Weekly Blog Post 6

In this post we will once again delve into Lecrae’s “Don’t Waste Your Life,” this time stepping back and analyzing the overall structure of the video in an attempt to see his appeals to logos to set up pathos and ethos.

Lecrae’s video uses mainly compare and contrast to make his argument. Since the subplot of the robbery of the store has not been explored, we will look more closely at this part of the video.

The storyline of the businessman (Cam) is highly polished and chronological. The robbery is not. The storyline of this subplot also jumps around, beginning first with the one of the robbers running, then cutting to them meeting outside. Lecrae also chooses to film the robbery in a grainy black and white, contrasting that with the clear color of Cam’s story. This contrast adds to the sense of universalism Lecrae is trying to get across. Instead of simply speaking to businessmen or gangsters, the contrasting storylines and filming styles show us that Lecrae believes lives in every culture are wasted.

Lecrae also uses the contrast of words and images to make his argument. While Cam is singing in the hook “Don’t wanna waste my/Don’t wanna waste my life,” two criminals are doing exactly that by robbing a store. As Lecrae is rapping “You don’t see His ways in the days of my life/You can hit my breaks/You can stop my life,” the video is showing Cam and a group of his friends at a party. In other words, the video shows the exact opposite of the words Lecrae is both rapping and writing. As Lecrae and Cam say they don’t want to waste their lives, Cam is doing so through partying and Lecrae is doing so through crime. Thus, the argument essentially made by telling the viewer “what not to do.”

This structure of logos also sets up the pathos and ethos in this song. The contrasting of the words and video sets up an ethos of equal footing. By choosing to portray the main characters themselves, Lecrae and Cam show the audience they are not saints on a level of perfection above their audience. Instead, they are men who were once wasting their lives in pursuit of the things of this world. Not coincidently, the stories portrayed in the video are loosely biographical of Lecrae and Cam. Lecrae grew up in the ghetto and was arrested several times. Cam, on the other hand, had been pursuing money and fame all his life.

The contrasting structure also appeals to pathos, by making the audience sympathetic toward the men wasting their lives. While logos is the main focus of the video, pathos is most certainly present.

Lecrae uses well-structured and contrasting to appeal to logos. He logically and passionately gives his message to all cultures in the world. He begs us to not waste our lives living for futile things, but instead live for Christ.

Weekly Blog Post 5

“That’s why it’s Christ in my rhymes/That’s why it’s Christ all the time/My whole world is built around Him/He’s the life in my lines.”

At this climax of the song, Lecrae changes the nature of the rhetorical appeals used in his music video “Don’t Waste Your Life.” In this short essay, we will examine approximately twenty seconds of the video to see how rhetorical devices are used to communicate the message of the song.

Until this point in the song, Lecrae has mainly used appeals to logos. He has laid out a logical case, using both Scriptural and practical examples, that life is wasted outside of Christ. In the video, Lecrae sets up the story of a wealthy businessman (played by Cam, the singer in the hook) who has received a letter and Bible in the mail. While he is reading the letter (the lyrics of “Don’t Waste Your Life”) some of his friends show up for a party. As his friends are enjoying themselves, the Cam is slowly realizing it is a pointless exercise. It is at this point the climax occurs, and Lecrae switches from logos to pathos to reach his audience.

As Lecrae begins the climax, the video shows Cam in his empty apartment, with only the walls as company. Just seconds before there had been people there. The sense of loneliness and despair this picture paints is overwhelming both for both Cam and the audience.

Meanwhile, Lecrae, “writing” out the lyrics of his song as we sings them, is overcome with the emotion of what he’s saying. His devotion to God and passion for his message causes him to give up writing and simply cry out to God. Until this point, Lecrae has been diligently and logically writing out his arguments. Now, he figuratively throws up his hands in praise. The appeal is obvious: Lecrae desires the audience to have the same devotion he does.

As the camera pans back to Cam, we see he is having the same reaction to the lyrics. He leaves his friends at the party, picks up the Bible, and walks from the room without a word. Again, the implication is that the Word of God should produce an emotional reaction in us driving us to devotion in Christ.

In his video “Don’t Waste Your Life,” Lecrae uses pathos to show his audience the majesty of living for Christ. In the few seconds showing Lecrae praising God and devoting his life to Him, his facial expression and posture plead with the audience to do the same. As Cam gives up the party to read the Bible, Lecrae asks his audience to give up the things of this world for the things of the Lord. Indeed, the implication is that Lecrae shares the vision of Shai Linne when he says, “[God] could give me the Lex, the coup, the Beemer, the Benz/the sex, the loot, the cream or the ends/But next the truth of Jesus, friends, it’s worth nothing.”