Music Video - Common, Letter to the Free

Question 1

What’s the name of the album LTTF comes from?

Answer 1

Black America Again

Question 2

When was Black America Again released?

Answer 2

2016

Question 3

What does Black America Again delve into?

Answer 3

Racism, slavery and mass incarceration in America

Question 4

Language & Representations - what does the lowkey, black & white lighting of the video suggest?

Answer 4

Negative subject matter

Question 5

Language & Representations - what in the video suggests negative subject matter?

Answer 5

Lowkey, black & white lighting.

Question 6

Language & Representations - the mise-en-scene depicts a prison setting. What is this a reference to?

Answer 6

Amendment 13

Question 7

Context - what is Jim Crow?

Answer 7

A blackface Minstrel character and later the law that introduced segregation.

Question 8

Language & Representations - what in the video lends reference to amendment 13?

Answer 8

The mise-en-scene that depicts a prison setting.

Question 9

LTTF is a ______ song that documents _____ American _______ and the _______ of ________.

Answer 9

a) protest
b) Black
c) culture
d) legacy
e) slavery

Question 10

Common is a _____ American _______ _____ who has maintained a ______ and ______ concern in his ______.

Answer 10

a) Black
b) cultural icon
c) political
d) social
e) music

Question 11

At one of the most charged periods in American history, what is the video presented as?

Answer 11

Common’s contribution to the divisive political and social issues of modern America.

Question 12

Context - what did Common write with John Legend?

Answer 12

Glory for the soundtrack of Selma.

Question 13

Context - Common co-wrote Glory with John Legend as the soundtrack for Selma.
What is this?

Answer 13

A 2014 film portraying the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches, a key moment in the Civil Rights Movement.

Question 14

Context - what were the Selma to Montgomery marches?

Answer 14

A nonviolent protest to demonstrate the desire of black Americans to exercise their constitutional right to vote.

Question 15

Context - what does Common’s involvement with the film Selma show?

Answer 15

He is acquainted with the theme of protest in art forms.

Question 16

Who directed the LTTF video?

Why is this significant?

Answer 16

Bradford Young

He was the cinematographer in Selma.

Question 17

The video has the camera moving at a _____, _______ pace through an ______ _____ where Common, singers _____ ____ and _____, and other ________ perform the song in _______ spaces in the prison ______.

Answer 17

a) slow, aching
b) empty prison
c) Andra Day & Bilal
d) musicians
e) different
f) rooms

Question 18

A _____ _____ hovering in the ____ appears _________ the video, which, in a ____ shot, is framed as ______ space in a ______.

Answer 18

a) black square
b) air
c) throughout
d) final
e) empty
f) field

Question 19

Context - why was the song written?

Answer 19

For Ava DuVernay’s Netflix documentary ‘13th’ that focuses on the historic legacy of the 13th amendment to the US constitution.

Question 20

Context - what is the 13th amendment and why is it culturally significant?

Answer 20

Theoretically written to outlaw slavery, it still allows for local & state law reforms that create loopholes, enabling the enslavement of Black Americans through mass imprisonment.

Question 21

Context - what were black codes?

Answer 21

Loopholes that enabled forced labour as punishment for petty crimes on newly emancipated black prisoners.

Question 22

Context - focusing on genre, what was the most significant time period for the rise in political hip-hop?

Answer 22

Late 80s & 90s - focused on black love & empowerment and being aware.

Question 23

What was the critical reception for Black America Again?

Answer 23

Debuted at 25 in Billboard top 200.

Question 24

Language & Representations - how does the video use cinematography to create meanings for the audience?

(3)

Answer 24

Slow camera movement mirrors ongoing US civil rights movement.

Camera is never still, implying the movement hasn’t stopped & there’s more to do.

Begs question of whether it’s a possibility or a dream.

Question 25

Language & Representations - how does the slow camera movement create meaning?

Answer 25

Mirrors the slow and ongoing civil rights movement.

Question 26

Language & Representations - how does the fact that the camera is constantly create meaning?

Answer 26

Reflective of how the civil rights movement hasn’t stopped.

Question 27

Language & Representations - why is the video in black & white?

Answer 27

To reflect the divide between Black and White America and what keeps them distanced.

Question 28

Language & Representations - what do the inverted colours at the end depict?

Answer 28

A black sky, depicting a loss of hope & the idea of total freedom & equality being at a loss.

Question 29

Language & Representations - what in the video reflects the divide between Black and White America?

Answer 29

It’s in black and white.

Question 30

Language & Representations - what in the video depicts being at a loss of hope?

Answer 30

The inverted colours at the end that show a black sky.

Question 31

Language & Representations - how does the mise-en-scene construct meaning for the audience?

(2)

Answer 31

Prison setting - correlates to 13th amendment & Black Americans being under captivity, experiencing little freedom compared to White Americans.

Minimal use of props & empty rooms - strips video down to it’s important message & meaning.

Question 32

Language & Representations - what in the video directly correlates to the 13th amendment & little freedom Black Americans have?

Answer 32

The prison mise-en-scene.

Question 33

Language & Representations - what strips the video down to it’s message?

Answer 33

The minimal use of props & empty room mise-en-scene.

Question 34

What are 3 lyrics in LTTF that suggest the political message of the song?

Answer 34

“Southern souls, southern trees we hung from”

“Institution ain’t just a building, but a method of having black & brown bodies fill them”

“Not whips & chains, all subliminal”

Question 35

How does the lyric “Southern souls, southern trees we hung from” suggest the political message of the song?

Answer 35

Starts off the song by looking at the past and America’s history with racism.

Question 36

The lyric “_______ ain’t just a ______, but a method of having black and brown bodies ____ them” enforces a political message: looks at ___________ and how it uses ____ to ______ minorities to their _______ (the _________ American _____ system).

Answer 36

a) institution, building, fill

b) modern capitalism, race, exploit, advantage, privatised, prison

Question 37

How does the lyric “Not whips and chains, all subliminal” suggest the political message of the song?

Answer 37

While slavery has been abolished, America used new methods of oppression that take on a more ‘undercover’ form that is less obvious.

Question 38

What is the significance of the black square motif?

Answer 38

It is representative of the ‘infinite thing about blackness’ and how it can’t be ‘defined in space or time’.

Question 39

How the end scene references racism, slavery & oppression of black culture:
______ in comparison ____________ to it.
_________ outside ______ reflects how black culture has been _____ or yet to be ________ (Gilroy - ___________).
Represents a moment of __________ for the black _________ & _______ in America.

Answer 39

a) length, draws attention
b) black square, prison, lost, discovered, diasporic identity
c) reflection, experience, racism

Question 40

Language & Representations - significance of the black square:
Constantly ______, but not ________ going ________.
Represents the ____________ - the ______ of ______ remains _______ significant, particularly in the _________, where the video is ____.
Seen outside the _______ to show ________, yet _______ from the rest of _______ in a _____, beyond ___________.

Answer 40

a) moving, necessarily, anywhere
b) ‘infinite thing about blackness’, legacy, slavery, culturally, US prison system, set
c) prison, optimism, separate, society, field, suburban houses

Question 41

Language & Representations - what does the prison setting reinforce?
(3)

Answer 41

Stereotypes, dominant values and cultural expectations.

Question 42

How do the lyrics provide an intertextual reference?

Answer 42

LTTF - “southern trees we hung from […] tied with the rope that my grandmother died”.

‘Strange Fruit’, Billie Holiday (1959) - “southern trees bear strange fruit […] black bodies swinging in the southern breeze”.

Question 43

Language & Representations - the song is performed in front of a sign that reads ‘no excessive noise’.
Why is this significant?

Answer 43

It is a point of rebellion.

Question 44

Language & Representations - how is a point of rebellion made through the mise-en-scene?

Answer 44

The song is performed in front of a sign that reads ‘no excessive noise’.

Question 45

Language & Representations - what is significant about the first time the black motif is shown?

Answer 45

It is in front of a sign that reads ‘no excessive noise’.

Question 46

Language & Representations - the first time the black motif is shown is in front of a sign that reads ‘_____________’.
This is significant because there is a __________ noise followed by a __________ being picked up.
When that ____ is shown, the sound ____, showing _______ to _______.
The song _____ and the sign _____ while ____ is being made, showing ______ to be ______ as they once were.

Answer 46

a) ‘no excessive noise’
b) background noise, chain-gang rhythm
c) shot, stops, obedience, injustices
d) begins, returns, noise, refusal, silent

Question 47

Narrative - list the binary oppositions evident.

4

Answer 47

Freedom v incarceration
Black v white/light v dark
Isolation v togetherness
Obedience v rebellion

Question 48

Narrative - binary oppositions = freedom v incarceration.
EVIDENT:
_____ & _____ filter
______ & _____ mise-en-scene - creates ____________.
_____ sounds & emergence of _____.
______ but ________ shows _______/desire for ________.
SUGGESTS:
_______ in ______ - the ______ from in which is ______.

Answer 48

a) black & white
b) prison, field, new equilibrium
c) eerie, song
d) trapped, natural light, potential, freedom

e) trapped, system, escape, futile

Question 49

Narrative - one of the binary oppositions evident is black v white/light v dark.

Explain where this is created (2).
What does this suggest? (1)

Answer 49

Lighting
Editing

Highlights and addressed the symbolic of issues addressed in song.

Question 50

Narrative - one of the binary oppositions evident is isolation v togetherness.

Explain where this is created (3).
What does this suggest? (2)

Answer 50

Empty prison mise-en-scene
Positioning of artists alone/in pairs
Lack of typical hip-hop conventions

Rebellion
Greater emphasis on social roles

Question 51

Narrative - one of the binary oppositions evident is obedience v rebellion.

Explain where this is created (1).
What does this suggest? (1)

Answer 51

Quiet v loud.

‘No excessive noise’ mise-en-scene.