Please Instruct Me How To Douglass.

In today's blog, I will grade the Know Your Meme video on archaic rap. In this meme, rap lyrics will be "translated" into older, flowery language, and placed before a self-portrait of the 18th century artist by the name of Joseph Ducreux. The result is something is of comedic effect. One of the most popular forms of the meme is the term "Disregard females, acquire currency."

"Who Let the Dogs Out," anyone?

Also, a nice variation on the meme is this photo of Frederick Douglass, accompanied by "translated" lyrics to the California Swag District's "Teach Me How to Dougie."

Anyone know the dance? Because I do not. :'(

Below are both the video and my grading, according to the rubric's values: perspective, juxtaposition, layering, and unity.

Now, for the grading...

Perspective [17/20] – I found the wide angle of the video to be quite awkward, but fittingly so, as it stressed the technical nature of the internet scientists. I also understood that they were aiming to accomplish the illusion that they were really in a laboratory, but the scientists behind the interview through the window were very distracting. I also did not understand the point of the flashing animals during the video countdown. Subliminal messages about farm animals really don’t seem relevant to archaic rap. Also, I recognize that they were most likely playing a rap video on the television behind them during the interview, but it would have been better had it displayed the actual video of the song to which was being referred. To their credit, though, they did show a bunch of examples of the Joseph Ducreux meme in the background.

Juxtaposition [20/20] The use of juxtaposition, however, was fabulous. The visual comparison of the original rap lyrics to the archaic counterpart perfectly illustrated the humor in both their similarities and differences. This was done during the number of archaic rap memes played concurrently with their corresponding rap videos. It was also interesting to learn about the tapestry meme and the comparisons that could be made between that and the former.

Layering [19/20] For me, it was the layering was adequate. I didn’t immediately catch all of the rap lyrics that were being “translated” immediately. Also, the tapestry meme was a little difficult to catch onto right away. Thus, it was rewarding to watch the video again.

Unity [19/20] Unity was found in the stationary nature of the internet scientists. Though the topics being discussed were interesting and variable, the setting provided harmony to the video as a whole. Also, the Joseph Ducreux photos are all very similar in composition, so that added as well.

Question: How is "hybrid eloquence" described in chapter 5?