Billie Jean and Letter To The Free Questions

How do the lyrics of 'Letter to the Free' reflect the cultural, social and political context of the time?
- The lyrics reflect on how black people are still not free in todays society 
- The repetition of 'freedom' reflects on the need for freedom, rights, running away from slavery. Similarly to the song 'wade on the water' by Eva Cassidy wade in the water is repeated .
- You can be a slave if you commit a crime 
- All lives matter, black people feel dehumanised 
- Trump is always talking about 'MAKING AMERICA GREAT', black people need to be treated with equality 
How does this work present the artist?(Refer to Cultivation Theory and Reception Theory.)
- Gilroys theory of double consciousness, when a black person goes to their home country they feel comfortable, but when the
- Cultivation theory suggests that repeated exposure to television over time can subtly ‘cultivates’ viewers’ perceptions of reality. 
- We see that even though slavery has ended, black people are s
How does this differ from Billie Jean?

 - In terms of encoding and decoding, people would see Michael Jackson as a pop legend and 'untouchable'. However there has been recent rumours that he is a sex offender. 
- 

 Similarities
- In Billie Jeans, Michael Jackson is being chased by white police men and a white detective .
- In letter to the free, Common 

 The political context of Letter to the Free explores the mass incarceration of African-Americans. It focuses on the lack of freedom they have in prison, and the prejudice from stereotypes they receive for being put there in the first place. This context also represents the artist Common in a positive light as a campaigner for the issue that Black Americans were incarcerated in state prisons at an average rate of 5.1 times that of white Americans. 

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