Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem) by Jay-Z & It's a Hard Knock Life (from Annie)

"It’s a Hard Knock Life" from Annie:

1982 film version
1999 film version

My first memory of the term ghetto was when I was learning about the holocaust in elementary school as the area that the Nazi’s forced the Jews to live in. When I got to high school “ghetto rap” music emerged and the idea of a “ghetto” began to change in my head.

There was a time when hip-hop culture and rap music was on the fringes of society but now the influence of “ghetto culture” is clearly seen every aspect of our lives. While there are artists who have genuine experiences growing up in the ghetto there are many who do not and romanticize this idea of “gangsta life” to sell more records. This has led to feeling being ghetto is overexposed and a little tiring.

Now it seems that “ghetto” has become a word to describe something that is humorously lower class. There some who feel that it is detrimental to use the word “ghetto” to mock others. This may be true and in asking myself “what is truly ghetto?” my mind goes back to the ghetto anthem I heard in high school “Hard Knock Life” by Jay-Z.

One thing attracted me to “Hard Knock Life,” the fact that Jay-Z utilized a sample from the musical Annie based on the comic strip Little Orphan Annie. You know Annie with the curly red hair and the red dress with the dog and sings that “Tomorrow” song and how it’s only a day a way. Unlike most of the planet, my favorite song from Annie isn’t “Tomorrow.” I was also more intrigued by “It’s a Hard Knock Life” and when I heard Jay-Z’s version it blew my mind.

Rap artist have been sampling music since the art form came to life. Most of these samples come from soul and R & B music. The melding of show tunes into rap music is something that hadn’t been seen before in the mainstream culture and proved to me the unlimited possibilities of sampling

When I first came to know the “It’s a Hard Knock Life” from Annie and Jay-Z’s version of the song my fascination was mostly because I liked the melody. However, each time I come back to “It’s a Hard Knock Life” it becomes more stark and depressing and Jay-Z’s version gains a deeper level of meaning.

The original cast recording of “It’s a Hard Knock Life” which Jay-Z sampled is much slower than the film versions of the song. In the original cast recording, the tempo is at 120 beats per second, which is the standard American march tempo. Bands perform most traditional American marches like “Stars & Stripes Forever” by John Philip Sousa at this tempo. There is an instant feeling of marching, an almost protest like rally call that the orphans sing as the clean up the orphanage. The brash brass and timpani make it seem like a call to arms, an angry declaration of worker grievances, which mirrors the setting of the musical during the great depression.

Even though the girls are angry and complaining the fact they are doing just that is shockingly sad. Children who grow up in the lower class or without parents often do not realize what they are missing. They often think that their lives are normal and in some ways this is less painful the knowing what they are missing the children. In “It’s a Hard Knock Life” one girls complains about never seeing Santa Claus and another girl responds saying “What’s that?” She doesn’t even know that it’s a person and for that girl, her ignorance of Santa Claus means there is one thing less that she isn’t depressed about missing. With its stilted rhythm and jagged melody “It’s a Hard Knock Life” is a declaration of a different kind of ghetto life, one that these orphans dream of leaving and in “Hard Knock Life” Jay-Z has left the ghetto but has found that it hasn’t left him.

Jay-Z, in “Hard Knock Life,” describes his journey from living in the ghetto to becoming a successful rap star. He explains that is from the “school of the hard knocks” a place of fierce loyalty. This makes him feel responsible to help the people that he has left behind in the ghetto. In the second verse, he explains that he “flows” or raps for girls so that they do not have to strip to pay college tuition. Later in the third he explains how ghetto life is still inside of him, something that he can’t escape, “Hustling's still inside of me.” There is a sense of burden that Jay-Z carries with him. As much as Annie looks forward to tomorrow, Jay-Z is haunted by yesterday.

When asked about Annie, Jay-Z commented “I watched the movie and was mesmerized ... They're too strong to let life bring them down. That's the ghetto right there . . . these kids sing about the hard knock life, things everyone in the ghetto feels coming up ... That's the ghetto anthem.”

As much as we would like to think that we moved away from our hometown and our experiences growing up, we can never truly separate ourselves from all of that because, they are who we are.

When you are haunted a childhood that you know you didn’t deserve, a place that you feel you must give back to, a lifestyle that you don’t feel like you can ever move past, only then will you have a true understanding of what is ghetto.