The two songs, “Hey Mama” by Kanye West and “To My Mama” by Bow Wow reflect two important cultural aspects of the United States. The first has to do with the fact that both mothers mentioned in these songs are single, hardworking, and struggling parents. This represents the number of single, African American mothers there were struggling during both Kanye and Bow Wow’s childhoods. Bow Wow was born in 1987 and Kanye was born in 1977, so these songs make an implication that there were an overwhelming number of single, African American mothers since the late 1970’s to now. The second implication that these songs make is the rising economic status of the African American population in the US. Both Kanye West and Bow Wow have come a long way since their childhoods. They are now both very successful financially and are able to buy whatever they please. They both appear to use their wealth to fully lavish their mothers with gifts. By doing this, they show the world how much they have climbed on the economic scale.
Kanye West’s song “Hey Mama” was released in 2005. Kanye later performed this song after his mother’s sudden death at the 2008 Grammys. The song essentially discusses the artist’s impoverished childhood and how his mother, a strong single woman, worked several jobs just to ensure food and shelter for her son. Kanye also mentions in these lyrics that he is going to repay her now with his millions, with items including extravagant cars and a new, big house. “You work late nights just to keep on the lights…I said Mommy I’m a love you so you don’t hurt no more, And when I’m older, you ain’t gotta work no more, And I’m a get you that mansion that we couldn’t afford…”
There is also some evidence of an absent father, as Kanye does not once mention a father figure or even a man in his life. In fact he suggests the opposite. “And you never put no man over me, And I love you for that Mommy can’t you see?” This suggests that he grew up in a single parent home. Here Kanye makes a direct implication that his father left his mother and him when he was very young and dropped the responsibility of raising a child on his beloved mom.
The second song, Bow Wow’s “To My Mama” suggests many of the same things that Kanye’s “Hey Mama” implies. Bow Wow’s lyrics implicate that he has the same sort of relationship with his mother as Kanye did before her death. Bow Wow and his mother appear to have gone through some significant hardship before his claim to fame. “I remember back in the days when we couldn’t get much, TV’s wasn’t covered and the floor was torn up, How you juggle three jobs just to take care of me.” He also mentions in this song that he plans to repay his mother and more. “Look at you now, You sittin’ up on top of the world, God a X5 and a Benz just to swerve, Gotcha dream house now…” There is also mention that his mom was a single parent. “All the single mothers out there workin’ hard, Just keep ya head up…”
Both of these songs reflect families in which the main breadwinner is a single, African American woman with a child. Here there is presented a cultural statement of the overwhelming number of black, single mothers there are in the United States. An article entitled “The Changing Demography of America’s Families” discusses this. “…shows the trend in the percent of women aged 20 to 24 by race and ethnic status who are ever married…by the late 1990’s only 15% of African American women aged 20 to 24 had married…The percent of women ever married by age 35 to 39 has declined from nearly 90% in 1975 to 65% in 1998. This result implies that nearly one in three African American women may never marry” (Teachman, Tedrow, Crowder). This article suggests a rapid decline in the number of Black women married in America. With this decline in the number of married African American women, there leaves more opportunity for there to be single mothers.
Both of these song extensively mention wealth. Now that Bow Wow and Kanye West have made millions, they are both set on taking care of and spoiling their mothers in order to repay them for all they’ve done. As they both grew up extremely poor, they are interested in flaunting their wealth wherever possible. Both of them appear to find their mothers to be good outlets to spend huge amounts of money on. This fascination with wealth stems from the fact that these two individuals wish to show the world how much they have progressed since childhood.
(I’m not sure what this article has to do with my topic yet but I can feel that it does relate!) I recently found a Newspaper article entitled “Buying Black-The Ebony Experiment” which discusses how American Blacks find themselves buying too much into white owned businesses. This article discusses two people by the names of John and Maggie Anderson who are both determined to only buy from black owned businesses. What is interesting about this is that many people are responding to John and Maggie’s idea of only buying from black owned businesses to be racist, even though blacks have bought from white business owners for some time. It is alarming how much money is spent by Blacks every year and how little of it goes to black owned businesses. “…$850 billion moves through Black consumers’ hands each year, more than 90 percent of that amount going to businesses owned and controlled by others…” (Clingman) This article expresses the idea that one should “buy black” in order to keep some money in the hands of the African American business owner.
This idea that most money possessed by African Americans in the US goes to non-black business owners is ridiculous. It seems as if American Blacks are buying into the ideals stemmed from white consumerism. This relates to Kanye and Bow Wow’s need to express their wealth. Although a single, working, Black mother does not appear to be one who is well endowed, Kanye and Bow Wow have decided to defy this social norm. They have risen in economic status and are buying into the Caucasian idea of wealth, not only for themselves, but for their mothers. For them, it’s all about big houses, big cars, and big money.
