Music as Torture: "Aw Yeah?" by Tech N9ne

"American intelligence seems to believe American music will break you more quickly. 'These people haven't heard it. They can't take it,' a psy-ops sergeant told Newsweek. And in Guantanamo, they even have a name for it. The Pentagon's Schmidt investigation identified it as "futility music" - that is to say, screamingly loud and deliberately Western music that will, per the Army field manual, "highlight the futility of one's detainee's situation.'" [Bayoumi, "Disco Inferno"] _____________________________________________________________________________ The employment of music in torture is distressing to the detainee by the mere unfamiliarity of the style of music imposed upon them in repetition and volume for prolonged periods. This song not only embodies a style of western music altogether estranged from the cultural music of the detainees, but it utilizes an ominous quasi-religious chanting in the background throughout the entirety of the song. Ironically, despite the detainees' inability to focus and complete the traditional prayers of their religion, the song is an appeal to God, one they might utter themselves in their native tongue, indignantly repeating "Audire Domine!" In latin this appeal means "Hear me, God!" or "Listen God!" in regards to the injustice the artist recognizes is due to the sinful nature of this world. Is this torment due to transgressions of the detainee and his offense against American law, or is it a result of the retaliatory nature of the American forces and their desire for retribution, humiliation, and persecution of their enemies? At the conclusion of the song, the yell of the artist's final word is analogous to the detainee's inner torment and the decomposition of their mental and emotional stability while enduring this form of "futility music" torture.