Background of The Study

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of The Study

Literature is one is creative, an art ; the other, if not precisely a science, is a species of knowledge or of learning Wellek and Warren, 1942:3. Through this statement, it can be stated that literature can make people to be creative to express idea or feeling. One way to express idea or feeling is song. …. Both poetry and song are literary poems that deal with emotion of a particular individual, regarding a particular situation. Furthermore, poetry verses and lines of song often follow a rhyming scheme, giving a sense of melody to the verses, even when the lines are merely recited. There are a number of different lyrics used in songs that derived from poetry. Take for instance, The Star Spangled Banner, which is the National Anthem of the United States. The lyrics of the song were actually derived from the poem of the same title, and written by Franciss Scott Key. Poetry vs Song, www.differencebetwen.net, 22 December 2009 From the statement above we can say that the song lyric is similar with poetry. Songs have the same function as poetry does, because song consists of the stanzas that are sung by people. Poetry has the stanzas; it has the same elements with song which also has the stanzas that is called the lyrics. Capability of effecting lyrics of songs happened because the author convey the ideas and concept through word or sentence that are causing feelings of anger, hate, happiness, depression, love, and all the things that lead to emotional intimacy. The differences between poetry and song may become less meaningfull where verse is set to Universitas Sumatera Utara 2 music, to the point that any distinction becomes untenable. This is perhaps recognised in the way popular songs have lyrics. The lyrics common methods of classification are by purpose, by style dance, pop, ballade, etc, or by time of origin Renaissance, Contemporary, etc. Lyrics often contain political, social, and economic themes as well as aesthetic elements and so can communicate culturally significant messages. These messages can be explicit, or implied through metaphor or symbolism. Lyrics can also be analyzed with respect to the sense of unity, it has with its supporting music. The reason for choosing this topic because if we look back to the history of America, it remains a terribly memory. It about the slavery in 1619 and racial discrimination in America. Then African American criticize their life by songs, they use it to claim white people for their behavior because they only the slaves. In reading song lyrics, the writer found that those lyrics are not only telling about his life but also about the society. Michael Jackson is the famous African-American artist who have exquisitely shared portrayals of historic events and individuals, cultural perspectives, and the experiences and struggles of minorities through their artwork. Thus some his songs iluminate the experience racial discrimination of African American. Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana. He was the eighth of ten children in an African-American working-class family who lived in a 3- room house in Gary, an industrial city near Chicago. As a black performer Michael Jackson’s song communicated emotions far beyond the grasp of an adolescent man and black America swooned. As a dancer and a performer, Jackson was an androgynous boy- man figure who broke down racial barriers becoming the first black performer on MTV. Universitas Sumatera Utara 3 He turned the music video into an art form, giving modern pop music a huge space in which to flourish. His stage presence was extraordinary and he could create delightful confusion about race, gender and age. He also influenced a new generation of black musicians, including Usher, Ne-Yo and Kanye West, etc. This was the Jackson who raised with, not just an American pop star but a global icon. Michael Jackson is one of the famous figures who contribute the work to the struggle of black people. He created the few songs that describe the struggle of black people against social discrimination. Born just four years after segregation was outlawed, he signed for Motown in 1986, the year Martin Luther King was assassinated and Detroit burned to the ground. As such, he straddled the boundaries of what was legal and what was possible, an artist with the potential to crossover in a country struggling with its potential to integrate. There were so many actions done by Michael Jackson through his songs to struggle the black’s right. For example, Black or White was written, composed and produced by Michael Jackson and was picked as the first single from the album Dangerous. The song was released on November 11, 1991. “Black or White” described about racial harmony. Racist issue that presented through Black or White lyrics song, about the discrimination of black people in American by the white people and to stop struggling for justice to produce a society with true equality of opportunity. Then the lyrics remembering of history and all important issue of race and reminds us how race and racism have affected and continue to affect the popular presentation of the past and how communities over the past century and a half treated issues of memory, racism and landscape in different ways and how the outcome of each of these cases is unique. Universitas Sumatera Utara 4 Nowdays, the position of African American dominate in that continent and look toward reaching the goal of a truly color blind society, we must begin with a clear view of the vibrant history of the African American community and the diversity of African American experience. At the beginning of the 21st century there are millions who migrated to United State included Negro American. They came from the island of Caribbean, continued a pattern that began the slavery era. That was the situation where the black people supposed to have the lower status than white people and the white people enslave them. African American constructed from the savagery of slavery and segregation a distinctive and dynamic culture with its own style, spirituality, speech, humor, music, dance, and dress which sustained them psychologically through severe oppression and now has deeply affected the character of American society. It has also lured mainstream American capitalists who produce mass marketing of black urban styles and sounds because of their enormous commercial potential. African themes have shaped the content of black prose and poetry, but the African heritage has not directly affected the artistic styles of black authors. Rather, their work has been distinguished by their focus on African American subject matter and their analysis of race relation. Universitas Sumatera Utara 5

1.2 Problems of The Study