Analysis of Georgia Bush
The Analysis of Georgia
Bush and the Political
Issues the Song discusses
By: John Williams
Texas A&M Corpus Christi
2/17/2011
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Analysis of Georgia Bush
Introduction
When Lil Wayne made this song you can tell his mood was anger. He really
wanted to get his point across to George Bush, that’s why he named the song after him.
In the song the words you here the most are Georgia Bush, which is obviously directed to
George Bush. Anyone that has heard Lil Wayne’s music or heard of his music will know
that he is the type of rapper that pours his heart out on his songs. Music is his escape. In
one song, Playing with Fire he says “I feel caged in my mind, it’s like my flow doing
time, I goes crazy inside but when it comes out it’s fine (Wayne 2008).” Meaning when
he isn’t in the studio his thought pile up and he go crazy but when he lets it out
everything is all better. He poured his feelings out once again in this song. He is very
upset at George Bush because he feels when hurricane Katrina hit the city of New
Orleans he didn’t do much to help and kind of put it off to the side. He also feels that
Bush should have gave more money to the city but instead he was too busy worried about
the war in Iraq that he just pushed the Katrina situation to the side. In a lot of Wayne’s
music he talks about how much he loves his city and his town so you can tell why he is so
passionate about this subject. Another reason why he is so passionate about the hurricane
is because he says he actually knew people who died in the floods so that was very hard
for him to take in. He thinks very highly of his city and that’s why he was very mad at the
situation. Even though Lil Wayne was mad and talking a lot he really didn’t do a lot to
help he was too busy complaining and crying over the situation. There were people who
did do things for the hurricane like Brad Pitt and Tyler Perry. Lil Wayne’s song "Georgia
Bush" criticizes the way George Bush handle the situation when hurricane Katrina hit the
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Analysis of Georgia Bush
city of New Orleans; he was very blunt on his way of telling the president and in his
lyrics he sounded very angry.
First Verse
In his first verse he starts about by describing George Bush and what he looks like and what he
wears most of the time just from dramatic purposes. He says “This song is dedicated to the one
with the suit, thick white skin and his eyes bright blue.”(Wayne 2006). This is his way of
warming up to the song and once again making sure you know exactly who he is talking about.
In this first verse he is also telling the audience how people from New Orleans think of President
Bush, so for this portion of the song is for anyone who doesn’t live in New Orleans to just let
you know how the people really feel about Bush. Like I said earlier Wayne thinks highly of his
city so says that people from New Orleans have their own sayings about George Bush. There are
many people in New Orleans but since they aren’t famous the world wouldn’t hear their story
and that’s when Wayne used his star status and stepped in. So he is speaking for the city of New
Orleans. Now that the hurricane hit, it seems like the people of New Orleans are just supposed to
pack up there things and move on like nothing happen. He states “But I know people that died in
that pool, I know people that died in them schools, now what is the survivor to do? Got to no
trailer, you got to move; now it's on to Texas and to Georgia (Wayne 2006).” One bad thing
about the people of New Orleans evacuating was that they evacuated to mainly two places which
were San Antonio and Houston. Washingtonpost.com that the crime rate went up after the people
from New Orleans arrived to these cities. “Since Sept. 1, when an estimated 150,000 to 200,000
Louisianans resettled in Houston after Hurricane Katrina, evacuees are believed to have been
involved in 26 slayings, or nearly 17 percent of all homicides. The cases, according to Houston
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Analysis of Georgia Bush
police, involved 34 evacuees -- 19 of them victims and 15 of them suspects
(Washingtonpost.com).” He gets in depth on how bad the hurricane affected him and the people
he knew. Like he talks about a person he knew that actually died in the hurricane. He says in the
song “R.I.P. Tay cause he died in the storm, fuck president George Bush (Wayne 2006).”His
biggest argument was why isn’t the government doing anything about the hurricane, they were
brushing the situation off to the side, but when it comes to giving money to the war in Iraq Bush
was quick to give them money.
Chorus/Hook
He repeats the chorus over and over in the song. He is saying to the people of New
Orleans that he is hurting with him. Knowing people that died in the hurricane let the audience
know that the artist isn’t just rapping; he really is pouring his heart out on the song. He really
feels there pain, because even though he is a famous rapper he is also a human and has feelings
and that the hurricane really affected him. He is letting the people know that is still praying for
them years later and he will keep giving money and keep doing everything he can to make the
situation better since George Bush didn’t. Wayne feels that if they made it this far then the
people of the city should keep hanging on no matter how bad the situation may seem. Hating the
fact that grown people, little kids, men, and women died in Katrina Bush and the government
still didn’t put up a lot of effort to try and make things better. Bush seemed like he didn’t care
that people died in the hurricane and that pissed the artist off. Since this is the chorus of the song
it gets repeated more than once so obviously this is the most important part of the song since its
being repeated several times.
Third Verse
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Analysis of Georgia Bush
In the third verse the artist starts off by talking about how hard it is for the people of New
Orleans. They have hit hard because after Katrina the same people who left because of the
hurricane are the same people to have to pay money just to come back to New Orleans.
Something that relates to the issue were the people who got hit by the hurricane go a Fema
check. Many spent their money all wrong instead of being smart about the whole situation. A
lot of the children in the hurricane will not ever be the same after this and the government still
doesn’t care about it at all. This is what makes Lil Wayne so mad, and the fact that the former
president of the United States is more worried about spending more money on the Iraq War then
the health and whereabouts of the little children. Wayne is being very criticizing in this verse, he
is calling white people racist and they are probably the people who voted for Bush. “We see
them Confederate flags, you know what it is, a white cracker motherfucker that probably voted
for him (Wayne 2006).” “Racism is the belief that the genetic factors which constitute race,
ethnicity, or nationality are a primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that ethnic
differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. Racism's effects are called "racial
discrimination." In the case of institutional racism, certain racial groups may be denied rights or
benefits, or receive preferential treatment (Miller, 2004, p.111).” The artist gives a shout to all
the other artists who helped out by donating money and by building houses and fixing up the city
in their own little way. Wayne feels that President Bush was more worried about the war than the
city of New Orleans. Bush would always do interview and give money for bombs and things like
that for the war but didn’t care that the New Orleans got hit by Katrina. “And no he is not going
to drop no dollars, but he do drop bombs (Wayne 2006)”. “Since 2003, the United States has
appropriated or otherwise made available $53.31 billion for the reconstruction effort in Iraq. This
quarter, the Congress authorized an additional $200 million for the Commander’s Emergency
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Analysis of Georgia Bush
Response Program for Iraq and $382.5 million for the Economic Support Fund (Miller, 2004,
p.88).” Wayne feels that if you every run into anyone from New Orleans show them some love
because if they’re still stand in front you and talking to you then that means that they are still
surviving. The artist is a very strong person and he is like his city and his city survived one of the
worst hurricanes ever he feels that he can do anything.
Conclusion
The artist is very emotional and wears his feelings on his sleeve, to feel better he puts his
feelings over beats and just raps and lets everything go. He never writes his raps anymore he just
raps them mentally. Wayne said in an interview that by him free styling everything that comes
out of his mouth is real because he doesn’t write it down all of it is in his head. Lil Wayne is a
very popular artist because of the risks he takes and that he isn’t afraid to speak his mind and the
audience that he raps to loves it.The artist has very different moods in all of his songs and since
he is so emotional and attached to his songs you can tell what his feelings are towards his songs.
His vibe in this song is very angry and trying to get his point across. He wrote the song to get his
feelings off his chest and to criticize how George Bush ran the world while he was president and
obviously he doesn’t think he did a good job. Wayne’s song is based on his opinions a lot during
the song and he also criticizes a lot from his point of view. The artist doesn’t really go into deep
detail and give proof and researched what he was talking about in the song, he just said what he
felt about George Bush and that was it. Wayne used George Bush as an example for the world to
get his point because Bush wasn’t the only person that could have helped but since Bush was the
president at the time he had the most power and Wayne knew he could get the world’s attention
by taking a shot and the most powerful man( at the time) which was President Bush. His plan
worked because his song was a underground sound which means it was on a cd or it wasn’t
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Analysis of Georgia Bush
played on the radio and people were still finding ways to listen to the song, so I think Lil
Wayne’s attempt to get the world’s attention about hurricane Katrina worked.
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Analysis of Georgia Bush
References
Haugen, D. (2010). Hurricane Katrina . Retrieved from Gale database.
Lansford, T. (n.d.). Global Viewpoints. (Original work published 2009) Retrieved
from Gale database.
Merino, N. (2009). Racism. Retrieved from Gale database.
Miller, D. (2004). The Iraq War: Weapons of War . Retrieved from Gale database.
Miller, D. (2006). Hurricane Katrina: Devastation on the Gulf Coast. Retrieved
from Gale database.
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