Conventions of hip:hop

Generic Conventions

Genre: Hip Hop/RapDrake Jay Z Kanye West Nicki Minaj

Hip Hop/Rap Music VideosThere are many low angle shots in hip hop/rap music videos so as to exert the artists power over their audience, a typical convention of a hip hop/rap music video. This low angle means that the artist is looking down on their audience, lifting their sense of importance.

The clothes worn in most hip hop/rap videos are typically flashy, bling, and obvious about money. A good example of how great power is shown in a music video is in the bottom right hand corner with the screenshot of ‘Power’ by Kanye West. The title is rather literal and shows Kanye being bowed down to by two women whilst he is up on a pedestal.

Typical conventions of genre

Gold chains to show wealth, fast, flashy cars to show money and masculinity.

Many hip hop/rap music videos and lyrics are associated with women and the dominance that the artist has over them as shown in this screenshot of ‘Pimp’ by Snoop Dog.

Hip Hop music originated from the ghettos in New York, so a stereotypical convention of a hip hop song/video is that the artist will be black and use words such as ‘n*****’ showing deviance.

Artists RepresentationMost artists within the the Hip Hop/rap genre are represented as having money, and committing somewhat deviant behaviour. The artists are often presented as being sexual towards women in their videos, with most Hip Hop rap artists being male, there are however some female artists within this genre.

Often hip hop and rap artists will come out with merchandise for fans to purchase so as to keep them interested and following the artist’s trends. A good example of this is Kanye West with his ‘Yeezy line.’

Sub genres• There is a whole list of sub genre’s that have derived

from hip hop music such as contemporary R&B, grime, pop rap and many others.

• A good example of a successful sub genre is contemporary R&B as many of the songs I have included in my mood video and my other research tasks have been categorised as hip hop/R&B.

Contemporary R&B (Sub Genre)• Contemporary R&B includes elements of traditional

rythmn and blues, soul, funk, pop, hip hop and dance.• Hip Hop/R&B has become a very popular genre in it’s

own right.• There are many famous examples of very successful

R&B artists as a result of the hip hop genre e.g. In 2001, Alicia Keys released "Fallin" as her debut single. It peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, Mainstream Top 40 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. It won three Grammy Awards in 2002, including Song of the Year, Best R&B Song, and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

Grime (Sub Genre)• Grime emerged in London in the early 2000s. Popular

artists include: Wiley, Dizzee Rascal, Ghetts, Kano, Lethal Bizzle and Skepta.• Grime is similar to Hip Hop in many ways such as the

way the video’s portray a certain message and lifestyle.• It is noted that a common theme associated with

grime music videos is that they show the artist ‘moving up in the world, such as the Hip Hop song by Drake ‘Started from the bottom.’