r-selection insight in Coolio's Gangsta's Paradice

[Tservitive]

So, I was listening to a cover of Coolio's song Gangsta's Paradise from the 1995 film Dangerous Minds when I really stopped to listen to the lyrics. At this point, I am convinced that this song is entirely about the self justification of an r-selected gangster (which I guess is redundant). What is even more intriguing is that lines like, 

 

I'm 23 now but will I live to see 24?

now incorporate a self reflective or at least telling inside into the mindset of an r-selected world view.

 

Do you think I'm off base, missing something, or just overthinking the r/K stuff. Please let me know. Below is the video for reference: 

[Matt D]

I doubt you're off base about the gangster parallel. Another song that describes perfectly someone waking up in an R-selected world is Kanye West's 'All of the Lights'. The R selected species runs around constantly reacting to all the lights until it's short life comes to an end.

 

...

If you want it you can get it for the rest of your life
If you want it you can get it for the rest of your life

Something wrong
I hold my head
M.J. gone, our nigga dead!
I slapped my girl, she called the feds
I did that time and spent that bread
I'm heading home, I'm almost there
I'm on my way, headed up the stairs
To my surprise, a nigga replacing me
I had to take 'em to that ghetto university (All of the lights)

Cop lights, flash lights, spot lights
Strobe lights, street lights
(All of the lights, all of the lights)
Fast life, drug life
Thug life, rock life
Every night (All of the lights)

 

Turn up the lights in here, baby
Extra bright, I want y'all to see this
Turn up the lights in here, baby
You know what I need, want you to see everything
Want you to see all of the lights

> See full lyrics.

 

 

On the flip side, what do you think is the most K-selected song? My vote is Queen's 'We Are The Champions'.

[Tservitive]

Good call with Kanye's "All of the Lights" I can also see "We Are the Champions" as k-selected, though the lyrics do carry a braggardly quality that makes me slightly hesitant to vote full key.

 

I just scoured my 3000+ iTunes and the only other song that I could think of, strange as it is, is Lorde's "Royals". The song tells the story of a girl and her friends who, despite living in an r-selected word, learn to be K through learning how to live everyday life on very little and not getting caught up in your love affair with all of the trappings of being affluent but are rather wealthy through experience and frugality. 

 

I've never seen a diamond in the flesh
I cut my teeth on wedding rings in the movies
And I'm not proud of my address,
In a torn-up town, no postcode envy

But every song's like gold teeth, grey goose, trippin' in the bathroom
Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin' the hotel room,
We don't care, we're driving Cadillacs in our dreams.
But everybody's like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece.
Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash.
We don't care, we aren't caught up in your love affair.

And we'll never be royals (royals).
It don't run in our blood,
That kind of luxe just ain't for us.
We crave a different kind of buzz.
Let me be your ruler (ruler),
You can call me queen Bee
And baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule.
Let me live that fantasy.

[Verse 2]
My friends and I—we've cracked the code.
We count our dollars on the train to the party.
And everyone who knows us knows that we're fine with this,
We didn't come from money.

 

...

 

Ooh ooh oh
We're bigger than we ever dreamed,
And I'm in love with being queen.
Ooh ooh oh
Life is great without a care
We aren't caught up in your love affair.

 

What do you think?

[philosopher_warrior]

Let's look at pop music in terms of K and r selection. Britney Spears vs Christina Aguilar. Here are partial lyrics from each of their 90's break out hits.

 

Christina Aguilar's Gene in a Bottle

 

Come on, come on
Ohh, whow

I feel like I've been locked up tight
For a century of lonely nights
Waiting for someone to release me
You're lickin' your lips
And blowing kisses my way
But that don't mean I'm gonna give it away
Baby, baby, baby (Baby baby baby...)

Ooohhh, my body's sayin' let's go
Ooohhh, but my heart is sayin' no

If you wanna be with me
Baby there's a price to pay
I'm a genie in a bottle
You gotta rub me the right way.....

Here the lyrics describe a young girl with sexual desire. However, she is selective of who she gives herself too and won't given in to lust

Britney Spear's Hit me baby One More

 

Oh baby, baby
Oh baby, baby
Oh baby, baby
How was I supposed to know
That something wasn't right here
Oh baby baby
I shouldn't have let you go
And now you're out of sight, yeah
Show me, how you want it to be
Tell me baby
'Cause I need to know now what we've got

My loneliness is killing me
I must confess, I still believe
When I'm not with you I lose my mind
Give me a sign
Hit me baby one more time

Oh baby, baby
The reason I breathe is you
Boy you got me blinded
Oh baby, baby
There's nothing that I wouldn't do
That's not the way I planned it
Show me, how you want it to be
Tell me baby
'Cause I need to know now what we've got

 

I think the title of the song says it all but look closer at the lyrics. What's most interesting to me is the "Boy you got me blinded" and the "That's not the way I planned it"

 

Britney Spears has been married 3 times and had children with her back up dancer who had two children with another woman. Christina Aguilar has been married 2 times with a child

from each marriage. The men Aguilar married had better jobs.. and didn't have other kids as far as I know. 

This is Hollywood so it's different than a world all other humans live in but I would say Christina Aguilar has had more stability and higher quality men in her relationships then Britney Spears. 

[TheSchoolofAthens]

This is an intersting thread. It's fun to disect music lyrics!

I definitely see rap music as the artistic embodiment of R type. I mean the populations in those ghettos which generate rap, or at lest typically listen to rap, are typically nothing but rabits. They have no work ethic, thus welfare, they have no morals, thus high single mother households, gang violence, and child abuse. Rap is crazy! So often, what is it about? 1) hoes, pussy, strippers, etc. 2) violence, shooting, fighting. 3) money, clothes, cars. 4) substance abuse. Notice, I said hoes, pussy and strippers. Not sex. Sex is a fine topic for a song, as Warrior pointed out. But the R's talk about it from an R perspective.

 

I've listened to an awful lot of the artist Drake, who actually comes from (my understanding) a non ghetto part of Canada, and a Jewish background - but he appeals to R's. I don't know for certain if he is R or K. I believe he is a K, who has decided to make a career off of R's. "I think I’m addicted to naked pictures And sitting talkin’ ’bout bitches that we almost had" He raps a LOT about sexual relations with women, whom he doesn't love. (haha but I think that goes without being said.)

I think you can certainly identify an artist's philosophy by reading and listening to the lyrics. I can say artist x, y or z has a philosophy which says it is good to be R selected. But to say whether or not that artist is R or K selected is more difficult, and I think would require looking at the artist's actions outside of the songs. I think that's important to bring up because some people could be corrupt K selected people who work very hard, are very responsible with money and sex, but create music that honors the opposite of all that.

 

 

 

Let's look at pop music in terms of K and r selection. Britney Spears vs Christina Aguilar. Here are partial lyrics from each of their 90's break out hits.

 

Christina Aguilar's Gene in a Bottle

 

Come on, come on
Ohh, whow

I feel like I've been locked up tight
For a century of lonely nights
Waiting for someone to release me
You're lickin' your lips
And blowing kisses my way
But that don't mean I'm gonna give it away
Baby, baby, baby (Baby baby baby...)

Ooohhh, my body's sayin' let's go
Ooohhh, but my heart is sayin' no

If you wanna be with me
Baby there's a price to pay
I'm a genie in a bottle
You gotta rub me the right way.....

Here the lyrics describe a young girl with sexual desire. However, she is selective of who she gives herself too and won't given in to lust

Britney Spear's Hit me baby One More

 

Oh baby, baby
Oh baby, baby
Oh baby, baby
How was I supposed to know
That something wasn't right here
Oh baby baby
I shouldn't have let you go
And now you're out of sight, yeah
Show me, how you want it to be
Tell me baby
'Cause I need to know now what we've got

My loneliness is killing me
I must confess, I still believe
When I'm not with you I lose my mind
Give me a sign
Hit me baby one more time

Oh baby, baby
The reason I breathe is you
Boy you got me blinded
Oh baby, baby
There's nothing that I wouldn't do
That's not the way I planned it
Show me, how you want it to be
Tell me baby
'Cause I need to know now what we've got

 

I think the title of the song says it all but look closer at the lyrics. What's most interesting to me is the "Boy you got me blinded" and the "That's not the way I planned it"

 

Britney Spears has been married 3 times and had children with her back up dancer who had two children with another woman. Christina Aguilar has been married 2 times with a child

from each marriage. The men Aguilar married had better jobs.. and didn't have other kids as far as I know. 

This is Hollywood so it's different than a world all other humans live in but I would say Christina Aguilar has had more stability and higher quality men in her relationships then Britney Spears. 

 

 

I don't know a whole lot about Christina or Britney in terms of their personal lives - but judging off of what you said, I imagine they have chosen to be R's. I must admit that I have difficulty with these assesments though. It is hard to say either way, as some artists are basically their own bossess, while others are found by a talent agent who thought he/she was cute and had a good voice, and then told him/her what to sing.

 

I believe that the majority of music is R selected cancer.