Rationale
The text type that I chose for the written task is an
interview with Christopher Wallace, better known as Biggie Smalls or Notorious
BIG. The Interview will be centered on the language that he uses in his first
album “Ready to Die” which was released in (1993). The 3 songs that I will use
from this album are the three that describe his hard times the best and they
are Suicidal thoughts, Ready to Die and Everyday Struggle. I am using “Life
Magazine” because I want the interview to be more relating to how the language
comes across and relates to his life instead of having Biggie just talking
about the rap game and conflict with other rappers. The target audience for the
interview would be both the people that read the magazine and not just Biggie’s
fans but followers. The interview goes a step deeper than any other before so
those that want to know all there is about Biggie would be partly the target
audience. The interview will be, “Q” is the interviewer’s questions for Biggie,
and “A” will be the text representing Biggie Small’s response.
Interview
Q - Hello Christopher thank you for being here with us
today, I know you have a very tight schedule.
A – Ah nah man that’s fine, Please call me Biggie though.
Q- Ok, “Biggie” I want to start by telling you that “Ready
to Die” (Your Debut album) seems to have been a huge marker in East Coast rap,
and just the current rap game in general.
A – Yeah, you know it’s good to be out in the streets with
my boys and have fans and b**ches calling and screaming for me, it’s been a
very sudden change but I’m loving life man.
Q –Alright alright, what I really wanna know from you today
biggie, ALL your songs just talking about drugs and dealing and everything,
whats that all about?
A – Well look man, when I was growing up I would take any
job I could possibly take, I would have taken a job at Mcdonalds and if I had
of I can tell you now that all of my songs would be talking about big macs and
greasy snacks.
Q – And you must have been heavily involved in the dealing
game? I mean the language and words you use in the records are just so vivid.
A – I’m telling you now my life before Puff picked me up was
the crack game and nothing more or less. I had to supply and I had no time to
think about anything else. How was I supposed to rap about anything else that
had been my life for so long?
Q – So would you say the crack game and the rap game are
similar or the same or what?
A – Well the way I see it man, in the crack game you get the
high up suppliers that give you the stuff and you feed the money back to them,
it’s the same with Puff and me, he gave me the money for the record and said
“go do your thing” so I did just like when I was in the crack game, I guess you
could say it is similar yeah.
Q – Okay, back to your lyrics, in your debut album there are
a lot of very big claims and very fierce lines I guess you could say.
A – Yeah I guess looking back at my childhood and the
jail-time leading up to the writing of my records, there was never gonna be an
upbeat happy song you feel me? (Chuckles). You know what I’m saying though, I
really wanted to get across my story and how I got to where I am with the
lyrics and language in the first album, just wanted to show the real me.
Q – Now there are a couple songs in ready to die that I was
interested in knowing a little more about and maybe even finding out something
about some of the lyrics, does that sound alright to you?
A – Yeah go ahead
Q – Well the first question that everyone wants to know
including myself, is what is the true meaning behind the album name and the
first song on your album “Ready to die”?
A – Well I’ll tell you now I wasn’t ready to die, I was just
trying to kill my old life. I wanted to be able to put my whole past behind me
and I just wanted to die and be reborn into what is happening for me now, this
is the life I have always wanted and I’m sure I could have gotten it through
different routes that I did but the main thing is that I’m here now doing what
I’m doing!!
Q – In Ready to Die, the beginning of the second verse reads
“as I sit back and look to when I used to
be a crook, doing whatever it took from snatching chains to pocket books, a big
bad motherf***er on the wrong road, I got some drugs tried to get the avenue
sold”. Can you just explain the meaning behind these lines?
A – Well basically man, I was at a time just before I did
time for dealing where my baby girl had just been brought into the world and I
was willing to do anything to put “5 karats in my baby girl’s ear” like I say
in juicy. It’s the general theme throughout my album, just doing what it took
to get by and to supply for my little girl. When I say on the wrong road, I
always knew that it was wrong the way I was bringing the money in.
Q – Okay, last one. Throughout “Everyday Struggle” you seem
to talk a lot about carrying a gun around with you and how everyone else should
carry one should they cross paths with you, would you say that this is a good
representation of how things actually were for you in these times.
A – Well, the way I see it is that once you get to the top,
for some reason there’s always someone that wants to pull you down, in some
cases it’s like Pac who just wants to dominate music and that’s strictly
business. Other cases there are people who will just be jealous of your success
and feel the need to ty bring you down and out of the game all together, would
just like to thank you for having me today, I’ll see you later, representing
bad boy and junior mafia. Peace.
Q – Thanks for being here today with us and answering so
many questions so well, good luck to your upcoming plans for new hits and
albums!
