Research Poems

Phenomenal Woman

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size

But when I start to tell them,

They think I'm telling lies.

I say,

It's in the reach of my arms,

The span of my hips,

The stride of my step,

The curl of my lips.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

I walk into a room

Just as cool as you please,

And to a man,

The fellows stand or

Fall down on their knees.

Then they swarm around me,

A hive of honey bees.

I say,

It's the fire in my eyes,

And the flash of my teeth,

The swing in my waist,

And the joy in my feet.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Men themselves have wondered

What they see in me.

They try so much

But they can't touch

My inner mystery.

When I try to show them,

They say they still can't see.

I say,

It's in the arch of my back,

The sun of my smile,

The ride of my breasts,

The grace of my style.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Now you understand

Just why my head's not bowed.

I don't shout or jump about

Or have to talk real loud.

When you see me passing,

It ought to make you proud.

I say,

It's in the click of my heels,

The bend of my hair,

The palm of my hand,

The need for my care.

'Cause I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

—Maya Angelou

MY ANALYSIS

This poem is based on trying to diminished stereotypes especially of black women. Throughout the poem she explains and justifies to be confident you have to embrace and love, what God has given you.  This poem is for women or people that feel oppressed and lost in their identity, in a world that is not in a favor. The reason why this poems is such an influence to me is because it teaches me, as a black female to embrace what God has given to you because, one day you will regret that you never loved yourself.

In the next paragraph lll explain how each section impacts me in my music as well me as a woman

Section 1&2

To my point of view I believe this paragraph is explaining that she is not part of any category, in fact she expresses that she is beautiful regardless what other people think. Because of that confidence and beauty that’s within and without people admire her as a saint. In the second sections again she talks how also men admire that the fall to their knees and swarm around her.  She justifies that the reason why the men admire her so much is because of the fire, ambition, happiness and freeness of her personality that the so admire. These 2 section admire as a black woman because I believe through many direction, women are seen as less then, not appropriate or not acceptable in all forms. And it has taken me quite a while for me to love myself for what I am and what God gave me. I believe it’s extremely hard for black women to accept and love themselves, because we see in a lives through social media, academics, and many industries that we are not pretty, suitable or even intelligent enough.

Section 3&4

In section 3 yet again it explains why men are so intrigued of her mystery and why they can never get enough of her, then she so forth explains the reason of why they  love her for what she is. She goes into deeper depth of how she respects and values who she is. I Believe when she phrases,”My inner mystery,When I try to show them, They say they still can't see.” explains that even though they are so blinded by her beauty and uniqueness, she not surprised  that they can't figure out her. In one of my poems I gained influence from this saying, in which said that;”  The queen that can’t be defined with the mind, your words have to be decoded for the masses” The reason why  I wrote this is because i believe that in today's society no one fully appreciates complexity of the mind, especially the female mind because a lot of people that women less than.

The reason why I analysed this poem is because it has influenced greatly in creating music to uplift women, especially women of colour. One of my most influenced song from this poem is called African Queen. In my lyrics I explain how the black Female is discriminated and disprected on a daily basis because of the complexion.

In verse 1 I proclaim, “ Hey you there it's okay to be sad, misunderstood and miseducated by the beauty of your soul.” explains how the black women feels lost and confused in her own identity, that she feels depressed and uncomfortable in her own skin. The second sentence means that the reason they feel so lost is because is they have been miseducated of their true identity and culture. The reason  why i say this is because for decades the black race been told that there in this world is to be a servant to either a system or to the superior.

Research artist JILL SCOTT

JILL SCOTT

Jill Scott was born in 1972 N. Philadelphia she grew up in the ghetto with a single mother.
She was extremely gifted at a young age learning to talk at only eight months, and being Able to read at the age of 4. Jill Scott attended Temple University studying to be a teacher. I dream job was to be in English teacher. unfortunately her career as a teacher was short lived as a few professors disapproved of her methods of teaching kids so she decided to quit
Scott wrote several songs for Jane the sum of 1999 one of the well-known songs was called you and also won a Grammy for best rap performance duo or group Later on that year jill Scott was signed with the label Hidden Beach. Jill Scott has worked on many soundtracks such as down to earth 2001, wild wild West 1999 and in the movie in too deep in 1999
For her debut album she created at least 50 songs which she struggled a lot to trim down
After a long duration her first debut album who is Jill Scott words & sounds volume one was released in July 2000. Who is Jill Scott was A certified Platinum she received a Grammy nominations. Including one of the best new artist NAACP image awards and one soul train awards for best female R&B album. Jill Scott is a multi skilled artist see branches and to clothing TV and film and and written work.

In present years she has starred in programmes and movies such as get on up James Brown biopic why did I get married part one and two baggage claim steel magnolias and sins of the mother which aired on lifetime and became the second most watch Premier in works history.
She has created a large of my poems that became instant New York Times bestseller.
The reason why I’m so intrigued and inspired by Jill Scott it’s because she doesn’t include herself in one category she spreads into different forms or different artforms and that’s what makes very unique and different from everybody else.

Within her music she also includes knowledgeable facts that could impact of state of mind in today society and can also be something we can definitely relate to in our day-to-day lives.
I’ll be talking about her first album who is Jill Scott and how that album has impacted the way I create my own music.

WHO IS JILL SCOTT? ALBUM

Debuted on July 18th 2000 , this album has been said to be one of the best albums of the early 2000s by Slant Magazine

Starter label hidden beach and its manufacturer and distributor Sony
Represented and promoted and artist who was a mixture of Neo soul Street poet combing  spoken words and music performance together.

Producer Jeff Townes And his team sampled and also created A new jazz into a perfect musical backing  for Jill to easily flow with her unique spoken words without feeling restricted. Throughout this app and Jill Scott analyses relationships are many different ways including her experiences. Album was mostly based  on a love story and the pros and cons you have to face through the journey of love. Each song has a few elements of her experiences in the Songs such as : exclusively, in explaining She talked about how she met her ex-boyfriend in a supermarket, She also celebrates relationships in songs  such as; Long walk, He loves me, The Way and many more. At the end of the album she concludes with a few songs such as one is Magic,Watching me and Brotha. The songs justify her emotional and social concerns and what she hopes to find at the end.

HOW HAS THIS ALBUM IMPACTED YOU MUSICALLY?

With her unique technique and amazing vocals I have always been inspired and intrigued with her work.

Jill Scott uses spoken word in a way in which, she sound as if she singing but reading a poem at the same time. Each song has storyline that a huge amount can relate with. She talks about the daily issues she has to face being a black women in today society.  The reason why i began to listen to Jill scott is because of the way she embraces and accepts who she is, and i'm so inspired by the way she became that confident of who she was. The other reason was her musicality vocal dynamics, as well as instrumental for her songs are extremely soulful and connects with me. She uses so many Diminished and unique chords that sound so beautiful.

Research African Goddess

RESEARCH AFRICAN TRIBAL GODDESS

The reason why I have chosen to use tribal African goddesses as a name or as a symbol for my music is because I believe that African culture It’s not represented enough especially in the western world. I believe that people of colour that live in Europe and America  are not taught enough of their own history, and they don’t fully understand their true identity or their true history and where they come from.
For many decades we have been taught that we are nothing but slaves we were nothing but servants, but if we look back in our own history we were kings and queens. We had palaces, knowledgeable facts about the world and universe that even the Greeks, ancient Dynasties and countries were so hypnotised and fantasised about our culture.
So have use these names as a symbol to represent that we are all kings and queens, especially people that do not know the identity and history.
I am going to break down and explain the reason why i have used these names for my songs.

YEMALLA or YAMAYA
The goddess of the sea and the moon she is the mother and provider of wealth.She controls and sustains life on earth as well as control the Earth, she is loving, generous, nurturing and giving. Like the ocean don’t be fooled when she’s angry she can’t be implacable. She is the mother who gives love but doesn’t give her power away. She is also the collective and owner of subconscious and ancient wisdom,, because she holds the wisdom and secrets of the hidden and sea. She is known to be used in fertility rituals for women. Come from the Yoruba tribe and afro-Caribbean myths. I have use this Name for the element wind, Because I believe it has a bit of a connection with the  wind element. I did struggle to find a tribal goddess which Element was based on wind or has factors that are related to the wind element. So I decided to use this name because it’s such a beautiful name

ODUA
The black goddess of the Earth
She is another mother figure with the skin that is deepest darkest ebony. She looks after women and children and gives love and life. She is not soft and she can become a war goddess if need be. She is the sister of the supreme sky God Olorun, and together they create the Earth and sky bond. She has the connection of the essence of love and life. Her daughter is your YEMAYA.

MORIMI
The goddess of Bush burning African fire God
This goddess is known to as the queen of burning countrysides. She is meant use her flames  for the use and perpetration the new planting. She summons flames when needs be.
The reason why I chose this goddess it’s because it relates to the fire element I have chosen, there’s not a lot written about this goddess but I thought I’ll make it a bit more interesting and mysterious. As I’ve written in the personality description of the fire element she is mysterious.

PHOTOSHOOT

PHOTOSHOOT

On the 11th of May 2018 I wanted to one of my photography friends in favour of doing my picture for my EP event to her school to take a few pictures. It really was a great experience going there and trying different techniques and taking different types of pictures from my EP. My previous research on what I wanted to do was quite basic I tried to keep as simple as possible. My first idea was to do a 90s vibe picture with 90s filters and 90s  hairstyle. The second idea was to do a vibrant background with my tribal painting on my face.
I decided to do the second idea but didn’t go to plan at first. The first issue was the background I wanted at first it  to be a black background but because of the lighting The pictures didn’t come out too great. After that decision we had to change the background to yellow and a red background. We first began with yellow background and we chose red and orange lighting. We had to put coloured sugar paper on the lights because the lights were too bright so we chose red and orange, this didn’t go too well because in the camera gave out a purple and green colour. So we decided to use a much darker red and purple for the lighting even though there was a bit of the colour green in some of the pictures,The picture came out great. After using the yellow background we decided to use the orange and red background, We decided to use this background as the 90s vibe picture,The pictures for this background came out perfect. After that we decided to edit the photos and choose which one we liked best. We chose about 10 photos to edit.Of the pictures we use Altos three of them as my EP  cover. I don’t seem to like all of the three pictures so I decided to edit some of my old pictures at circular summer and I chose one of them instead of the ones we had done at the time. The reason why I chose the old photos instead of the recent ones is because I felt that the old pictures related to the message I was trying to get across in my EP, Which was being the Nubian queen and embracing who you are. Chose the photo with me with an Afro. The editing process was pretty easy to do because the camera Will use was good quality and much of the photos that have previously given her I had slightly edited before.Overall I have right now 4 Ep covers I can choose from. But I have decided to use the picture with the Afro. This experience was definitely something new and I really enjoyed myself while doing something that was educational based.

broader contexualisation

I'm going to be comparing my project to other Neo-soul  artist  first album  such as Lauryn Hill. I'm going to break down and analyse the comparisons we both have and why this form of art is impactful to me and society

LAURYN HILL: MISEDUCATION OF LAURYN HILL

Explain what this album is about main details and what it achieved

In Lauryn hill words she explains that her first debut album (Miseducation of Lauryn hill ) was a deeper connection of understanding herself and her journey, and trying to understand her concept or even the worlds concept of being wise, and intelligent was not  wise at all. Through the development of this album or journey she found an understanding of, lessons in places she hadn't  expected them to be. Hence the reason of the album name was not only based on  the miseducation of her life but the miseducation of the world (system) we live in today. Prior to this album she had said to be impacted by a lot of emotional trauma through different directions,  that she hadn't realised that she was restricting her own development through being so intertwined with her emotions. And once she was able to pull herself out of the hard times she began to analyse what had happened and what she had done. Through that she learnt to match the puzzles of the hardship she had been through and learn a lesson from it.

What this means to me and how it has impacted me?

This albums had such an impact even on my day to day experiences. I used this album as way of excluding the reality of the world we live in today, and try to find my own meaning and identity. I had previously felt so lost in the world,  and I felt  if I try to be like everyone else  I would be welcomed  in this world. But through the process of listening to this album I learnt to love and embrace myself being and try and find my own identity.  For years I have always felt extremely different from everyone  especially when being discriminated upon because of my skin colour, features and many other aspects, I felt lost and confused because when I looked in the mirror I saw a beautiful black queen but the world didn't see that. Over time I began to believe in that lies because i felt that no one wanted me, I would hate to even look at my reflection in the mirror  I saw myself as a dissapointment. Even though some of the songs in the album i wasn't able to connect with based on the subjects, but I  tried to make an understanding of the songs in a way of  which it could uplift my spirit and help me understand my history, myself worth and why i'm living in a world in which despise people like me especially people who think outside the box. Songs such as Ex Factor, Doo Wop, Lost Ones and Everything  Is Everything Helped me through the process of me finding and loving me.  I felt the  the purpose of the album was for her  understand herself and to understand the world in her own eyes. I felt this album represented all the people who feel or have felt confused and lost in any situation that they are in, but mainly for black women who I have been outsiders of the world for a long time.

How did it make such an effect in society especially the black community as well as the music industry?

1.She broke barriers for black female artists

I believe she made a wrist of changing the whole perception of R&B and Hip-Hop black females Artist, I believe she changed and lifted up boundaries for females in the music industry.
Even though Hill wasn’t the first female artist to intertwine to completely different Genres together to make an amazing unique and unheard of technique, The reasoning of why she was completely different from everybody else was that she was able to connect with the masses.
this out we sold 420,000 copies in the first week and in total has sold more than 17 million copies worldwide.“What Lauryn is doing is opening doors for female artists who aren’t materialistic and flashing their titties,” Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA told MTV in 1998. “She represents a beauty and a wholesomeness that’s more down-to-earth. She makes music that people can relate to, which is why she’s done so well.”

.2. "Miseducation" was the first hip-hop album to win a Grammy for Album of the Year.

Lauryn also open the doors to the Hip Hop genre.
she was nominated for 10 Grammys and won 5 in 1999, which was record for any female artist at the time.  Her winning so many Grammys helped become more popular globally and a more appealing look for Hip Hop around the world

3. The album was subtle cry out of feminism

Hill broke barriers In the music industry while being pregnant at the same time. She didn’t follow society’s norms of choosing between a career or a family.
she proved everyone wrong and did both at the same time.

4. She helped pioneer conscious lyrics in hip-hop.

Hill was said to be woke before our modern artist such as Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West ( in his early career), Talib Kwele. She talked about have personal issues as well as social issues that we are facing even till this day . She helped to create a new direction Within the hip-hop genre people are personally honest and talk about social consciousness within the music.  From talking about sexual objectivity and gender barriers in Doo Wop, Relationship issues in EX factor and many other issues in which weren’t respected or a taboo in society at the time.

Even in 1999 she predicted that the music industry was going to have a major shift in the next few years later on in years he paved and created a place for many artist to today

5. Her sound transcends beyond hip-hop and R&B.  

The way she talks about real issues that normal people have to face on a daily basis in her album. The selfless and artistry of the album is so unique and was so unique at the time that even this year 2018 she earned a place in library of Congress. Lauren Hill is a Musical genius and has influenced many artists such as Beyoncé, Kanye West, Nas, John Legend and many more. Even John legend said to Rolling Stone, “She did it better than anybody still has done it. People are still trying to capture that moment.” And this year her music has been a great influence to artist such as Drake and A new upcoming rapper name Cardi B, Have sampled and used her songs as key to influence others.

How can I compare my music to this album and other music in the industry?

I Believe that my Ep and single talks similar factors but mainly about black women losing themselves in society, whilst also losing their identity, respect and culture. I wanted to include the same factors that she included in her music. I believe I have also used have had major influence from genres such R&B and Neo-Soul the same way she did. But i believe the differences between me and Hill is that most of my songs are both Lyrically and instrumentally mine as well as that I partly produced the majority of my songs. Even though my music is technically not on the same level as hers, i’m aiming to be just as influential as her and I hope that my music can do that. In my music I talk about about 3 elements to make a Nubian Queen

( the Nubian Queen symbolises every beautiful black women who has lived and who is alive today), which are Earth, Wind and Fire. Each of these elements symbolise a personality of different types of black women, and they each have a spiritual African tribal name that explains each of their powers. I chose 3 elements because 3 is a spiritual number for creativity and and knowing who you are.

The same with Lauryn Hill she put a lot of time and dedication in her album, and  I have also put a lot of thought and reasoning in mine. I don't expect it to be as successful as her album but what I hope is that their people in the world that can relate with my music and issues, and i believe it's good enough for the industry.

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