Nuthin’ But A “G” Thang Decoded

Dr. Dre and Snoop Dog’s “Nuthin’ But A “G” Thang” samples Leon Haywood’s “I Wanna Do Something Freaky To You”, using it as music behind the raps.  Haywood originally released his song in 1975, giving Dr. Dre’s “Nuthin But A “G” Thang” appeal to fans of 70’s music, while also channeling a decade of pro-black music.

“Nuthin But a “G” Thang” was written at a time in Dr. Dre’s life where things were falling apart all around him.  He had just left Ruthless Records, assaulted a female reporter, and began to surround himself with questionable characters who only got him into more trouble.  Dre brought new rappers into the studio, many of which were members of rival gangs Bloods and Crips, who would threaten each other during recording sessions and cause trouble for Dre.  Amidst all this chaos however, Dre met Snoop Dog who turned out to be a great talent.  With Snoop Dog, Dre produced “Nuthin But A “G” Thang” which turned out to be a huge success.  The original by Haywood is a song mostly referring to intercourse, but Dre uses it for other reasons.  The meticulous music sampled from “I Wanna Do Something Freaky To You” contrasts the sporadic lyrics rapped over the music. This represents Dre’s life at the time and how he wants to find stability in his chaotic world of conflict, shown through his sampling of Haywood’s music.  Dre also chose “I Wanna Do Something Freaky To You” because it is from a decade that was abundant in pro-black artists and music.  This hints at his strong identification with the black community while also appealing to a larger audience.

After further analyzing one of my old favorites from Dr. Dre, I now appreciate “Nuthin But a G Thang” as well as Dre much more.  Besides being a great song to ride in the car with, it also brings in a lot of meaning concerning Dre’s life and the gangster rap genre.  “Nuthin But A G Thang” opened up gangster rap to the public because it was not nearly as graphic or violent as other songs from the genre.  This new approach to gangster rap as well as its influence from Haywood in the 70s makes me much more appreciate the song as a meaningful expression of Dr. Dre.

Inquiry 2 Worst Paragraph Rewrite

Original:

So who really are the bad guys in prison?  In the context of the Shawshank Redemption it is obvious that Darabont does not want us to think it is the inmates, (with the exception of the Sisters), but rather the men with power in the prison; the Warden and the guards.  In The Shawshank Redemption, all the inmates in the film appear to be reasonable, non-violent people who are just trying to live life in prison as though they were actually free men.  Meanwhile the Warden and the guards do whatever it is that makes them happy no matter the expense to the inmates, for they are seen as sub-human.  Captain Hadley finds pleasure in maiming the inmates whenever possible.  Beating a frightened inmate to death, nearly throwing Andy off of a roof, and beating Bogs so severely he could never walk again, were a few of Captain Hadley’s anger releases that occurred all too easily and went unaccounted for.  While Hadley went on his outbursts, the Warden simply ignored them and no consequences ever fell on Hadley.  This unaccountability is just one of the Warden’s terrible ethics as a leader.

Re-Write:

So who really are the “bad guys” in prison?  In the context of The ShawShank Redemption it is obvious that Darabont does not want us to think it is the inmates, (with the exception of Bogs), but rather the men with power in the prison; the Warden and the guards.  In The Shawshank Redemption, the inmates are portrayed as reasonable, non-violent people who are just trying to live life in prison with as little conflict as possible.  The inmates never start trouble with each other and especially not with the guards within the realm of the film.  The only “bad” thing that the inmates do is smuggle in cigarettes and other contraband that they barter with each other for.  There is no revenge scene against a particular guard for cruel treatment, no mass scale prison riot, and no grand plan of escape.  Instead, there are men peacefully going on about their days within the walls of Shawshank.  Meanwhile the Warden and the guards do whatever they please at the expense of the inmates, because they see the inmates as sub-human.  The most violent character in the film, Captain Hadley, finds pleasure in maiming the inmates whenever possible.  A few of his outbursts include beating a frightened inmate to death, nearly throwing Andy off of a roof, and beating Bogs so severely he was never able to walk again.  All of Hadley’s actions went unaccounted for, because the Warden simply ignored them.  In the twenty years of prison at Shawshank the film encompasses, Hadley does not face consequences of his actions until Andy exposes the corruption in Shawshank after he escapes.  Unaccountability is just one of the Warden’s terrible ethics as a leader.

Inquiry 2 Before and After

Before:

Criminals are all horrible people and deserve whatever horrors await them in prison, right? Well after learning about what goes on in prisons not just overseas, but here in the great land of freedom, opinions will likely change.   One serious mistake and a person can earn a life sentence in prison, and that is exactly what they will give during their time inside the walls. The psychological effect of knowing that you can never go back to normal society is in itself an overwhelming idea that is difficult to accept. Just living in prison with this thought however, is nothing compared to what inmates must endure for the rest of their lives. In The Shawshank Redemption, the guards have a nasty habit of brutally beating inmates, sometimes even to the point of death. Captain Hadley in particular is a particularly violent officer who on the first night of Andy arriving at Shawshank beats a scared new inmate to death in plain view of all the other inmates. You may think that this kind of thing only happens in the movies, however it is the real world in which movies such as The Shawshank Redemption are inspired. According to Finley, “Guards in U.S. prisons have abused inmates in numerous ways, including dousing them with chemical sprays, beating them with fists and batons, stomping on them, kicking them, choking them … Some have died” (Finley, 70). This very short list of prisoner abuses is not simply another Hollywood exaggeration, but is in reality all too true. So not only do inmates have to live within walls for the rest of their lives but they also live fearing for their lives on a day-to-day basis. The abuses are not only limited to beatings but inhumane experiments on the “expendable” prisoners. Back in the 60’s over 130 Oregon prisoners had their testicles irradiated in an effort to find out how much radiation astronauts could handle during space flights (Finley, 75).  These abuses cannot be justified in any manner because they are inherent violations of human dignity. The inmates in Shawshank and most other places are treated as sub-human, with the guards doing whatever they please with the prisoners. The first thing that Shawshank inmates must do when they arrive is strip down completely naked, get hosed off, doused in harsh chemicals, and then walk naked through the cell lockup that holds every inmate in Shawshank. Through their acts of humiliation and degradation the guards assume that they can treat the inmates as if they had no say, assuming that they have no value or worth (Schaber, 6). This is wrong as all humans have inherent dignity that should be respected, and disrespecting the dignities of others is indirectly denying yourself your own human dignity. These violations of human dignity put the guards on the same level as the criminals they are keeping inside the walls, if not lower.

After:

Criminals are all horrible people and deserve whatever horrors await them in prison, right? Well after learning about what goes on in prisons not just overseas, but here in America, opinions will likely change. One serious mistake can earn a life sentence in prison, and that is exactly what inmates will give during their time inside. The psychological effect of knowing that you can never go back to normal society is an overwhelming idea. Just living in prison with this thought however, is nothing compared to what inmates must endure for the rest of their lives. In The Shawshank Redemption, the guards have a nasty habit of brutally beating inmates, even to the point of death. Captain Hadley is a particularly violent officer who beats a scared new inmate to death on the first night when Andy arrives at Shawshank. You may think that this kind of thing only happens in the movies, but it is the real world which inspired The Shawshank Redemption. According to Finley, “Guards in U.S. prisons have abused inmates in numerous ways, including dousing them with chemical sprays, beating them with fists and batons, stomping on them, kicking them, choking them … Some have died” (Finley, 70). This short list of prisoner abuses is not another Hollywood exaggeration, but is in reality all too true. So not only do inmates have to live within walls for the rest of their lives but they also live fearing for their lives on a day-to-day basis. The abuses are not only limited to beatings. Sometimes inhumane experiments were conducted on the “expendable” prisoners. Back in the 60’s, over 130 Oregon prisoners had their testicles irradiated to find out how much radiation astronauts could handle during space flights (Finley, 75). These abuses cannot be justified in any manner because they are inherent violations of human dignity. The Warden and guards treat the inmates in Shawshank as sub-human. The first thing that Shawshank inmates must do when they arrive is strip down completely naked, get hosed off, doused in harsh chemicals, and then walk naked through the cell lockup that holds every inmate in Shawshank. Through their acts of humiliation and degradation the guards assume that they can treat the inmates as if they had no say, assuming that they have no value or worth (Schaber, 6). This humiliation is wrong because all humans have inherent dignity that should be respected. These violations of human dignity put the guards on the same level as the criminals they are keeping inside the walls, if not lower.

Research Post #5

Gross, Bruce. “Prison Violence: Does Brutality Come With The Badge?.” Forensic Examiner 17.4 (2008): 21-27. Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full Text. Web. 24 Oct. 2014.

– The article is a case study on prison violence in the United States. It discusses reports of excessive violence by correctional officers that have occurred since the inception of America’s penal system. Some of the reasons that the guards enact this violence against the inmates are also discussed in the article including the lack of accountability as well as individual pathology. The article will be useful for describing why the guards at Shawshank act like they do towards the inmates.   The article will also be useful in further explaining that not all of the supposed “good guys” are really all that good in reality, with some being worse than the inmates themselves.

Research Post #4

Miller, Ruth A. The Erotics of Corruption: Law, Scandal, and Political Perversion. Albany, N.Y: State University of New York Press, 2008. Print.

• The book describes political corruption and corrupt leaders. With the Warden in Shawshank being about as corrupt as they come, this book should prove to be a valuable resource for referencing others who are just like him.

Research Post #3

Finley, Laura L. The Torture and Prisoner Abuse Debate. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2008. Print.

• The book discusses torture and its origins but more importantly prison abuse in the United States during the Pre-Civil Rights Era, as well as domestic prison abuse today. The book will be valuable to my paper because of its discussion of prison abuse and how that relates to The Shawshank Redemption. The book will support my defense of the inmates and also make it easier to critique those who are doing the abusing in the film, namely the warden and his dirty guard. The book also shows that Shawshank is not simply a fictional story but that it actually is based off of real cases of prison abuse from the Pre-Civil Rights era.

Research Post #2

Schaber, Peter1, schaber@philos.uzh.ch. “Human Rights And Human Dignity: A Reply To Doris Schroeder.” Ethical Theory & Moral Practice 17.1 (2014): 155-161. Humanities Abstracts (H.W. Wilson). Web. 23 Oct. 2014.

• The article is a reply to another article which rejects that human rights are derived from human dignity. The article by Schaber makes a case that human dignity can actually be a means to justify human rights. I am including this article in my research because I need a means in which to criticize the treatment of the prison inmates in Shawshank even though they did wrong at some point in their lives. This article will help in showing that just because these men are in prison does not mean that they are inherently bad people who deserve to be treated as sub-human.

Research Post #1

GUTIÉRREZ, PETER. “Redeeming The Myth Of Upward Mobility: The Shawshank Redemption.” Screen Education 70 (2013): 98-103. Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.

– The article discusses escapism from prison life in the film The Shawshank Redemption. The article describes how the film shows the desire to escape in both a literal and metaphorical sense however it is proven to be difficult because of the concept of institutionalism introduced in the film. The article also critiques modern capitalism through the depiction of corrupt officials, welfare state and public education. This article is relevant to my paper because it discusses the film specifically as well as the corrupt officials in the film (the Warden) who is the supposed positive figure in the prison system but is actually one of the worst characters in the film.

More in-Depth Source Analysis

One of my sources is the article “Redeeming The Myth of Upward Mobility: The Shawshank Redemption.” The article is great for my paper because it has a focus on the film which I am writing about, and the content within the article is pertinent to my research question.  In the film The Shawshank Redemption, the inmates seek to escape the walls of Shawshank in any way that they can, whether that be literal or metaphorical.  Andy Dufresne eventually does both. Throughout his time at Shawshank Andy continually finds means by which to make him feel normal/outside the walls again.  A few examples of this include his procurement of beers for some of his inmate friends, filing tax returns for the prison guards, playing the music over the PA system, and expanding the prison library while helping some of the inmates earn their high school equivalency.  The reason that Andy and the rest of the inmates live for these opportunities in prison is because of the way they become institutionalized within the walls of Shawshank.  The inmates are all conditioned to behave only as their superiors allow them to.  Within the walls there is no freedom, not even the freedom to relieve yourself without getting permission from a guard.  Some of the inmates become so institutionalized from being inside Shawshank for so long that they no longer remember how to function as a normal member of society, and are willing to commit crimes just so that they can go back to the place where things still make sense to them.  This concept of institutionalism seems to me to be a cruel and devastating blow to the humanity of the inmates, most of which seem to be reasonable people in the film, unlike the warden and the guards.  In a sense, the “bad guys” in the film really are not the bad guys, but rather the supposed “good guys” are among the worst people in this film.  The worst two men in the film being the warden and his dog, Captain Hadley.  Hadley is the most brutal of any of the guards, being introduced to the film by beating a scared new inmate to death.  The warden on the other hand is just as bad because he does not keep Hadley accountable for his actions, and in fact overlooks them so he can use Hadley to kill an inmate with a confession that could set Andy free.  The warden, supposed keeper of peace in the prison, is really a dirty lying murderer who sells out his prisoners at no cost to him, basically as slave labor.  The money he earns on these contracts in laundered by Andy as not to bring the wrath of the IRS to his front door step.  This being said, the Warden is the most corrupt person in the film, more so than any prisoner in Shawshank.  The article for which I am using also critiques modern capitalism through the depiction of corrupt officials e.g. the Warden, which will be useful in my critique of the American penal system, and in defending the inmates.

The Shawshank Redemption Research Questions

How is the Shawshank Redemption a critique of the American prison system/justice system in general?

Why do all the supposed good guys in the film have a corrupt nature about them?  (e.g The warden and the guards.)

In what ways does The Shawshank Redemption show that human perseverance and hope will ultimately triumph over adversity and the cruel world around us?