Summary

Michael Tibby

Genre Characteristics• From the research of hip hop songs ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’ and ‘OTIS’

conventions of hip hop music videos can clearly be extracted. For example both music videos feature the use of materialistic objects: expensive cars jewellery and other luxurious objects, in addition they both have some sort of performance element involved in the video. Another convention of hip hop music videos is the use of the female body and the voyeuristic treatment that is used, for example the music video ‘Work Out’ by J.Cole features various shots of women in bikinis and of women dancing at aparty. Similarly in

‘Holiday’ by Dizzee Rascal features the

same voyeuristic notion of looking at the women dancing

at a pool party.This notion of

looking is enjoyable for the target market

of this genre.

Relationship between lyrics and visuals• In ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’ and ‘OTIS’ the relationship between lyrics and

visuals is both amplifying and illustrative. This is portrayed through exaggerated actions on screen when performing, which seems to be a typical convention of most hip hop songs for example in ‘Work Out’ the relationship between lyrics and visuals is amplified and in ‘Holiday’ the relationship is amplified however not as frequent. Most hip hop songs therefore contain amplified relationships between lyrics and visuals.‘Work Out’ features various amplified shots of J.Cole whilst he’s performing i.e. when he says “Im here for one night how far can you go..” it cuts to a low angle shot of him gesturing the lyric ‘one night’.

• Likewise in ‘Holiday’ Dizzee Rascal does the same thing: “Don’t watch my passport photo, I know I look a bit loco”

Relationship between music and visuals• Generally in hip hop videos the relationship between music and visuals is

illustrative, amplifying or both. For example in ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’ the video is both illustrative and amplifying. In ‘Work Out’ J.Cole uses amplified actions when the corresponding lyric is said in order to obtain these actions medium shots are used to capture a significant proportion of the artists body and any gestures that may be used. This is typical with all hip hop music videos and in ‘Holiday’ although there aren’t many amplified actions a range of camera shots are used in order to capture the hand gestures and body movement being used, in this music video it helps the audience to get a feel for the pace and environment of the video.

Demands of the record label• According to Goodwin’s theory, in order to meet the demands of the

record label close up shots need to be used to introduce the artists in the song. Conventionally the main artist of the music video is shown first and in either a close up or medium close up. It introduces the artists’ role in the music video and their significance in order of appearance or distance from the camera. For example in ‘OTIS’ both Kanye West and Jay-Z appear on screen however because Jay-Z’s verse is first he appears closer to the screen but his significance is exactly the same to Kanye West’s. In ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’ Snoop Dogg has various close ups taken of him, he appears before Pharrell Williams to introduce his role and then Pharrell Williams’ role.

• In ‘Work Out’ a medium close up of J.Cole is taken which establishes his role and importance in the music video. In ‘Holiday’ a glimpse of Dizzee Rascal is shown before anyone else however not for long, after that various close ups of him are shown. This is so the audience know who is performing and to give focus to the subject

Voyeuristic treatment of the female body

• The hip hop genre is very typical when it comes to the notion of looking in a voyeuristic way. Mostly this is used when looking at women in a sexual way however occasionally the same is done for men. For example in ‘Holiday’ women are portrayed in an extremely voyeuristic way however some of the men in the video are topless, this could be a voyeuristic notion of looking on the other hand, it could just be the general theme of the video and the idea of being on holiday. In ‘Work Out’ the same voyeuristic treatment of women is used, this makes the video more enjoyable for the target audience.

Intertextual references • In the examples used there are no intertextual references which could be

typical of the whole genre itself. This could be due to the performance element of the genre and making the video solely to focus on the talent of the artist.