The War on Drugs

In this blog post, I will be analyzing the messages and significance of the music video "Crooked Smile" by J.Cole featuring TLC. The song was released on June 4th, 2013 and was dedicated to Aiyana Stanley-jones, 7 year old girl shot and killed during a police raid back in 2010 which was nationally known and stirred some controversy. The song has been one of J. Cole's most popular songs that he's written. The song and music video's main reasoning is to fight the controversy on the war on drugs. J Cole wanted to bring attention to the war so people are aware of the violent acts that have been ruining families.

In the music video, there is a perspective of two people on opposite sides of the spectrum. J.Cole is a drug dealer and the other actor is part of the Federal Drug Administration. It starts out by introducing J.Cole's family, which consisted of his little sister and his mother and father celebrating the little sister's birthday at their house. It also introduces the FDA agent's daughter who he very much cares about and raises on his own. This introduction of family is very significant to the video's meaning as a hole as the importance of family is the reason why J.Cole wants the war on drugs to be over. As J.Cole's character get ready to sell his drugs, the FDA rolls up to his house to bust him. However, what is controversial here is that J.Cole's little sister is also in the house as well. During the bust, the little sister comes out of her room to see what was going on in the house. Alarmed, the FDA agent sees the girl come out of her room and pulls the trigger and takes her life. The scene right after this occurrence shows J.Cole's shock and the death of his soul as he falls to the ground in vain. Th next scenes imply the moral of the music video as it takes on the perspective of both J.Cole and the FDA agent after the shooting.

It shows J.Cole's memories of his sister and his sadness as he sits in the van and it shows the emotions of sadness that the FDA agent also feels as well. Then the scene is followed up by an imagination of J.Cole's sister and the FDA agent's daughter in school together in what seems like heaven. It also shows J.Cole and the FDA agent looking at each other, both dissatisfied from what had just happened. This symbolizes the strength of love for family members and that it is not worth losing innocent lives and family members for drugs. The way in which J.Cole and the FDA agent look at each other in dissatisfaction is a form of symbolism of how much this drug bust doesn't mean anything positive because of the death of the girl. The director sets this point of symbolism by introducing the two perspectives and their beloved family members (daughters) so they can relate to each other and feel each others pain. J.Cole does a great job of making the viewers aware of the problem on the war on drugs by bringing attention to what happened to the little girl.

The music video does a great job of creating suspense and displaying emotions throughout the video with its media effects. First, the spiritual music they play after the death of the little sister enhances the meaning of the death and is a good addition to the music video. The slow motion video effects for the iconic parts of the shooting, celebration, and aftermath really focus the attention to those parts, making them more effective. The camera angles of the shot and J.Cole falling to the ground from that same angle make the viewer engage to comprehend what just happened.

I believe this music video strongly tells the story of how the war on drugs are not worth the risk of taking innocent lives. The storyline of how a beautiful day with family turns into sadness create the ironic thought of the controversy. With the media effects, demonstration of sadness on both sides of the spectrum strongly portrays the wrong in the war. Overall, the message is well converted into the music video and serves a great purpose using the life of two sides in the war on drugs and portraying the emotions of both sides.