First Reflection Section:

Originally I had the idea to run a comparative EE between rock and roll and rap, looking at the differences between them and the effect or stigma around both as they are both regarded in the same light during their time. However this idea did not allow for close analysis of the language. Instead it would lead to more comparison between news articles and less at the lyrics themselves. I therefore chose rap to study as it is more relatable and has more to say about todays society. NWA’s music discusses many topics in a way that makes people think and reflect. I was mainly focusing on depiction of police brutality in their music however it seemed too narrow and expanded my view into how does NWA present black male identity in the years 88-92.

Interim Reflection:

Writing the first draft I ran into several problems. Selecting the correct songs to analyse, which had similar messages and themes. Beyond that finding the correct lyrics to intertwine between themes was difficult as they explore different aspects making it hard to integrate them as a coherent argument. Additionally finding and integrating the secondary research was very difficult as the time period in which the songs took place was very different from now. The articles written in 88-92 reflected events poorly especially around subjects like police brutality. Articles rarely described the actions of the police fully and therefore did not support my thesis. Whilst writing I realised the structure of my essay was very weak and therefore very hard to understand, moreover it was too long and therefore not concise. I also found that all of my initial ideas that I planned to write about eventually evolved during the course of my writing and would then lead to analysing something very different. As I delved deeper into the analysis the more complicated it was to cover all the aspects the group was trying to address.

Final Reflection:

The topic was very sensitive and controversial, therefore I was not able to deal with all of the racial issues that come about with it. Initially I was going to write about police brutality in N.W.A’s music but decided it was too narrow and therefore to broaden my views changed to how is male black identity portrayed through their music. This proved to be too large of a topic and I was unable to delve deep enough into all the different aspects. I reverted back to my original question of how is police brutality portrayed through N.W.A’s music as it is a prevalent and quintessential aspect of male black identity. I broke down the stories that N.W.A was weaving through their songs and sectioned my essay to the most prominent aspects of police brutality. The process of writing the EE helped me develop my analytical skills as well as taught me how to be more concise in my writing. This allowed me to create a narrative that delved into a specific topic.