Afrika Shox Leftfield ft. Afrika Bambaattaa

Released6 September 1999

Directed byChris Cunningham

Genre Electronic/dance/hip-hop/noire

Leftfield

Leftfield were a British electronica band, producing music of a genre coined as progressive house, between 1989 and 2002. In the 1990’s they were described by Mixmag as; "the single most influential production team working in British dance music".

The term ‘Left field’ can be defined as ‘radical’ or ‘experimental’ and can also have political connotations.

Reinforcing the genreGoodwin’s Theory of music videos1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).

Goodwin’s Theory states that a successful music video will demonstrate genre characteristics within the visuals and aesthetics. Cunningham follows this convention closely in Afrika Shox.

At the beginning of the video, the audience is presented with the image of an approaching police car, which immediately indicates the electronic genre of the track. Flashing lights and sirens (above) have connotations with discos or raves, where this music genre is likely to be played. As well as this, the images of the break dancers in the underground car park (right), demonstrates genre characteristics in line with Goodwin’s theory. The choice of location, suggests the underground nature of the artist, helping to establish the audience for the music video.

Goodwin’s theory of music videos2. There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals.

Goodwin’s theory suggests that there should be a visual relationship with the lyrics in a music video. As the protagonist stumbles onto a barbed wire fence, the lyrics “Let’s get electrified” are heard. This technique greatly emphasises these lyrics and the meaning behind them; in which the electronic genre of the video is displayed. The image of the African man clinging to the fence has connotations with entrapment, which could suggest that the feelings of alienation that he feels within the city make him feel trapped or restricted within the alien culture. Furthermore, images of tall barbed wire fences give the impression of the protagonist feeling imprisoned. A tall barbed wire fence may be associated with prison or even a concentration camp, suggesting that the African man is being held captive within the busy city lifestyle.

Very much contrary to Goodwin’s Theory, Cunningham’s Afrika Shox video at times contradicts the audio, in which a dystopic representation of New York City is created. The low angle shots of The World Trade Centre, appear threatening, and so make the African character appear alienated within the culture he finds himself. This representation is created further, through cinematography, with conventions of film noir, such as black and white, giving the setting negative connotations.

Intertextuality

Vienna, as depicted in Carol Reed’s ‘The Third Man’.

Metropolis – 1927, Fritz Lang

Various intertextual references can be made between Cunningham’s video, and other texts. Most notably, a link can be identified between the dystopic representation of New York City and the image created of the city of Vienna, in ‘The Third Man’. Cunningham similarly attempts to make his lead character feel isolated, as Carol Reed does in ‘The Third Man’, by creating a sense of alienation amongst the inhabitants of the city, which is achieved using elements of film noir. Fritz Lang first pioneered the sort of dystopic city representation we see in Cunningham’s text, in the 1927 film, ‘Metropolis’. This city of the future was quite literally built around inequality.

3. There is a relationship between the music and the visuals.

6. There are intertextual references.

5. There is frequently reference to the notion of looking.

Cunningham ironically represents the notion of looking in Afrika Shox, with low angle shots of the white business man who is shown to look at the black man as if he is invisible, showing the insignificance of this inferior race within New York City society. Following this, tension is heightened as another New Yorker walks into his arm, which is held out vertically, into his path. As the protagonist’s arm falls and shatters on the ground, the audience are left shocked to be witnessing such an event. The action suggests that the inferior black man feels broken and crushed by the heartless, native ethnic group, who are portrayed as arrogant, with a sense of possessing great superiority over other’s they feel as lesser.

Some viewers may find this representation offensive. The fact that the white man is evidently living in his own self centred bubble and makes no acknowledgment of the pain and suffering he is causing the black man, could be said to make a very broad and misleading statement about race, while conforming to the common stereotype of the middle class, white New Yorker, as a careless, insensitive being, absent of any empathy.

This could, however, be reflective of the inequality felt by many minority groups living in NYC at the time this music video was released. The introduction of new policing tactics in 1994 to combat crime included the implementation of ‘Stop and Frisk’ searches – in which police have the power to search anybody they may be suspicious of. As these searches would typically take place in neighbourhoods of great poverty or ‘social disorganisation’ where there were higher crime levels, these minority ethnic communities felt as though they were victims of ‘racial profiling’ and targets of ‘racially disparate police’

ARTICLE - http://stopandfriskinfo.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2013/01/Fagan-and-Davies-%E2%80%93-Street-Stops-and-Broken-Windows1.pdf