An Analysis of Dave's "Clash" featuring Stormzy
Research/Analysis Paper: 6 pages double-spaced (12 pt Times New Roman font or similar.
Works Cited page does not count towards the 6-page minimum limit.)
Song list:
Dave - “Clash” (ft Stormzy) (2021)
Your paper must include:
•A well-structured introduction, conclusion, and supporting body paragraphs.
(Remember that your introduction should introduce the paper, not necessarily the song/
artist. Conclusions should summarize and synthesize your analysis findings.)
•Some biographical research on artist/song
•Detailed analysis of:
•Lyrical content/technique: Like the short paper, when discussing lyrics for the final
paper you must engage with Imani Perry’s lyrical tropes from the assigned reading from
week 4. This engagement should be beyond a simple surface-level recognition. (For
example, if you claim your rapper uses Perry’s tropes of “battle” and “realism,” you must
provide specific examples of how these techniques are working.)
•Sounds: think like a producer. Include information to the best of your ability on
instrumentation, form, samples used if any, general vibe, etc., and why these decisions
might have been made
•Social context: what sorts of social-cultural themes does this song address? We’ve
considered many of these: partying, dealing drugs, descriptions of ones real-life local conditions, endemic racism within the US state, conscientious hip hop, etc. Be mindful that
songs can address multiple themes.
•Can you draw larger meaning(s) from the song through your above
analysis? How are the lyrics and sounds working together within the song/artists’s
general context? How do lyrics and sounds relate with a music video, if available? Can you
locate contradictions/tensions within the song? What’s particularly unique or compelling
about the song?
•*Include a Works Cited page (as with the short paper, use this source for help with
citations)
*Aside from the Imani Perry reading, you must use and properly cite 4 other sources. At
least one of these sources must come from required course readings, and at
least one source must come from outside the course. Sources outside the course
should be from established media channels (whether newspapers, magazines, scholarly
articles, web publications, etc. Web pages like wikipedia, genius, and whosampled will not
count towards this requirement. Use sources from outlets with clearly-identified authors (such
as thesource.com, xxlmag.com, pitchfork.com).
A strong paper will engage with main themes from the course. For example, this
might include (but isn’t limited to) “signifying” both through lyrics and sampling (Perry,
Gates, Rose), the ways hip hop/rap addresses Black cultural priorities (Rose), positions on
state violence (Davis), issues of sexism and misogyny (Crenshaw, hampton), tensions between
a hip hop revolutionary potential and its integration within global “hypercapitalism” (Tate),
and so on. Use sources to help you! Try and engage meaningfully with these texts.
Make sure you center the song and work outwards from the song itself (in
other words, don’t bog your paper down in biographical information. That information is
important, but the bulk of the paper should address the song itself). And as noted above,
make sure your paper relates to what we’ve learned in class!
Lastly, a few writing tips for the Final Paper: most style guides recognize the
capitalization of “Black” for racial, ethnic, or cultural contexts. Punctuation should go inside
quotation marks, not outside (So, “Like this.” Not “Like that”.). Albums should be italicized,
while song names go inside quotations.
Dave and Stormzy are considered top rappers in the United Kingdom. Both have had one or more of their albums and singles top the charts in the UK and are among the handful of UK rappers with international recognition. The rappers collaborated on the track "Clash," listed in Dave's second LP, We're All Alone in This Together, produced by Neighborhood Records in 2021. The track was written by Dave, Stormzy, and Luke Grieve and produced by Kyle Evans. In the song, several prominent figures, including Jorja Smith, Jeremy Corbyn, Alan Sugar, Viola Davis, and Pep Guardiola, are namedropped. Dave, as the main vocalist, focuses on his wealth, women, and crew, while Stormzy appears to focus less on money and women and more on aiming words at another party as it is in the contemporary hip hop subculture of beef and rap battles. In the music video, Dave and Stormzy are surrounded by high-end cars and women with expensive and elite wristwatches while they dance at the Aston Martin factory in Warwickshire and the Silverstone Circuit. There are several ways in which the song is a classic representation of the presence of hyper-capitalism in the hip-hop music genre of modern times. Song and Video Analysis
In his article, Hip Hop Turns 30, Greg Tate argues that from the moment Rapper's Delight went platinum, "hip-hop as a holistically coherent cultural movement began its decline" (Tate). According to Tate, the marriage between the global hyper-capitalism and New World African ingenuity brought hip-hop culture into the toxic waters of the mainstream, and the offspring is commercial rap. Under commercial rap, Bailey further adds that hyper-capitalism goes against the substantive discussions or protests against the political, social, and economic consequences of ghetto life (60). This evolution of hip-hop has created the trapping of success (exclusively in financial terms) that has become the universal hallmark of the modern rap genre. In essence, commercial rap is characterized by sprawling mansions, women, exotic cars, expensive liquor, and designer labels that feature across lyrics and videos. According to Greg Tate, these characteristics are not only the rewards of commercial rap but are also the subject of poetry. The analysis of the lyrical content and the social context of the track "Clash" will reveal that these elements are both commercially viable and subjects of poetry. Analysis of Lyrical Content
According to Perry, "Hip hop music is a war of position, and the position one takes itself in the performance or language used" (59). The lyrical content of “Clash” typifies these assertions in two different ways. The first instance positions the rappers as wealthy individuals who could even retire as early as 23 because of their wealth in a world where capitalism is forcing people to work well into their senior years because of economic difficulties. For instance, in the opening line, Dave raps that "Jordan 4s or Jordan 1s, Rolexes, got more than one." Jordan 4s and 1s are part of Jordan's elite series of sneakers that are hard to come by because of their cost. This show-off wealth is prevalent throughout the song, highlighted by the mention of ownership of high-end products like Crocodile bags, having a movie theater in the basement, and expensive cars like the Aston Martin Superleggera DBS, which, in 2019, Dave purchased at 225,000 pounds. The second instance positions the two rappers as part of a crew at odds with a different crew. This is typical of the hip-hop culture, such as the American West Coast and East Coast enmity between rappers or between two rappers who clash in a rap battle. Based on this antagonism of rap music, Perry points out that the metaphor of murder stands alongside proclamations of competitive orality and superiority and is used as an ego assassination as typified through skillful dis (...