When Wonder references those “living in a pastime paradise”, he is possibly alluding to how Americans are so fixated with the past. Wonder best demonstrates his concerns with racial inequality by using powerful words such as “segregation”, “race relations”, “mutations”, and “miscreation”. He does this by giving the song a gloomy, depressing style. But in “Pastime Paradise”, Wonder strongly reveals his concerns with how African Americans are treated. In his music, Wonder usually plays songs with his signature style of being weirdly mellow, and forcibly upbeat (Mazmanian). Wonder’s lifetime experiences with race relations directly influenced his word choice in “Pastime Paradise”. In America in 1976, most blacks were not treated equally. When Wonder released his 1976 hit song “Pastime Paradise”, America had only been integrated for 22 years. Even if I give a song that deals with a negative subject, it's only constructive criticism to encourage our minds to look and go in a positive direction” (Trescott). I do express certain feelings about certain things. Throughout his career, Wonder has created many songs in which he addresses certain subjects in order to bring change. Since his start in the music industry, Wonder has won 25 Grammy Awards (Africa News), was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 (Puterbaugh) and has been recently awarded the Library of Congress' Gershwin Prize for Popular Song by President Obama (Africa News). The blind Stevie Wonder has been known by America as an R&B icon since his early 1963 release of “12-Year-Old Genius”. Stevie Wonder was born on May 13, 1950, in Saginaw, Michigan (Marquis Who's Who LLC. Coolio’s description of struggles between gangs was still similar in theme, but very different in meaning. Wonder’s “Pastime Paradise” reflection on discrimination between races was greatly altered by Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise. The song also alludes to their dream of one day living in peace. Coolio's “Gangsta’s Paradise” represents the hard-lived lives of gangsters in inner cities.
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The song also describes the hope for a future world free from discrimination. Stevie Wonder's “Pastime Paradise” reflects on the racial inequalities that America has struggled with for decades. Through the difference in the context of each writer’s life, these two interpretations of the same song are very different in meaning.īoth songs identify the struggle of life as being directly related to the evils of the world such as money and power. Both Coolio’s and Wonder’s songs gloomily display their views on society. Both Stevie Wonder and Coolio musically interpret their societies’ idea of paradise. Depending on the time and location of the speaker, their ideal lifestyle may be a reality, or simply a dream of one. What one person may deem a paradise may well be a slum for others.
One person's utopian world may not always be the same as their neighbor’s.
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