Conventions of Hip-HopGOODWIN’S CONVENTIONS

Goodwin’s theory analysis: 1. Demonstrates genre characteristics 2. Relationship between lyrics and visuals 3. Relationship between music and visuals 4. Demands of the record label 5. Reference to ‘notion of looking’ 6. Intertextual reference

Kanye West: Touch the sky

1. Includes ‘glamorous’ girls wearing revealing clothing, involves Kanye West seen to be signing and dancing to the track, and the singer is seen to be the main focus of the footage as the track revolves around his character.

2. The use of the lyrics ‘touch the sky’ can be linked into the visuals as the footage is of Kanye West attempting rocket flight, hence the notion of ‘touching the sky’. Another example is ‘top of the world baby’ (1 min 20 secs) in which West is seen looking down upon the world from the cliff edge.

4. Constant reference and focus on the artist throughout. 5. Not particularly, although the ‘main’ girl in the footage is

wearing short shorts and an unbuttoned shirt. Also, at 3mins 20secs, she runs over to West and is seen kissing him; although this isn’t anything ‘OTT’ this is the only real evidence I could find to comply with the theory.

6. In this video, Kanye plays 'Evel Kanyevel',

a parody of stuntman Evel Kenievel. Donning the trademark American red, white and blue jumpsuit and flying in the 'death rocket,' Kanye is making an obvious reference to Kenievel.

Carly Rae Jepsen: Call me maybe

1. Alot of focus on the artist/band, Carly Rae Jepsen dancing. 2. ‘Call me maybe’ is the song title and the ending scene of the

footage is ironic as it is the male character asking one of the male band members to call him, despite Carly Rae Jepsen referencing for him to call her throughout the video.

4. Close-ups of Jepsens face and also the whole band playing in the garage throughout the video.

5. Although not female, there is a constant reference towards the male in a sexual light as he walks around with no shirt on. Also, from 1min 12secs, Jepsen is seen suggestively washing a car in order to grab the mans attention by attempting poses that would catch his eye.

6. I couldn’t find any intertextual reference within the song but, an example of this song as a reference in other videos can be found, since its release, the song has inspired many lip dubs, parodies and covers on the video sharing site YouTube.

Jay-Z: 99 Problems

1. Focus on the artist, a dance routine (from the women) 2. ‘but the bitch aint one’ (5 seconds into the video) appears

a picture of a female singer, this could be reference to Jay-Z’s wife, Beyonce, who is of course a female singer. In addition, at 1min 11secs, ‘plus I got a few dollars’, a dollar sign necklace/chain appears on screen.

4.Close-ups on Jay-Z and he is seen as the ‘main character’ in the video.

5. From 1min 58secs, and sometimes onwards, 3 girls wearing just underwear and a bra are on screen ‘dancing’ and gyrating.

6. Similar to an old action gangster movie, by the way in which it is layed out, the black and white theme also by the story lines typical gangster action sequence especially when he gets shot at the end.

Gotye: Somebody that I used to know

1.Attention on the artist, but overall this video is unusual as it doesn’t really comply with the genre characteristics.

2. There is no link at all between the lyrics and the visuals. 4.The whole video is base round the two singers and so

either, if not both, of them are within every clip of the video. 5. From 0secs to 20secs, there is a sliding camera upwards

showing the side part of the artists body to reveal he is wearing nothing, however this is not really suggestive in a sexual sense as no crude body parts are on display.

6. The painting used in the video's background is based on a 1980s artwork created by Gotye's father, Frank de Backer.

Busted: Year 3000

1. Focus on the band. 2. ‘Stood there was my neighbour called Peter’ (28secs),

there is a boy stood in the backyard with the ‘time machine’. 4. The storyline of the video is heavily linked to the band, and

there are many close-up shots of the band members. 5. Not really, although at 1min 8secs, the lyrics ‘triple

breasted women’ are heard and stood there are 3 girls, however there is no suggestive actions and no body parts showing.

6. There are a lot of intertextual references in Year 3000, most notably is a reference to Back To The Future, with a time machine.

Eminem: Just lose it

1. Focus on the artist, dance routines, women dancers. 2. ‘the dance floor’ (18secs), Eminem starts to dance and at the

lyrics ‘aright stop’ (23secs) he is seen showing a stop signal with his hand.

4. A lot of close-ups and shots of the artist. 5. 2mins 55secs + 3mins 23secs, Eminem dancing with women

wearing short skirts and revealing shirts. 6. 2mins 28secs, ‘everything looks like its 8’mile now’ is reference to

the film ‘8mile’ in which Eminem stars. Plus, there is constant reference to Michael Jackson throughout the visuals, most notably at 3mins 34secs when his nose falls off, mocking the fat that he had plastic surgery. And also at 3mins 55secs, in which he is sat on a bed surrounded by kids, mocking him for the allegations that he was a paedophile.

CoNcLuSiOn

In conclusion, pretty much all of the videos I have looked at (other than Gotye) complies with Andrew Goodwin’s theories of conventions of hip-hop.

I would agree with Goodwin’s conventions for a hip-hop video and it can be seen in most hip-hop videos we tend to watch.

However, examples such as Gotye’s track ‘somebody that I use to know’ are seen to conflict with these conventions, although, this is arguably due to the unique nature of such a video.