My boyfriend recently introduced me to a guy named Ryan Leslie. I had already seen his video for "Diamond Girl" and "Addiction" and I thought that he was just another singer with no talent, trying to make a name for himself. So, I decided to do a little research on Mr. Leslie and was surprised to find out that he graduated from high school at the age of 15 and then graduated from Harvard at 19. I thought this kid was a boy genius and decided to find some youtube videos on him. I came across the video below on him making the "Addiction" beat by himself. He is an amazing singer/producer/song-writer and my new favorite person in the world because it is rare that you find someone today with his talent level.
After having the song "Addiction" stuck in my head, I decided to use the lyrics for this project. I used the Shannonizer tool for the first text of project #3. I decided to edit the text in God's words. The results were that the "new" song lyrics transformed more into a religious song, with lines like: "I see no other gods before me and you You're my addiction." This parallels with the original song and made me play closer attention to what the song could be interpreted as. At first listen, it appears as though Ryan Leslie wants the girl to know that she is his addiction, i.e., "when [he] looks into the, baby you are all I see." But, when I analyzed the original song, it coincides with when someone says they have an addiction to someone else besides God. This brings up a moral issue because can you really have an addiction to someone and it be greater than your addiction to God.
The second text is addiction according to googlism. Some key aspects of this text was the general sense of addiction, like being addicted to drugs and alcohol. Also, being addicted to God comes up again. "Addiction is a hunger for God" is what googlism came up with and it again is related to the Ryan Leslie song "Addiction."
The third and final text is an Addiction Sonnet. The sonnet's theme is addiction to drugs and alcohol. "I had to drink in the morning to start," is in the third stanza and suggests the addiction of someone who has to drink in the morning in order to start their day. The sonnet also references suboxone which appears to be a drug and alchohol rehab center.
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6 comments:
Something you could think about for your meta-text is the significance of looking at this song in a religious way/giving it a religious connotation. Is there any way the original lyrics have any kind of religious connotations--even by stretch of the imagination? Is there a parallel between morality/Christianity when a person claims to have an "addiction" to another human being instead of God?
I like that you used the shannonizer with God's voice for this song. I think it changed some of the meaning of the song. I can't wait to see what else you will do with it in the finished product.
The s.p. myers comment was mine... This computer was still logged in under that user :)
I like the song in God's words. It's funny, especially with the use of "uh-huh."
I did pretty much the same thing here! I really loved how the shannonizer construes lyrics to a song and makes them their own. I really like how you were able to break the song down into distinct parts for analyzation. I have never heard of this artist but because of what you say I think I'll check him out tonight. Good Job!
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