Death of an Artist

According to the articles artists albums sales improve after their death.  The article “Tupac: Life Goes on” by Michael Eric Dyson it shows us that Tupac’s music was not only about the things rap artists sings about today. Tupac was very influential. He used real life problems that people faced during his time. He rapped about the poverty and the violence that was happening. He expressed his love for his family especially for his mother. Many of his songs were dedicated to her. Tupac music touched a variety of people. That’s why his music even after he has died still lives on.

When Michael Jackson died I found myself listening to his music. Before, when he was alive I never listened to his music, I never really known much about him or his music other then he did sing and he wanted really bad to be white. I think that all the hype about him being the king of pop that got me to listen to his music. Seeing everyone so sad about his death made me think about why MJ was so great. That’s why I started to listen and really enjoy his music. 

Emilia Rybinska

Tupac: Life Goes On

In the article, "Tupac: Life Goes On," Michael Eric Dyson talks about how Tupac's music was so influential and how scholars now-a-days a still looking at his music. He talks about Tupac's background and his influences. His influences were people like Maya Angelou and Niccolo Machiavelli. In his music, Tupac spoke about politics, the struggle of a young black man, and how the world around him was rapidly changing. He got these points across using allusion and historical references that provoked many of his fans the look into where he was getting these points from. By doing so he made kids want to read. Dyson said, "Tupac no only got young folk to read; he got them to read classics." He had a grip on his fans that was hard to shake and still has scholars reading over his lyrics as if it were something written by Shakespeare.

According to the article an artists record sales go up after their death when it comes to Tupac. The grip that Tupac had on his fans did not end when he died because eight more records were released after his death. His fans were so taken aback by what he was saying that they could not get enough of him and his music so they went out and bought all the new records that were released posthumous. It took people a while to understand what exactly he was saying, but once they did they wanted to analyze every bit of music that he came out with.

I myself did hop on the Tupac bandwagon. I can completely agree with Dyson on the things that he says in the article. Tupac is a very influential individual and his music is unlike that of anyone now-a-days. If you take the time to look at his lyrics and read about him it strikes you that this man was no ordinary rapper.

Ante Kovacevic

Legendary Artists - Anooj Shah

The article "Tupac: Life Goes On" by Michael Eric Dyson intricately explores why the careers of legendary artists prosper even after their deaths. Dyson strives to find out why even after his death, Tupac is still known as one of the most influential artist of all time? Until this day, Tupac is still known as one of the greatest rappers/emcees of all time. Dyson claims that Tupac is so popular because of his "thug revolutionary artiste persona, his diligent martyrdom, and the way he made it easy for other artists to interpret the poetry he left behind" (Dyson, 18).

Tupac's music was not like many mainstream artist today who speak only about money, sex, and drugs. He used his lyrical power to address many of the problems that faced the nation such as poverty, absentee fathers, teenage pregnancy, racial segregation, and corruption in politics. Tupac also expresses his profound love for his mother in many of his songs, he dedicated the song "Dear Mama" to her. He makes a reference to his mother and many of the issues listed above in the song "Keep Ya Head Up". Tupac's ability to create a wide fan base across the globe could be one reason why his career still lives on. Tupac was a great artist that spoke straight from the heart and expressed the truth in many of his albums.

Dyson wanted to know why Tupac was so legendary, why his music still lives on with his spirit? It is because Tupac was a rare rapper that not many come across today in hip hop. He influenced rappers such as Eminem and Kanye who envisioned the same thing Tupac did. They saw the flaws with our government and spoke the truth about them, no matter how destructive they were.

Death Post

By: Samantha Prusac, Cynthia Aynilian, Diane Wielgos

The Art of Dying by Graeme Thomson, was about death and how our society perceive it. Listening to songs about death all the time might cause a person to become extremely depressed. Equally just as important if you do not listen to these songs about death its like not wanting to listen to songs about life. This argument is very interesting and completely makes sense because a person should be exposed to all types of music about a variety of types.

In the article Dead, Ahead by James Sullivan talked about how an artist dies, their music lives on. Suddenly they have songs coming out after their death. A great example of this would be Elvis. These artists have released songs about or albums after their death. They have been turned into remixes or "dance mixes". This article doe snot have a counter argument. Sullivan stated a point and went with it.

The Show Goes On by Melina Newman is about death surrounding many popular bands, and how they move on with it. With the band Sublime, after Brad Nowell died they continued with the release of their album on the expected date. It seemed like this death was used as publicity on the album. We thought it was smart of them to do this and also they were respectful to ask the family what they wanted to do with releasing the CD.

Death Play List

Helena- My Chemical Romance

Bring Me to Life- Evanescence

Never Too Late- Three Days Grace

Fix You- Cold Play

Pain- Three Days Grace

Civil Twilight- Quiet In My Town

Death Post

By: Raheel Kapadia, Nicholas Tsichlis, Sofi Zharkalli, and Jane Ahn

The Art of Dying by Graeme Thomson, is about the talk of death. Not many artists like talking about death. If artist do talk about it in their music, they usually talk about death with a combination of humor and humility. Other artists will just talk about death over and over in every song. This could lead a person in the wrong direction. However, most artists talk about their youth even though they might be 70 years old. We agree with the author. We feel that must artist do not talk about death and if they do the best way to talk about is with a combination of humor and humility.

The Show Goes On by Melinda Newman, is about the death of a group member and how the group becomes even more popular. For instance, no one had heard of the group Sublime, but when the lead singer died the band became noticed. The problem was when the album would be released after the death of the singer. The company decided to release the album on the date they were planning to do so even before the lead singer’s death. We agree with the author in the fact that companies have a hard time to decide to release an album after the death of a band member.

In the article Dead, Ahead by James Sullivan he talks about how artists continued their careers after their death. For example, Tupac released a lot of songs even after his death. A better example is Elvis. Elvis is the most successful deceased artist. Elvis has been dead for the last 34 years but still makes money. We also agreed to this article too. We believe that artist still continue their careers even though they are dead.

“Death Playlist”

Lie In Our Grave- Dave Matthews Band

Drops of Jupiter-Train

Wake Me Up When September Ends-Green Day

I feel like dying - Lil Wayne

When You're Gone- Avril Lavigne

When Do I Keep Counting- The Killers

Death Post

Emma Jeffries, Brittany Weinreis, Sorina Bilea, Afshan Aqueel

Melinda Newman in her article "The show goes on: New sets due from Sublime, Nirvana; Pumpkins tour continues" argues that after a artist dies his music becomes more popular and meaningful. After Brad Nowell's death his band Sublime payed a tribute to him by using his tattoo as their album cover. A vast majority of music listeners had not heard his name until they learned that he had died. Most bands would pay tribute to lost members but sometimes it's too painful. Such as Nirvana's Kurt Cobain was not given a tribute because the other members thought it was a too painful to go back to his old work. We were convinced by the article because the majority band members like to honor their lost band members.

In "The Art of Dying" by Graeme Thomson we learn that the author feels that death songs should not only be about death because it becomes suffocating and grim listening experience. He feels that artists who specialize in metal genres feel stuck, and can only offer the darker side of music. He mentions how there have been great pop songs that have faced up to death with a combination of humor, humility, fear, or beauty. He addresses the fact that anyone can create music about death. There are songs about death that are not as grim such as the infamous Michael Jackson "Thriller" which embraces death. He does add that as the time of death approaches artists begin to tie death into their music which he thinks that this takes there writing to interesting places such as with Richard Thompson and David Bowie. We agree and have noticed that songs about death have a dark feeling to them. We believe that there could be more songs like "Thriller" which address death without being too dark.

James Sullivan in "Dead, Ahead" discusses how technology helps artists keep a self-preservation. Jeff Buckley released only one album when he was alive, but since his death fans have been able to enjoy everything he has worked on from live performances to late demo collections because of technology. However, artists are unable to live on if the person in control of their music does not release it. An example of this is after Kurt Cobain's death his widow Courtney Love fought for the rights of the song leaving the band with only a minor cut. We are convinced by this because we have seen many times that the work of an artist can become more popular after they die.

"Death" Playlist:

Remembering Sunday by All Time Low

Circles by All Time Low

Adam's Song by Blink 182

One Step at a Time by Four Years Strong

Lie In Our Grave by Dave Matthews Band

Cemetery Weather by Isles and Glaciers

Death post

William Le Vicky Pham Richard Baba Taylor humphry Melvin Abraham Melind Newman wrote "The Show Goes On: New sets due from Subllime, Nirvana; Pumpkin four continues," to illustrate bands continuing even though a member of the band is gone. The article portrays 3 incidents of this. Brad Nowell of sublime, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, and Jimmy Chamberlin of the Smashing Pumpkin all died in a sense that they are not a physically a part of the band anymore. In Jimmy Chamberlins case, even though he was kicked out and replaced, but because of his court hearing, the band had to postpone their tour for a month. I think thatnewmans argument is agreeable, there may be even though Smash Pumpkin lost a member they were able to continue even though they were delayed for a month. In the article, "The Art of Dying" by Thomson and Graeme from Chronicle of Higher Education, the word death is used in a much more deeper sense. For a while now, the author has collected many music for his Death Playlist for his iTunes. The author talks about how many people believe music about death isn't that noticeable because death is a subject that nobody wants to talk about. A songwriter named Dylan is brought up in this article and he plays a significant role with the history of death songs. Dylan, at the age of 67, is still writing some good songs that involve death and mortality. He has been writing these types of songs since at a young age. One of his songs, for example, is called "Let Me Die in my Footsteps." One person who commented about this was named Mick Jagger. Jagger talks about how he sometimes disagrees with Dylan's points of view with death but how the songs greatly relate to it. He believes that it alright to be in the mood for a bit but going in for too far would not be able to go back. One would agree to that statement because as one listens to more and more of it, they start to dig into the lyrics along with the somber melody would surely bring the listener into the realm. Thomson states that as artist progresses through life they start to think more about mortality. Thus, they bring those thoughts into music. As each of us in society realize that they are aging, we would have a way to avoid it. For example by taking supplements for the body or moving somewhere that is better to live in. James Sullivan titled his article "Dead, ahead". The article deals with artists whose career continued and in some situations got better because of their deaths. Sullivan uses examples from many different genres from rap to country. Sullivan mentions Tupac as an artist whose career continued way past his death. Sullivan speaks about artists like Nirvana, BIG, the Beatles, and finally Elvis. Sullivan claims that Elvis is the most successful deceased artist stating "he still goes on tour three decades after his death" (Sullivan). Sullivan argues that artists have the ability to maintain a career even.after death due to things like the internet and the release of songs that were never heard before. He calls it an "act of self preservation" (Sullivan). Sullivan mentions a counter argument briefly when speaking about Tupac saying "in fact, conspiracy theorists argue he can't possibly be dead " (Sullivan). I personally feel that Sullivan makes a great point throughout the whole article. He makes claims that he back up with evidence that is undeniable. I think that Sullivan is right in the sense that deceased artists have the ability to maintain music careers even though they physically have no control. Death playlist: Immortal Technique-Dance With the Devil Eminem-StanBone Thuggs-CrossroadsDiddy-Missing youDr.Dre-Message Evanescence- Bring me Back to Life Yoko Kanno -Maligno ton negro lo matar Avril Lavigne- when your gone