Codes and Conventions of the Hip Hop genre...
by ben constable
1. Setting
1.1. The setting for Hip Hop music videos is usually Urban as the artists live a lavish lifestyle surrounded by clubs and fast cars.
1.2. Although, we have started to see a development in location as Hip Hop has started to creep into other modern industries. This is shown through the real "Whole Lotta Lovin'" video as the production is becoming more advanced and artistic.
2. Voyeurism
2.1. Voyeurism is extremely prevalent in Hip Hop videos and could be considered to be one of its main controversial conventions. Both attractive and sexually provocative girls wearing little clothing are a common aspect of Hip Hop music videos - usually for a male artist to show off his lifestyle to an envious male audience. This ties in with their audience as their main demographic (young adult heterosexual males) can't help but be intrigued by videos with this in.
2.2. Even in Hip Hop videos with female artists they still wear a sexually revealing outfit which corresponds with the lyrics. Nicki Manaj is a prime example of this with her music video for 'Anoconda'. It can be said that the main reason behind this videos success is its extraordinary sexual controversy which appeals to a wide deomgraphic of hetrosexual males.
2.2.1. Audience
2.2.2. Nicki Manaj - Anoconda
3. Editing
3.1. The editing is usually fast-paced with slick effects. Due to the sheer growth of Hip Hop, the post-production value of music videos has grown too as artists now make short films to complement their music. An example of this is Kanye West's short film for 'Runaway.'
3.2. Kanye West - Runaway
4. Intertextuality
4.1. Intertextuality within the Hip Hop genre refers to the influences taken from elsewhere which are all bounded together within the product. Examples of this can be seen in Kanye West's work as for his song 'Power' it is evident that he is influenced by greek deity. This works well with his elaborative style and dumbfounding amount of confidence.
4.1.1. Kanye West - Power
5. Mise-en-scene
5.1. The lighting is usually low-key with a rowdy party-like atmosphere. If the lighting is brighter at all this will only be the featured artist in order to give them prevalence.
5.1.1. The stereotypical mise-en-scene of the Hip Hop genre is: fast cars, under-dressed women, lavish locations, masculine clothing and drugs. The clothing is usually very fashionable and expensive, it never used to be as significant now but with artists like Kanye West creating a fashion label, it has started to become more prevalent.
6. Cinematography
6.1. The cinematography is usually close and intimate. This correspond with the personal lyrics spoken often in rap lyrics, so the cinematography makes us feel engaged with the artists. However, recently, a lot of artists have began to create a narrative in their music videos. American Hip Hop artist J Cole does this extremely well through creating intriguing narratives of which he only features slightly if not at all. This approach is successful as it makes the song memorable due to it being so unique to others.
6.1.1. The conventions have certainly changed with how exposed we are to Hip Hop. From only appealing to a minority, Hip Hop has grown tremendously and now some of its best artists are up there with the most influential people in our lifetime.
6.2. J Cole - She Knows (click the arrow to see)
6.2.1. Narrative