Pentad Analysis Of Dookie
Pentad Analysis Of Dookie Lyrics
PREAMBLE:
At first glance, “Dookie” seems like a song about poop. At second glance, “Dookie” may even appear to be a nod to punk/pop band Green Day’s third album, “Dookie.” “Dookie” is neither of those things. Grounded in the ethos of Antonin Artaud’s famous quote, “Where there is a stink of shit there is a smell of life,” “Dookie” is a subtle indictment of kitsch art and marketing that chops and screws from a trap song into a hardcore metal song
The five master terms of Kenneth Burke’s Pentad make many of the implied, tacit notions within the text more accessible and easier to tease out and parse together. Of the master terms, the agency stands out the most and foregrounds the text
ACT:
On the surface, “Dookie” is free of a plot, but a closer reading of the text reveals the plot in everything from the alarm sounds to the bass buildup and breakdown. The song has only one full verse; this terseness conveys a sense of urgency. Robert Raimon Roy says that he thanks his parents for “this science experiment”— life— and apologizes for embarrassing them when he uses vulgar, inappropriate language like the term “dookie.” The lack of detail leaves room for interpretation on the part of the listener or reader
SCENE:
Culturally, “Dookie” occupies a unique space in the hip-hop canon. It’s a song that was recorded two years ago but was only officially released last year. One would expect it to be dated in a way that many other hip-hop songs that have been out for two years are, but “Dookie” isn’t dated, making it harder to periodize. Moreover, “Dookie,” as a disjointed, nonlinear melding of hip-hop and metal does not lend well to hegemonic framing, Christian, Hegelian, or otherwise; its lack of datedness can be attributed to the fact that the song isn’t laden with references to a specific time, place or thing(s); it exists simply and thus the only scene to speak of—the scene wherein Rob talks about his philosophy about life being this foul thing—is a very sparse scene
AGENT(S):
“Dookie” is the agent, signifying the world and nature. Robert Raimon Roy raps, “My philosophy in this bitch, I call it ‘Dookie’/And my religion just as stank, think I call it ‘Dookie.” Meaning, “Dookie” is ingrained, fundamentally, in the practices of daily life. “Dookie” is thus an ontological concept conveyed in a juvenile “whomever smelt it, dealt it” way. Ontology is at the root of “Dookie” for “Dookie” concerns determining the necessity and fundamentality, the ‘be.’ It should be noted that there is no mention of morality, moral systems, or idols in “Dookie.” “Dookie” is life in the simplest of terms
AGENCY:
The agency of “Dookie” is grounded in its sheer simplicity. “Dookie” stands in direct contradiction to marketing, which is a complicated and concerted effort:
“See, Dookie know what’s dookie/Ain’t no hyperbole or kind of surgery to rearrange the surface, even.”
“Dookie” doesn’t display the common trappings or anatomy of a hip-hop song, nor does it utilize the same tropes and devices or pander to commercialism with consumer cues. Roy, in that sense, is not selling. Selling is a huge component of contemporary hip-hop and a large part of how our culture narrativizes and creates structures of feeling. Hip-hop music and popular music in general is inundated with messages about how we should feel about things. Values, cachet, and a host of assumptions are ascribed to otherwise insignificant things, materials. Feelings fuel our consumer culture, and whether we’re aware of it or not, we’re told, through relentless advertising, how to feel about entire eras, products, and even peoples. This is marketing. The purpose of marketing is to elicit desired emotional responses to sell commodities, to manipulate. Music does this alone and to add a secondary layer of manipulation is to complicate music and deceive the listener. “Dookie” doesn’t complicate or deceive
At first glance, “Dookie” seems like a song about poop. At second glance, “Dookie” may even appear to be a nod to punk/pop band Green Day’s third album, “Dookie.” “Dookie” is neither of those things. Grounded in the ethos of Antonin Artaud’s famous quote, “Where there is a stink of shit there is a smell of life,” “Dookie” is a subtle indictment of kitsch art and marketing that chops and screws from a trap song into a hardcore metal song
The five master terms of Kenneth Burke’s Pentad make many of the implied, tacit notions within the text more accessible and easier to tease out and parse together. Of the master terms, the agency stands out the most and foregrounds the text
ACT:
On the surface, “Dookie” is free of a plot, but a closer reading of the text reveals the plot in everything from the alarm sounds to the bass buildup and breakdown. The song has only one full verse; this terseness conveys a sense of urgency. Robert Raimon Roy says that he thanks his parents for “this science experiment”— life— and apologizes for embarrassing them when he uses vulgar, inappropriate language like the term “dookie.” The lack of detail leaves room for interpretation on the part of the listener or reader
SCENE:
Culturally, “Dookie” occupies a unique space in the hip-hop canon. It’s a song that was recorded two years ago but was only officially released last year. One would expect it to be dated in a way that many other hip-hop songs that have been out for two years are, but “Dookie” isn’t dated, making it harder to periodize. Moreover, “Dookie,” as a disjointed, nonlinear melding of hip-hop and metal does not lend well to hegemonic framing, Christian, Hegelian, or otherwise; its lack of datedness can be attributed to the fact that the song isn’t laden with references to a specific time, place or thing(s); it exists simply and thus the only scene to speak of—the scene wherein Rob talks about his philosophy about life being this foul thing—is a very sparse scene
AGENT(S):
“Dookie” is the agent, signifying the world and nature. Robert Raimon Roy raps, “My philosophy in this bitch, I call it ‘Dookie’/And my religion just as stank, think I call it ‘Dookie.” Meaning, “Dookie” is ingrained, fundamentally, in the practices of daily life. “Dookie” is thus an ontological concept conveyed in a juvenile “whomever smelt it, dealt it” way. Ontology is at the root of “Dookie” for “Dookie” concerns determining the necessity and fundamentality, the ‘be.’ It should be noted that there is no mention of morality, moral systems, or idols in “Dookie.” “Dookie” is life in the simplest of terms
AGENCY:
The agency of “Dookie” is grounded in its sheer simplicity. “Dookie” stands in direct contradiction to marketing, which is a complicated and concerted effort:
“See, Dookie know what’s dookie/Ain’t no hyperbole or kind of surgery to rearrange the surface, even.”
“Dookie” doesn’t display the common trappings or anatomy of a hip-hop song, nor does it utilize the same tropes and devices or pander to commercialism with consumer cues. Roy, in that sense, is not selling. Selling is a huge component of contemporary hip-hop and a large part of how our culture narrativizes and creates structures of feeling. Hip-hop music and popular music in general is inundated with messages about how we should feel about things. Values, cachet, and a host of assumptions are ascribed to otherwise insignificant things, materials. Feelings fuel our consumer culture, and whether we’re aware of it or not, we’re told, through relentless advertising, how to feel about entire eras, products, and even peoples. This is marketing. The purpose of marketing is to elicit desired emotional responses to sell commodities, to manipulate. Music does this alone and to add a secondary layer of manipulation is to complicate music and deceive the listener. “Dookie” doesn’t complicate or deceive
PURPOSE:
“Dookie” serves three main purposes: to convey a philosophy (1) and to subvert (2) and critique (3) the rap music industry. It’s meaning is subtle and thus implied, so it doesn’t necessarily fail or succeed at this. A close examination of the text leads one to believe that Robert Raimon Roy is averse to pretty and polished verses. He’d much rather wax poetic in a vulgar way and be polarizing than to conform to conventions he is critiquing
“Dookie” serves three main purposes: to convey a philosophy (1) and to subvert (2) and critique (3) the rap music industry. It’s meaning is subtle and thus implied, so it doesn’t necessarily fail or succeed at this. A close examination of the text leads one to believe that Robert Raimon Roy is averse to pretty and polished verses. He’d much rather wax poetic in a vulgar way and be polarizing than to conform to conventions he is critiquing
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