The music video I will be analysing is ‘DJ Khaled’s’ song ‘Im On One’, this song is a collaboration with 3 other well know rap stars; Lil wayne, Drake and Rick Ross. This video can be identified as a rap song due to the style of the song and also the artists. ‘Dj Khaled’ is signed to the cash money label along with lil wayne and rick ross, but drake is part of young money label which is affiliated with the cash money label. The music video was directed by Gil Green a well-known director in the rap industry producing videos for Birdman, Soulja boy, Akon and many more. The video was released earlier this year in the middle of July which made it a summer anthem which it received a platinum plaque and peaked 1 in the us billboard rap charts. The music video was distributed through tv i.e. MTV and also online through youtube which it has reached 8 million views for. The music is mainly a performance based video with the artist’s performing and rapping to the song. This music video would be aimed to the mainstream rap market as they have used lots of well-known rap artists, but would mainly be a male targeted audience. The music video starts off with a low angle shot of a women, which may connote that she is of a high status this subverts what we would expect to see from a rap video as they normally objectify women, but the camera cuts to the next scene of a mid-shot of the main artist with the women in the background which suggest that actually she is insignificant to the artist and of a lesser value which then adheres the normal stereotypical representation of a women in a rap video.
We see the normal conventions that you would expect to see from a rap music video which would be the use of; Bling- gold chains, big watches, women, alcohol, expensive cars – rolls Royce, smoking these all reinforce the stereotypical representation of a rap song which have all become the norm. The message we infer from the video is that the artist are powerful and run the city. We know this through the use of mis en scene, in the scene of the balcony shot as one of the artists ‘Dj Khaled’ are looking over the whole city and looking down upon the city showing the artist superiority and status of their new found fame that they have reached the top of the city showing their strength and power, also there is shots of them in the streets which they may be keeping true to their origins which shows they still have respect from where they grew up from. We see lots of birds eye views of the city which connotes that the city (Miami) is theirs and they run the city.
There is clearly a relationship between the lyrics and the video as when drake raps about the city we see fast paced camera shots of the city at night time, also the use of profanities is a typical convention used in rap music, there is lots of use of low angle shots looking up at the artists to show that they are superior beyond everyone else, we look up to them, rick ross has developed an iconography that in every song he has a certain way of saying “boss” which the audience recognises with the artist. We see the stereotypical gender stereotypes that men are engaged in more aggressive behaviour with the use of profanities, there movements and also the use of bling.
This song is clearly a mainstream song we know is as they adhere all the typical conventions we expect to see from a rap video, also they follow the iconography and style of the rap genre with expensive cars, women, bling ect. The song is aimed at the mass market and the use of 4 major artists collaborating will have a bigger consumer base, the song has been on all the major music channels and getting millions of views on YouTube. Overall the music video adheres to all the stereotypical representation of a rap genre, and is a successful video in attracting the mainstream audience with a collaboration of artists.
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