Music has united people worldwide. "... three main ways music and culture come together in symbiotic harmony... sharing emotions through music, music is an activity that promotes bonding over an experience, music is a highway of shared experiences..." (Rosas) Music has now helped people worldwide come together and have something to connect about. In the Untrapped: Lil Baby Documentary, the rapper gives his fans a visualization of how he relates to his music; in which his fans can relate to his music. So, he is showing them that he can relate to his fans/the things he raps about. On August 26, 2022, the film Untrapped: The Story of Lil Baby' was released, and the film was written and directed by Karam Gill. The rapper's family members and a few public figures spoke out on Lil Baby's behalf. In the documentary, Untrapped: The Story of Lil Baby, the director shows the audience how Lil Baby's rap lyrics relate to black culture as an image of poverty, police brutality, and family.
The social impact of poverty in music is crucial. Many rappers tend to relate to people from where they are from, by talking about the struggle in their community. "If a child is born in poverty in the city, most likely they'll remain in poverty their whole life." (Untrapped 11:45-11:51) Gill used a logical approach to tell the audience about how challenging it is to beat the odds. He underscores how incredibly difficult it is for children who are born into poverty to overcome it. In the film, they showed the audience a glimpse of what it is like to grow up in poverty. Lil Baby continues to get a bit deeper. He says, "Growing up, I ain't have the picket fence and the silver spoon. My mama was a single parent. A lot of times, she could not afford to pay rent sometimes, so we would get evicted... "I was raised in the projects in Atlanta (The West End)." (Untrapped 8:25-9:20) Lil Baby uses this example to show the audience he can relate to poverty; he does notjust rap about it. He gets sentimental when he talks about his past and how his family would get evicted due to them being late on rent. Also, his mother was having trouble making ends meet. He shows how he grew up in a single-parent household and how he coped with it.
The film gives those who are watching a chance to visualize the meaning of his song 'The Bigger Picture. Lil Baby did not just rap about police brutality, he marched out and protested to help bring light to the trauma our people face due to police brutality. "Protests and growing national outcry continues Over the death of George Floyd Last night, people protesting in Minneapolis escalated as demonstrators were lashed by tear gas and rubber bullets the main message here, the main message here, the main message here Is that they want to see those officers involved They want to see those officers arrested Officers arrested (I can't breathe, I can't breathe)". (The Bigger Picture 4:16) He is referring to an incident that occurred with two police officers and George Floyd. The officers sat with their knees on his neck as he told them he could not breathe. In the film, you can see how he was involved in the protest that took place downtown. This incident motivated the Black Lives Matter Movement, along with other incidents that have awakened the people in the black culture. "Crazy, I had to tell all of my loved ones to carry a gun when they going outside Stare in the mirror whenever you drive Overprotective, go crazy for mine You gotta pay attention to the signs." (The Bigger Picture 4:16) In this piece he is referring to an incident that took place where a black male was brutalized by the police. The incident influenced people of color to record when they are being pulled over, just so they feel safe. People of color have grown to fear for their lives when the police are involved.
In black culture, your family plays an essential role. In the film, Lil Baby's family and close friends begin to discuss how close they are. You can also see how family-oriented he is overall. "Family more important to me than anything. I do not ever see me leaving my kids. Like, I don't want to be no holiday dad." (Untrapped 4:20-4:55) Lil Baby is expressing how significant family is to him. This clip shows how devoted he is. He also carries on talking about how he will never leave his kids. He knows how it feels to grow up without a dad. Imagine how many kids can relate. That is something he does not want his kids to experience, so he wants to be there as a dad. He gets more in-depth about how he does not have the father-son relationship he should have with his father. "I got some checks that I ain't touched they for Loyal and Jason." (Humble 2:13) In the song he is implying that he is saving up for his kids. In the film, it showed how he was physically there for his kids, but in the song, he raps about how he is saving checks for his sons.
Music is powerful in the way it connects people from all over through sharing emotions and shared experiences. The social impact Lil Baby and his music have left on people in the Black Culture are amazing. He is respected among the younger people in black culture as a rapper, a trapper, a family-oriented person, and as a person in general. In 'Untrapped: The Story of Lil Baby' he provided in-depth visualizations of what it's like to live in poverty, police brutality, and family. In conclusion, Lil Baby does not just rap about black culture to sound cool, he is involved. He has lived through these events and now can rap about it to help others who are in similar situations feel as if they are not alone.
Works Cited
"Lil Baby - Humble (Audio)." YouTube, 30 Apr. 2020, youtu.be/LnKOxbwFAVs. Accessed 1 Oct. 2022.
Rosas, Rhiannon. “How Music and Culture Work Together: Science Behind Music.”
Lil Baby. "Lil Baby - The Bigger Picture (Official Music Video)." YouTube, 12 June 2020, youtu.be/_VDGysJGNoI. Accessed 1 Oct. 2022.
Untrapped: The Story of Lil Baby. Directed by Karam Gill, performances by Lil Baby. 2022. Lil Baby, 2022.
Reflective Documentary Essay
When I started writing this Documentary Essay for ENGL 1101, I was confused as to where to start. I knew what documentary I wanted to use, but I did not know how I was going to connect the events from the documentary to culture in an essay. I was able to relate to the documentary on so many levels, so it was hard trying to narrow it down to three ways it related to black culture. Although this essay was very time consuming, I enjoyed writing it because it was about a rapper and culture, which interests me.
Doing this documentary essay, I struggled pulling information from the documentary and putting it in my essay, in a formal way. I knew what I wanted to say, but how to say it. With my professors' helpless efforts, I was able to formally connect the rappers' culture and background to the topic we were discussing (Culture). My professor gave numerous examples of how to gather information from various sources, she wrote a short example and cited them. Her doing so, made me be able to successfully write my documentary essay in a formal tone.
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