PB1A

The word lyric originates from Latin root “lyricus” and by definition means the words of a song. Song lyrics is a genre of writing that varies greatly depending on its source. The source is ultimately the artist of the song, thus artists’ individual intentions tend to influence the audience, purpose, context, and style of his/ her song. Although lyrics’ rhetorical features obtain many differences from song to song, their similarities are apparent through their conventions. Some of the conventions included in most song lyrics are stanzas, verses, intros, rhymes, shout outs, onomatopoeias, and hooks. Stanzas, verses, and hooks are essential in lyrics for the sole purpose of organization. These conventions allow the songwriter to intertwine his/ her writing with a rhythm or a beat while encouraging a pleasant flow. Rhymes, hooks, and onomatopoeias are imperative when writing lyrics for these conventions enable the artists’ audience to subconsciously connect with the song. For example, Drake’s song “Marvin’s Room” entails many conventions associated with song lyrics. His intro is characterized by a real voicemail from an ex- girlfriend, the hook has a rhyme scheme of “aabb,” and he also uses, “uh,” an onomatopoeia. Although many artists’ lyrics obtain conventions common to most songs, the way in which these conventions are used display the artists’ purpose.

“Marvin’s Room” is essentially Drake’s attempt to prove that he could be insensitive to women and that he is not as soft as people make him out to be. Since the beginning of his rap career, Drake garnered the reputation of a sensitive man. Marvin’s Room specifically falsifies this notion and makes the point that Drake could be both insensitive and sensitive to women. He admits that sometimes his relationships with women do not turn out well causing him to “make monsters outta the women [he] sponsors.” In addition, Drake uses lyrics in order to convey the way in which his relationship with women are negatively affected. He makes the case that other men, his lavish lifestyle, and money are all aspects of his life that end up hurting the relationships that he has with various women. Through the lyrics of “Marvin’s Room” Drake complains that “the woman that [he] would try is happy with a good guy” thus portraying his difficulty competing with other men. Also, he mentions that he is “ashamed” because he “paid for [women’s] flights and hotels.” Thus, he makes the point that having so much money makes it tough for him to find a woman who appreciates more about him than his bank account. Finally, although he constantly parties at the end of the day he realizes that he does not have “much to believe in.” This upsets Drake because although he enjoys his lavish lifestyle, the one girl that he wants to be able to come home to does not want to listen to him so through these lyrics he lets her know how much her indifference hurts him. All in all, song lyrics’ rhetorical features such as their audience, context, and style along with the way in which lyrical conventions appear in a song assist the author with delivering what they want to convey to their audience.