Comparative Analysis Sample:

“The Theme of Financial Freedom in Hip Hop”

Though synonymous with a vastness of wealth and opportunity, the United States has remained notorious for the extensive shadow cast upon its inner cities. Fortunately, however, from the pits of darkness analogous to the inability to pay light bills emerged a generation of ingenious entrepreneurs. Sparked by the necessity of money and immersed by a brand new musical art form and culture called Hip Hop, the financial spirit substantially became a priority for this new wave of inner-city poets. Directly and indirectly inspired by their older contemporaries whose youthful artistic outlook contributed to the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, hip hop artists from the 1990s and onward creatively etched boastful ballads that mirrored their inner struggles and ambitions. Two hip hop classics that undoubtedly showcase this message of deprivation and a never-ending desire to succeed at all costs are AZ’s Doe or Die and 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’. Though separated by a gap of 8 years, each debut album from whimsical wordsmiths and New York City natives AZ and 50 Cent exemplify the raw underbelly of the hood’s damaging crab mentality as well as their endless potential towards greatness.

“When you’re in my situation, there’s no Plan B. When you don’t have an option, it absolutely has to work”

— Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson