My name is Duke Dawson and I took an introductory English class at the University of Florida during the fall of my freshman year. I came to The University of Florida to play football and pursue my degree in business. During the semester of English 1101 I have learned a lot of great things that can help me become a better writer. I learned how to write a media analysis and a rhetorical analysis. These are things I did not know how to do and I'm so happy I have learned how to use these skills. This portfolio illustrates some of my best work throughout the semester of English and the progress I have made while writing.

This is my Rhetorical Analysis for English 1101. It analyzes Questlove's Facebook post and how he tries to persuade his readers using argumentative claims and evidence.




Questlove’s Famous Facebook Post
In this paper, I will analyze how Questlove’s Facebook post tries to persuade his readers
through the use of argumentative claims and evidence. First, I identify Questlove’s main
argument. Next, I describe his personal experiences as evidence Questlove’s uses to defend his
thesis. Then I asses his evidence and fine that it is not logical and effective for an academic
argument. He makes many assumptions, and I explains why they are not good. Next, based on
his evidence and assumptions, I argue that some readers will agree with those assumptions while
others will not. I conclude that he was not trying to make an argument, but instead was trying to
express his feelings. Questlove’s Facebook post argues that society thinks that all black men are
dangerous and untrustworthy. Overall, his main argument locates racism in his personal
experiences. He link his experience to the Trayvon Martin case. He explains that the outcome of
the trial means black men “ain’t shit” (Thompson).
Questlove’s evidence
Most of Questlove’s evidence is personal experience. Questlove clearly states that “I’m
in scenarios all the time which primitive, exotic looking me-six foot two, 300 pounds,
uncivilized Afro--for starters finds himself in places where people who look like me are not
normally found” (Thompson). The argument set up from personal experiences is fallacy of
reasoning because he makes hasty generalizations with few pieces of evidence. He also uses
faulty deduction. He has a major premise that people do not feel safe around him and has a minor
premise of going on vacations because he don’t want to make rich white people feel
uncomfortable. From these premises, he concludes that the society in not comfortable with him around. He uses this example, but does not support the claim with good enough evidence.
Racism is bigger than just personal experiences. To strengthen his argument, he needs to have
more examples or use statistics.
Logical and effective evidence
Questlove’s evidence is not logical and effective for an academic argument. His use of
personal experience as evidence is fallacy of reasoning because he uses very few piece of
evidence to support his claim. For example, “I wait and wait in cars until I feel it’s safe for me to
make people feel safe, but if you spent a good three months in these size fourteens, you’d
understand why I take this position” (Thompson). When he states “why I take this position,” he
needs more evidence. The argument is presented to the reader without strong supporting facts.
There is not enough evidence here for a strong academic argument. However, I do not think he
was trying to make an argument. I do not find that he was to express his feelings not create an
argument.
Assumptions
In a lot of the Facebook post, Questlove makes a lot of assumptions. He made an
assumption specifically when he says;
Then I assume she is missing her building card, so I pulled my card
out to try to press her floor yet again. She says, ‘That’s okay’.
Then it hit me: ‘Oh God, she purposely held that information
back.’ Then door closed. It was a ‘pie in the face’ moment
(Thompson)
He tells this story but does not have enough facts to back up his claim. There is no information
beyond his personal experiences for the reader to understand the argument. To make a stronger argument, Questlove should get more perspectives from many other people. If they all have the
same opinion this would make a stronger argument. He uses an unfair emotional appeal in this
post. Based on his past experiences he thinks she feels he is dangerous without asking how she
feels. In this article there is not enough evidence here for a strong academic argument but I do
not think he was trying to make argument. I think he was just expressing his feelings not creating
an argument.
Reader’s opinion
Questlove’s post was on Facebook, so some readers may agree some may not. Readers
are on Facebook to see what is going on with their friends, families and famous people. The
whole point of Facebook is for entertainment. Readers are not always looking for strong, wellwritten
arguments. Sometimes they are just looking for other people who have had this
experience. The people who did not share an experience like this would be more likely to
disagree. Some people would agree because they might have felt the same way or have been in
his shoes. This story may relate to racism, but because he wrote the post without facts or proper
supports, readers will likely take it as a personal experience which is contextual evidence.
Conclusion
In this paper, I have shown how Questlove tries to persuade his readers with the use of
argumentative claims in a recent Facebook post. Questloves main argument was racism is real
and he experiences it a lot. He links his experience to the Trayvon Martin case, explaining that
the outcome of the trial means black men “ain’t shit” (Thompson). I explained how Questlove
used personal evidence that was missing facts to support his claims. I pointed out his fallacy of
reasoning, faulty deduction, and underdeveloped argument based on assumptions. I illustrated his
use of emotional appeal in order for him to strengthen his argument. I conclude this paper with my own argument. I do not believe he was trying to argue with post he made, he was just
expressing his feeling towards the situation. So while my analyze shows this is not a strong
argument, that does not mean it did not do what Questlove hoped it would.
 Work cited
Thompson, A. Questlove. “Trayvon Martin and I Ain’t Shit.” Link

This is my Media Analysis I wrote for English 1101. It analyzes the lyrics to Chief Keef's song "Finally Rich". I focused on how he appeals to his audience by using lyrics.



Duke Dawson Media Analysis
In this paper, I will be analyzing Chief Keef’s song “Finally Rich”, where Keef attempts
to persuade to his audience that he made it out of the hood. This songs comes from the album
Finally Rich which was released in 2013. Next, I am going to describe how he’s made it out the
hood. Then I am going to describe how he has never changed and still remain the same. Finally I
am going to describe how he is still getting hated on through his success. Overall, Chief Keef is
trying to entertain his audience by showing them that he has made his own version of the ideal
life.
There are many ways Keef gets the attention of his audience, which includes riding
foreign cars, smoking all the dope, showing people he can buy it all, and supporting all of his
people. Chief Keef talks about foreign cars when he says, “Bitch I’m finally rich I could ride
foreign cars” (Line 13-14) he is showing that since he is rich, he can ride foreign cars and it isn’t
nothing to him getting cars like that. For Chief Keef, foreign cars symbolize luxury, fine taste,
uniqueness, and wealth. For example, in the music video he is riding around in Mercedes,
Bentleys, Lamborghinis, Audi’s and Porsche trucks. These are expensive cars. This will get the
audience’s attention because he’s riding cars that they dream to have one day, but he already has
them.
Chief Keef also captures the attention of his audience with the lyrics “smoke all the dope,
I get so high just see the scope” (Line 15) he is saying when he gets dumb high he sees
everything. He’s appealing to his audience by smoking better dope and as much as he want.
Using smoking dope as a symbol for his financial status, he is trying to address an audience that
thinks smoking dope is valuable.
Also, he shows people that he can buy anything that he wants when saying “I’m a show
you how to ball, first you walk up in the mall, hit every store and buy it all cause he ain’t shit” (Line 30-31). In this line he uses the word ball to indicate that he is out working hard for his
money, and he can spend it how he wants. In the music video, he walks into the mall. He does
not just go into any store, but he goes into stores like, Gucci, Luis Vuitton, Versace, True
Religion, and Burberry. Going into all of these stores tells the listeners that Chief Keef has a lot
of money because these are high class stores. This appeals to his audience because they cannot
just walk into these stores. Chief Keef is assuming that buying these products is showing that he
has a lot of money to spend and that he has made it. He is also assuming that his audience is
going to be persuaded that he has made it by using these comments and images.
Even though Chief Keef has a lot of money, he still wants his audience to know that he
remains the same person he was before he had a lot of money. In the lines, “Me and my boys still
bang, we’ll clap a nigga up no range” chief Keef is saying that he was a gang banger when he did
not have money and still is connected to his boys from the O’block street. He also hangs out and
chills with the same guys that were his friends before he had money and became rich.
Additionally, he says “I’m a O’block nigga can’t change, 64th street my domain” (Line 2). What
he is saying in this line is that he is still going to represent where he came from and nothing is
going to change. Even though he can buy huge houses in other places, he still feels like he is still
a part of those projects.
He also has not changed his values of taking care of his family. In the lines, “that’s why I
got rich so I can take care of my mom, take care my daughter, and take care my bothers”(Line
20). Sometimes when people get rich they change on their family and friends by acting like they
are above them all. By saying this, he is showing that he got rich for them and is going to keep
them as a priority in his life. Here he is appealing to his audience’s sense of community. It is
important that his audience still identifies him as part of the old community. Chief Keef’s audience is filled with people that are from neighborhoods like his old neighborhood. It is
important for him to link back to his old hood because the people he is rapping to expect him to
still have the hood side in him. I think the audience will believe this because he supports his
claims with action. All of his boys are in his videos and songs, and his family is financially
secure.
Although Chief Keef claims to be the same person throughout all his success, he still has
people hating on him. He makes a statement that he is still from his old neighborhood. He is
making these arguments because people have said that he has changed. Many people make
assumptions that he has changed because he has a lot of money, but he wants to make it clear
that he is still the same person. One way that he stays the same is interacting with people that
have supported him from the beginning and not just new people that are coming into his life for
all the money and fame. The fact that he shows off the things he can afford rubs people the
wrong way and they get jealous which make them hate on him. He talks about showing off the
things the haters cannot afford by saying “Flexing on these niggas no better, hate on me it don’t
matter” (Line 23). He is going to continue to make his money and show off to the haters. In all of
his music, video he is still with the people he came up with. He continues to be with the people
he came up with because they are like he brothers and are loyal to him. This appeals to his loyal
fan base. This is an effective way to appeal to his audience because they identify being in his
group and not part of the haters.
Chief Keef grew up in Chicago Chiraq which is the murder capital of the United States.
He had little opportunities coming up as a boy. However, he made an ideal life becoming a
rapper and getting rich. This song shows the audience how he made it and the challenges of
making it out of the hood. These challenges include people questioning him about if he has changed and hating him for what he now has. My personal response on the Chief Keef situation
is that he has met his goals and continue to rap to keep his dream going. Even though he is still
rich, he still the same person that values his family and day one friends. This song demonstrates
Chief Keef’s journey to an ideal life. He appeals to his audience well even though he assumes
that what he thinks is making it will be the same for his audience. This is a solid assumption to
make because the people he makes the music for are likely to agree. The people that do not agree
do not need to listen to his music