The unpredictable outcome and use of cliff hangers intend to entertain the audience.
Biz Markie also intends to make the audience laugh in the beginning of the video with a series of “yo mama” jokes that are exchanged between Biz Markie and a friend.
Eric, you have found a nice video to explore. This video has a fairly straightforward plot to follow. You are probably correct that Biz Markie's intent is simply to entertain, and the scenes that you identify as contributing to this purpose are probably the best ones to look at. The only issue I have with your post is that the actual writing - the style - lacks energy. Let's look at a few examples of sentences that detract from the quality of this piece.
ReplyDeleteFirst, you really need to avoid presuming how the audience will react. You write, "Biz Markie succeeds in his attempt to entertain..." Do you know this? Sentences like this ruin your credibility, because your audience will know that you have no way of knowing that this is true.
Second, you have numerous vague, vacuous sentences in this post. Look at the following examples. These sentences really say nothing, or are so wordy that they are actually counterproductive.
"The reason is that because the events are unforeseen they may draw the audience closer in to see what Biz Markie will do next to surprise them." This sentence feels really forced to me. In addition, the analysis seems perfunctory. I interpret the scene to be Biz Markie trying to present himself in the image of Mozart to garner some credibility. I'm not just a rapper; I'm like Mozart, and I have a message for you. Of course, the scene is a parody, which, as you suggest, really just entertains the audience and keeps the mood light.
"...this may bolster its success in the intent of keeping the audience attentive." Again, this is very wordy.
"...to keep his audience on the edge of their seat." I don't even really know what this means. You have reduced detailed analysis to a cheesy cliche.
Eric, you are a good writer. You have been since the beginning of the year. This post does not reflect that. I get the sense that you really didn't know what to write, so you just tried to write sentences to fill up space. There is very little concrete analysis in this post.