Brett Guillaume
Janel Spencer
WRT 101S
19 September 2019
Rhetorical Analysis Paper
“I know that you can hear me, all I need is like five minutes” These are the words of Joyner Lucas in his song, “I’m Sorry,” published on August 12, 2016. The topic covered in the music video is mental illness, and how much of a serious issue it is. He supports his claims by first, showing both sides of the story, then showing fairly graphic images, then using expletive language, and finally using rhetorical strategies like pathos and ethos. Lucas’s purpose is to inform the viewer on how serious mental illness can affect people in order to persuade and educate the viewer that we as a society should be considerate to people that are affected with a mental illness. He adopts a depressing tone for his audience in order to convey his point. Joyner Lucas effectively uses his little ethos, and unbelievable amounts of pathos to convey his point to the audience on how serious mental illness is.
Gary Maurice, formerly known on stage as Joyner Lucas, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, poet, and actor from Worcester Massachusetts. To give a little insight, “I’m Sorry” is a song off of Joyner’s popular album (508) 507-2209. Yes, his album title is his phone number, he did this for an abundance of reasons. The main reason was for people to reach out to him for help when they are dealing with mental illness, if you were to call the number, you will hear his voicemail, the same voicemail heard in most of his songs throughout the album. He wrote this album to discuss the current highs and lows of his life, and ties his recent voicemails into his songs off the album. Focusing on the song “I’m Sorry” Joyner says in an interview with billboard, “I’ve always felt misunderstood. Growing up it’s been my word against the teachers or my parents word and nobody would ever listen to me.” This establishes Joyner Lucas little ethos because no one ever used to listen to him, but now with his fame and popularity, people will listen to and hear what he has to say. “I’m Sorry” currently has 54.6 million views on youtube in three years, which most would consider a lot. This exposed to the song means that people are watching and sharing the video, because they feel like it has a great message, furthermore establishing Joyner’s ethos.
From the very start of the song, Joyer establishes his pathos in convincing the audience that mental illness is a real problem in this world. Joyner writes in his song, “
Works Cited
Lucas, Joyner. “Joyner Lucas – I’m Sorry (508)-507-2209.” YouTube, YouTube, 12 Aug. 2016,
Accessed 19 September 2019 www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjKbw1Cqpt0.
Saponara, Michael. “Joyner Lucas On Crafting ‘(508) 507-2209,’ His Competitive Streak & Why
He Thinks Logic Is ‘Corny’.” Billboard, 29 Aug. 2017, Accessed 19 September 2019
Vegas, Leon. “I’m Sorry Lyrics.” Genius, 10 Aug. 2016, Accessed 19 September2019 https://genius.com/Joyner-lucas-im-sorry-lyrics
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