"Rocky Raccoon" tells the story of a cowboy who took the law into his own hands after he saw his wife cheating. Rocky represents an old western cowboy that believed the law did not care about the situation, so he tried to handle the problem himself. He shows the old western culture is about the stand off between the hero and the enemy. Rocky is trying to make right and take back what is his. On the other hand Jay-Z tells a story about his belief in respect and how if someone is to disrespect him he will take the law into his own hands to deal with the situation. He shows a new generation cowboy that believes in respect and is willing to kill for pride, just like Rocky Raccoon. In the new generation of the thugs there is a different kind of violence but they are still about taking the law into their own hands. "Rocky Raccoon" and "Justify my Thug" are mashed together to bring together the white cowboy and black thug, as they represent the old and the new vigilante.

The first vigilante was seen in the Wild West by the violence and guns they used in the Wild West. The vigilante was both positive and negative because there was good and bad cowboys. They were positive because they formed laws and forced people to obey the rules by using violence, like guns, which ended up leading to more violence. They were negative because of the things they would do, when they had a problem, instead of going to talk the police they would take the law into their own hands. In the song "Justify My Thug", Jay Z has positive actions, but the environment that he was around had thugs, and the thugs represent negativity because of their killings, power, guns, and the violence that they were causing. In the song by The Beatles, Rocky Raccoon also had positive actions but some cowboys around him had a violent mindset. These songs both are similar to each other because they both had positive actions, but it was the violent people around them that killed people and broke moral codes. This influenced Rocky Raccoon and Jay Z to have to watch their surroundings and the negativity that was going on around them. The violent surroundings influenced Jay Z and Rocky Raccoon to protect themselves with guns, but by protecting themselves with weapons it is causing more violence.  

In the Wild West, the cowboy was reckless and known for taking the law into his own hands when the law did not exist or when it was not strict. The Wild West cowboy was the first vigilante who enforced the law cowboys made, as well as the morel codes and if someone broke the law the punishment would be whipping and banishment from the town ("Frontier Legends"). The vigilante cowboy was a hero because he protected himself and others that were around him. Rocky Raccoon was the vigilante cowboy who had someone break a moral code by cheating with his wife. For example in the song Rocky Raccoon stated that" One day his women ran off with another guy he said im gonna get that boy" this shows how the vigilante used violence back in the Wild West. In the Wild West it was common for cowboys to stand off when the moral codes were broken. In the song Rocky Raccoon the main character showed that he followed the moral codes by demanding for a stand off after he saw Dan with his wife in a hotel. The old western culture was about the moral codes and the group of cowboys that were in the town would take the law into their own hands.

A thug is a modern day vigilante because they make up their own rules, which they live by to the point if a person does not live by the rules they will get killed. They have their own group and there are certain types of requirements to be apart of their group. In order to be in the group you have to obey the codes set by the leader of the group. If the code is ever broken the thug is going to take the problem into his own hands. These codes that are made up by the modern day thugs are separated from the country's laws. The thugs do not go to the police to deal with their situation they handle it themselves. The modern day cowboys are seen in Jay Z's song "Justify My Thug" because the thug wants loyalty and respect. The cowboys and the thugs believe the only way in making things right involves violence.

The Wild West Cowboy and the modern day Cowboys are similar to each other because of the power and violence that they both use. They both use guns and have a crew to back them up, which gives them the authority and that is found through the gun and the group that supports the leader. The gun symbolizes authority to shoot to kill and to let the person know who's in charge, who can kill, who makes the rules, and who to answer to. In the Beatles song it stated, "Rocky Raccoon had come equipped with a gun to shoot of the legs of his Rival" which means he is about to take law into his own hands. The modern day cowboy has the gun but what has let him keep his authority is his crew that supports him. The purpose of the group that supports the leader is to make sure they protect their leader. In the song Jay Z states that, "I ain't never been smacked: a nigga better keep his hands to himself or get clapped for what's under that man's belt" which is referring to him killing somebody if they ever slap him and if they ever try to hurt him, he is coming back to take the law into his own hands.

Both songs inform the culture of violence just because the things they believe in, like murdering each other in order to make things better. There were stand offs in western culture if someone broke the moral code and if someone felt disrespected they would demand a standoff. For an example in the song by the Beatles, "Rocky bust in grinning a grin, he said Danny boy this is a showdown". In the western culture there is a lot of violence as you can see in the song Rocky Raccoon, Danny was ready for a standoff. This culture is seen in the song by the statement," But Daniel was hot, he drew first and shot and Rocky collapsed in the corner". In Jay Z's song he wants to go back to the west before laws against violence, because he wants to be able to be violent without getting into trouble. Jay Z states that "take me back to + Reasonable doubt time" which he is asking to go back to the Wild West before there was law.

The songs," Justify my Thug" and "Rocky Raccoon" are mashed together to bring the two different cultures together. The cultures of violence are similar because they are both vigilantes who want justice. These songs are being compared because they are two different cultures with the same way of living; it is just the old generation and the new generation. The difference in culture in "Rocky Raccoon" and "Justify My Thug" is seen in the old Wild West thinking and the new modern day thinking. In the song, Rocky Raccoon got into an allegation with Danny over his wife and the old way of thinking in the west was if you break the moral code you would have to have a standoff, but the new modern way of thinking is that any sign of disrespect will lead to violence.

Even though the modern and the Wild West vigilante had two different cultures they still had similar environments and beliefs. Both the cowboy and the thug are about their reputation in the group and the people that are around them. Jay Z said he will never run and that was the same feeling that Rocky had, because he actually got into with Danny. Jay Z stated," Death before Dishonor" which Rocky went by the same mindset and he died defending his honor. He blends the two cultures together to see how they are similar to each other and how they both want the same thing. Also it seems like he trying to bring the blacks and the whites together by mixing the songs, because in the Wild West the cowboys were white and in the modern day the cowboys are thugs.

The idea of bringing the two races together is represented by bringing the white and black song together. The mash-up is showing the similarities in the two cultures of blacks and whites. He is trying to let people know these cultures have the same mindset and think alike. In both cultures there is violence, it is just back in the day they could do it because there was no law but today it is against the law. In the Wild West and in the modern days they both had guns which leads to violence, power and control. In the Wild West the cowboy with the gun was in control. Today in the streets, the thug with the gun is in control. Control leads to a violent power which we see when Rocky gets killed over the moral code and when Jay Z says now "if you shot my dog, ima kill your cat".

He is comparing blacks and whites and the old and the new and the cowboys and thugs to bring together a unity among the different cultures. The mash-up of the songs together show similarities about the way the cowboys and the thugs were living. In society everyone focus on the differences yet he is trying to bring everyone together, by mashing these two songs together they help people see the similarities and how everyone wants the power and control. All cultures are willing to die to get respect, power and control. The songs connect together well because of the dedication of power. This mash-up is the thing that could make us become unified.

Throughout Jay Z and the Beatles songs there was a culture of violence. The similarities in the mindset of the Wild West cowboy and the modern day thug are guns to control others and to have power. They have a group of people to back them up, but they had different laws and moral codes. "Rocky Raccoon" and "Justify my Thug" are mashed together to bring together the white cowboy and black thug, as they represent the old and the new vigilante. The mash-up helped to inform people about the old Wild West and the Modern day thugs. The songs were mashed together to bring everyone together, from the old generation to the new, and from the Wild West cowboy to the modern day thug. 

