“I know that you can hear me, all I need is like five minutes,” I gave Lucas 5 minutes and it was honestly very influential and informative. From the very start of the song, Lucas main purpose was to convince and persuade the audience that mental illness is a serious and chronic issue in today’s society. Lucas did this by first establishing ethos, using emotionally loaded language as pathos, and had the logic to back it up with logos. Lucas writes from his perspective in the verse, “maybe it’s my fault, I shoulda paid more attention to what you been doing, maybe I should have been more of an influence,” to show the selected audience that they can be the person that changes someones mind on suicide. Lucas wants the audience to be the emotionally driven to change. Someone does not just change out of the blue, they must be convinced that they are apart of the problem, and Lucas makes the audience feel this way with his unbelievable amounts of pathos.

Brett Guillaume

Janel Spencer

WRT 101S

19 September 2019

Rhetorical Analysis of Joyner Lucas’ song “I’m Sorry”

“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 it is a serious issue. 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 ethos, patho, and logos. Lucas’s purpose is to inform the viewer of 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 and logos 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 Lucas’ 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 would hear his voicemail, the same voicemail(s) 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” Lucas 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 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, and thus he becomes a voice for the voiceless, or others who may have felt similarly. Lucas also establishes his ethos by giving both sides to the story, the side of the mentally ill person in the video, and the side of how he feels after the person takes their life.“I’m Sorry” currently has 54.6 million views on YouTube in three years, which most would consider a lot. This much exposure to the song means that people are watching and sharing the video, because they feel like it has a great message, furthermore establishing Lucas’ ethos.

Throughout the song, Lucas appeals to pathos by convincing the audience that mental illness is a real problem in this world. Lucas’ writes in his song during the second verse, “but I don’t understand how we couldn’t prevent this shit, you took the easy way out, goddammit, you did I mean, look what you did, I’m so f—ing upset how could you be so selfish?” Verse one of the song is the perspective through the mentally ill person, and verse two of the song is Lucas’ perspective. Lucas is appealing to the audience by saying “I don’t understand how we couldn’t prevent this shit,” Lucas wants the audience to wake up and realise that mental illness is a serious issue, because people are actually taking their lives because of it. On behalf of the second part of the quote, Lucas is expressing his frustration about his friend taking his own life, Lucas calls him selfish, and expresses how upset he is. With Lucas saying this, he is also saying to the audience that taking your own life isn’t the solution to the problem, you will be remembered as selfish. In conclusion, this part of the song is very effective in appealing to the audiences emotions.

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

www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/7948977/joyner-lucas-interview-508-507-2209-album-logic-diss-lyricism.

Vegas, Leon. “I’m Sorry Lyrics.” Genius, 10 Aug. 2016, Accessed 19 September

2019 https://genius.com/Joyner-lucas-im-sorry-lyrics

Thesis: Joyner Lucas effectively uses his little ethos, and unbelieveable amounts of people to convey his point to the auidence that mental illness is a serious issue.

Topic sentence number 1: From the very start of the song, Lucas appeals to pathos by convincing the auidence that mental ilness is a real problem in this world.

1. My target audience is people all over the age spectrum, it doesn’t matter if you are 8, 20, or even 70. It doesn’t matter what sex you are, or even your race. I am looking for people with common since, and be willing to change their argument, no matter how bias they are; I need people to be open minded.
2. The audience is suppose to come into the paper with an open mind, and willing to change their beliefs. Without these qualities, they will not get anything from my paper.
3. The audience can learn to be more kind, and less harsh on people. They are suppose to learn that everyone is human, and you cant bully people you don’t like, because they are no better then the kid being bullied.

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

www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/7948977/joyner-lucas-interview-508-507-2209-album-logic-diss-lyricism.

Vegas, Leon. “I’m Sorry Lyrics.” Genius, 10 Aug. 2016, Accessed 19 September2019 https://genius.com/Joyner-lucas-im-sorry-lyrics

1) INTRO + HOOK + THESIS
2) 1st paragraph: The ethos Joyner lucas has, talk about his album and who he is as a person
3) Summary of the video
4) 2nd paragraph: The first part of the song how he uses pathos
5) 3rd paragrapg: The second part of the song how he uses Pathos

Introduction:

“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 a little ethos. Lucas 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 more kind. He adopts a depressing tone for his audience in order to convey his point. Joyner Lucas effectively uses his little ethos, and in creditable amount of pathos to convey his point to the audience on how serious mental illness is.

1. Support for Claims:

Are all claims supported by evidence, or are they sometimes supported by more claims?

The New York Post (as linked from Dredge Report): The claims made in the article are supported by testimonial witness, and claims made by the accuser in the rape allegations. Not all the claims are supported by evidence as there is no proof that there had been any forceful sexual encounters. All the article says is that they were together, they knew each other for several years, and that the woman in question, one Britney Taylor, has passed a lie detector test,

 The New York Times: Most of the claims in the article are supported by evidence. The author rarely claims something without backing it up with evidence.

The BBC Sports : All of the claims in the article are based on evidence. It states that he is innocent and there’s not much evidence of what he is being accused. “This is a money grab. I’ll repeat this: This is a money grab. In my opinion, this is a money grab.”- Rosenhaus

2. Credible Evidence:

Is the evidence used to support the claims from credible sources (relevant, sufficient, typical, accurate)?

 The New York Post (as linked from Dredge Report): The sources that claim that the two people knew each other and worked with one another are all credible. They are consistent with their information and are all reliable third party sources. The claims about the rape itself and the lie detector tests though are all based on her word alone, and Antonio browns denial of the incident is again, all on just his words. 

The New York Times: The evidence used to support the author’s claims are very valid.They are valid because they are quotes said by the accuser. Now we do not know if the accuser is correct or not, we do know that indeed she did say these things, and that is what the author is going off of. 

The BBC Sports :  Most of the evidence are quotes so it was  valid evidence but not proven. The evidence were more likely opinions without accusate no one.

3. Emotions:

Are emotions used to lead us to make judgments or feel a certain way?

 The New York Post (as linked from Dredge Report): The  way the article is written it is leading the reader to assume nothing. They want us to understand all the things going on in this incredible difficult situation. There is a bit of language like  “After several months, the shock, disbelief and denial gave way to overwhelming bouts of anxiety, and Ms. Taylor fell into a deep depression,” the suit claims. “She has had near-daily panic attacks, frequent suicidal ideations, and insomnia. And “It has been extremely difficult for her to process that Brown could betray and violate her so completely.” To try and paint the character of both Britney and Antonio brown. This is more on the fault of the people involved and less on the article however.

The New York Times: The article uses emotion not to judge the audience. They say clearly in the article that these are claims made by the accuser, and are not proven, they are just accusations.

The BBC Sports : The article do not involve the emotions of the accused , but it shows the lawyer feels conmovated for what is Brown going through.

4.Word Choice:

Does the word choice simply present the facts with neutral language?  Neutral language = Fair

Does the word choice lead you to make judgments about the facts or feel a certain way about them? Leading Language = Biased

 The New York Post (as linked from Dredge Report): The language of the article that the writer adds does not lead the audience one way or another. Only the words of the people involved do so. 

The New York Times: I would say that the word choice in the article was very fair. They did not use words to favor Antonio Brown, or to discredit him.They also did not favor the female or discredit her. In other words, they aren’t trying to slander Antonio Brown. They are simply reporting on the facts that they received.

The BBC Sports: The language of the article is Fair because the lawyer just gives his opinion on calling  the situation ‘’Money Grab’’. No more no less.

My strengths as a writer:

1. Paragraph format: In high school I was introduced to PIECE format. P stands for point, or why you are writing the paragraph. I stands for introduction, or in other words, introducing the author(s) work you are writing about. E stands for evidence, or the quote you are taking from the authors work. C stands for cite, because you must site the author when you are using a direct quote. The last e stands for explain, explain how the given quote relates to your point sentence.
2. I see connections: I also love to relate my writing to other experiences I’ve had.

Q: What type of content are your top three posts (or most recent) on your timeline? Is this pretty typical for your timeline? What kinds of social groups/communities are you a part of? Compare what you see with what your peers see. Are there more similarities or differences?

A: The three newest posts on my Instagram consist of sports news, all from three different sources on the same topic. I would say that this feed is pretty typical, considering I follow multiple news accounts. Compared to my peers, this is seen as abnormal behavior.

Q: What is the relationship between what you see in your social media timeline and what you know or believe?

A: I believe mostly everything I read on my account, because I follow reliable news accounts that are credible.

Q: How does your social presence compare with the professional/student biography that you created?

A: I don’t really have a large social media presence, therefore I do not post a lot of things. I use my social media to stay connected to friends and see whats happening around the world. I would say if you read my professional/student biography, then looked at my social media, you wouldn’t really see a difference in characteristics.

Q: Where do you find examples of bias in your social media timelines?

A: I find examples of bias in some meme posts, because in memes, they are making fun of a certain side of the story.

Q : Answer: who do I potentially influence on social media?

A: I guess I would potentially influence the people who follow me on social media. More specifically my best friends, because they always look at what I post.

Q: Answer: who do I engage with most on social media?

A: I engage with my best friends on social media. We all have a group chat where we can talk and share posts that we see throughout the day.