Songs About Servants
There is no flex, no benefit, and nothing to be proud of being a slave or servant. It is rather traumatic and its result is usually timidness and low self-esteem. It takes courage to publicly address what scars slavery or servanthood has left on a person, a race, or a generation.
That being said, let’s look at some songs about servants and slaves.
4 Songs About Servants
1. Slaves & Bulldozers by Soundgarden
First on our list of songs about servants is “Slaves & Bulldozers,” a song by Soundgarden, is rife with metaphor. Chris Cornell’s interpretation of the song’s lyrics remains largely unknown.
This means we’ll have to take some risks in trying to figure it out. And so, it would appear that Cornell’s relationship with the music business is the subject of his lyrical explorations.
Or, to put it another way, he and his contemporaries are the proverbial “slaves” to the media industry. To say he has no free will at all would be an exaggeration.
On the contrary, he is making good use of his confinement by expressing all of the pent-up feelings and thoughts that have been plaguing him. Additionally, he thinks that justice has been served in the grand scheme of things.
Because in the end, it’s the same music industry professionals and fans that have to deal with his intense emotions. And judging by how his listeners have described this song, Chris seems to have meant every word.
2. 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton
Next on our list of songs about servants is 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton’s, “9 to 5” is often interpreted as reflecting the struggles and aspirations of the typical working-class individual.
Anyone currently or previously in this position can probably attest that working hard for the man can often feel like a pointless exercise with little payoff. Dolly’s main argument in this song is that, despite devoting her full day to her job, she still receives an inadequate wage.
In addition, it’s structured so that her efforts will profit her company rather than her. Indeed, “enough to drive you insane if you allow it” describes the situation quite accurately when low compensation is coupled with limited opportunities for advancement.
However, the musician and others cope with their depression by clinging to their hopes for a brighter tomorrow. Or, to put it another way, they may feel trapped in the present, but they know that this state won’t last forever.
Miss Parton seems to be telling her audience that they should think the same way if they ever find themselves in a similar situation towards the end of the second stanza.
Even though the chorus also repeats this idea, it is not the central message of “9 to 5”. The singer is essentially “venting,” if you will, on the evils of capitalism, more specifically the exploitation of workers.
Or, to put it another way, she realizes that the employees, who bear the brunt of the burden, are not the genuine beneficiaries of the labor of workers like herself, but the bosses. Because people like her are so dedicated to “placing money in his wallet,” the singer’s frustration with the big picture is understandable.
3. J. Cole – G.O.M.D
This song’s music video seems to hint at an impending sea change in the subject matter of modern rap. In his latest video, the rapper incites a slave insurrection, encouraging the plantation workers to rise against their masters.
Numerous themes are implicit in the image, the most obvious being prejudice against people of different skin tones. Cole portrays a slave who leads the insurrection as the main character. This clip was directed by Lawrence Lamont, who also directed Big Sean’s “IDFWU” video.
Visual evidence indicates that J. is a slave working in the house and that he or she is responsible for maintaining order among the other servants.
It appears he is also looking for approval by offering a black power salute to “field slaves” leaving for a day of hard labor, even though they don’t seem to notice or appreciate his presence.
Cole comes up with a plan to arm the slaves here, and when the inebriated masters drop a key to a gun storage cabinet, the scheme receives a boost from one of the white women who live in the house.
As for the meaning, you can find out for yourself if the effort was successful by pressing play, but some have speculated that J. Cole is visually returning to his hip-hop roots after dabbling in commercial sound and success.
And the lyrics (look up the acronym for which the song is named in Urban Dictionary) would fit right in with the whole slave thing, sending a message not just to the masters but also to their “ancestors,” the record companies, who might be standing in the way of their creativity.
Regardless of how you choose to read it, the two do interact with one another. And despite the shaky logic, the video is nevertheless amusing and occasionally raises an eyebrow.
4. Kanye West – New Slaves
Long before it was cool, people knew that Kanye West was one of the hip-hop industry’s more thoughtful artists. Consequently, he frequently releases songs that deal with heavy themes that go beyond his own life. He occasionally releases songs that express worry for the general welfare of his people. The case in point is “New Slaves.”
You undoubtedly already know that the United States has a history of wholesale enslavement of persons of African descent. A century had passed by the time this song was shelved, but the law had finally put an end to this kind of oppression.
Kanye is essentially arguing that institutionalized racism has continued to perpetuate the captivity of his people even as it has taken on new forms.
Hence, he begins the opening lyric by saying that his mother was “raised in the era” of legalized segregation. With the White majority in power, segregation saw to it that non-Whites, specifically African-Americans, were kept apart. By highlighting this outmoded practice, Kanye is evoking the persistence of institutional racism over time.
The fact that he is affluent and African-American does not protect him from this bias. Instead, he can afford to flaunt it in a new way. To demonstrate his thesis, he draws a contrast between the treatment of a “wealthy black man” and a “poor black man” in a hip store.
The one who lacks funds will be strongly advised to avoid ever visiting the store. The owners will pressure the wealthy into purchasing numerous worthless trinkets. That’s because such shop owners falsely believe that “all… Blacks want the same thing.”
Another way of saying this is that they don’t mind making racist assumptions about Black people, which is offensive in either scenario. Continuing with the topic of materialism, the artist suggests that today’s society as a whole is enslaved by wealth.
