Conventions of a hip hop music video 2.0

1. Conventions of a hip hop music
video.
Sarah Byard.

2. Fits characteristics of genre.

3. Because I Got High
Ms. Jackson.
My Name Is… Ignition.
There are many low-angled, close up shots in hip hop videos, to imply
the artists’ power over their audience. The low angle gives them the
power, because they look down on the audience and the close up
illustrates status because it implies they’re important enough to have a
frame to themselves.

4. In In Da Club, there are many two shots of 50 Cent performing, whilst a
woman stands irrelevantly next to him. There are four of these in the
space of one minute, which are used to indicate how appealing and
desired 50 Cent is, something which is meant to suggest status.
This also represents women as irrelevant and meaningless., as he
dismisses each one within seconds.

5. Jay and Silent Bob dancing in time
People in In Da Club dancing in to the music in Because I Got
time to the music. High.
In hip hop music videos, a crowd is usually shown dancing or
bouncing their arms in time to the beat of the song. This makes them
look as if they are actually dancing to the song, which implies that
they like the song. This gives credibility to the song/artist, because it
shows that people do like the song, which makes it easier for the
audience to like the song.

6. The costume is generally basketball shirts or other sporting attire, to
signify strength and sporting prowess, something amplified by
physical workouts in music videos. Display of
physical
strength in
Basketball In Da Club
shirt in
Ignition.
Sport
jerseys worn
in In Da Club
and Ms.
Jackson.

7. Expensive jewellery in R Kelly’s Ignition and 50 Cent’s In
Da Club.
There are lots of
references to the
wealth of the
artist through the
use of mise-en-
scene
(money, cars, jew
ellery etc.).
Expensive things
signify
wealth, which
supposedly
signifies status.
Expensive car and a stack of money
in Nicki Minaj’s Superbass

8. It Wasn’t Me. In Da Club
Ms. Jackson. Stan. The Real Slim Shady
There tend to be lots of males in hip hop videos. The men are often featured
with their ‘posse’ to signify power, as there is strength in numbers. It also
shows he is ‘part of the group’ ie. not a loner or social outcast, something
again which signifies status.

9. Nicki Minaj showing how fierce and
empowering she is by turning herself into
a sex object in Superbass. The men may
be sitting down as opposed to the women
standing, but they clearly are the
dominants as they do not have to do
anything, or move, something associated
with status and power.
Shaggy is shown as the dominant in
this shot, as he is in the centre of the
frame. The women are wearing
revealing clothing, which also shows
them as just sex objects to Shaggy.
Men have all the power in every media text ever made ever hip hop
videos. Women are shown as disposable, interchangeable and as objects
of lust and nothing more.

10. In Speakers Going Hammer by Soulja Boy, white suburban America is
depicted as ‘black and white’, which signifies it being old-fasioned and
outdated. When Soulja Boy arrives with his other black friends, the
whole scene turns into colour, inferring that they are new and up-to-
date, and are what society need to be fresh. He uses binary
oppositions to mock white suburban America.

11. Eminem mocks societal practise in his videos. In Without Me, he
mocks the hypodermic needle theory by having ‘Rap Man’ “save “a
boy listening to his CD, because it says ‘parental advisory’ on it. He
overdramatisises it to mock it, because he wants to make it seem
ridiculous. The use of the comic effect makes it appear almost
childish and not something to be taken serious.

12. In Da Club. Superbass.
Ignition. Special mention to the bald Because I Got High.
guy getting his head rubbed.
Because it’s hilarious.
However, the general message nowadays in hip videos is: let’s go
out, go to a party, get drunk/high/whatever and have lots of sex.

13. Link between lyrics and visuals.

14. ‘He always in the air but ‘I even got a tattoo with
he never fly coach’. Lovely ‘They say it’s puppy your name across my
grammar – Superbass . love’ – Ms Jackson. chest’ – Stan.
In hip hop videos, there is usually some link between the music and lyrics.
In most, it is as simple as showing an object they are referring to. This is
because narrative is not a huge thing in hip hop videos, so the need for
these objects to appear links the video to the song. This needs to happen
because otherwise the video is seen as irrelevant.
‘I was gonna pay my child support’ –
Because I Got High.

15. Link between music and visuals.

16. There is rain in the track at the In many videos, including In Da
beginning and final part of Stan, and Club (above), Ignition and
this is matched in the video by Superbass, the bouncing and
showing pouring rain. Here, the dancing is edited to fit in with the
music/visuals link, as well as the time of the beat. In these
diegetic rain, are used to represent instances, this makes it appear
the stormy time the that the people are actually
protagonist, Stan, is going through. listening to it in the video.

17. Close ups and motifs.

18. There are many, many close ups in hip hop videos. These are useful for
establishing the artist, because constantly referring to their face s makes
them memorable to the viewer. They also establish the ‘power’ or
importance of the artist, because they take up a lot of the frame.

19. In hip hop, it is status
quo for artists to work
together and promote
each others work (eg. G
Unit). Dr. Dre helped
launch Eminem’s
career, so he features in
many of Eminem’s
The Real Slim Shady My Name Is… videos.
My Name Is… The Real Slim Shady. Some artists have
running themes
throughout their
songs, which are
reflected in their videos.
Eminem’s songs have a
running theme of
mental health, so he
reflects it in his videos.

20. References to looking/voyeurism.

21. Looking through a TV
in these cases (It
Wasn’t Me/Because I
Got High) shows the
artist to have the
‘star image’ because
they are on the TV
(Afroman is in the
van). In today’s Looking through the TV
culture, being on TV in Stan fits the narrative
makes you of the song, to show
supposedly famous. ‘Stan’ hero-worshipping
Eminem.
Eminem watching 50 Cent in In Da
Club can be seen as (surprisingly)
meaningful. It could give the
message that somebody is always
watching; that there is no privacy
any more.

22. Voyeurism is used extensively in hip hop videos, because the general
audience for hip hop is male, so applying the Male Gaze theory to videos
ensures they keep viewers and attract new people into their audience.

23. Showing off
her bra and
cleavage.
The men are
looking at her
Displaying because of
her legs. her
appearance, s
upposedly
with desire.
Nicki Minaj uses the male gaze to make her seem desirable and
attractive, to appeal to a male audience, as the song itself appeals to a
more female audience.

24. Intertextuality.

25. Jay and Silent Bob in Jay and Silent Bob in Jay and Silent Bob’s
Afroman’s Because I Got Dogma. original appearance
High. in Clerks.
For lesser known artists, such as Afroman and (at the time) 50
Cent, intertextuality is used to give the artist some reputation
and to attract fans of these things to their music.
Eminem in 50 Cent’s In Da
Club. In 2003, when the
song came out, 50 Cent
was relatively unknown in
mainstream music.

26. Eminem in Just Lose It Michael Jackson in Billie Jean
Michael Jackson isn’t
wearing the same outfit as
Eminem here, but
Eminem’s outfit instantly
signifies Michael
Jackson, as he has
recreated Michael
Jackson’s most famous
outfits.
Intertextuality can
also be used by more
established artists to
create humour. It is
often used to parody,
something Eminem
achieves in both
“The Shady Bunch” The Brady Bunch. lyrics and video.
From My Name Is.

27. • Hip hop videos generally promote the
artist, not the song.
• The focus of the video is generally to amplify
the status/reputation/wealth of the artist.
• They are generally set in clubs or other social
gatherings.
• Men dominate, whilst women dance
irrelevantly and are treated as objects.
• Intertextuality is used a lot.