Wednesday, 6 October 2010

Blog 6 - Video Analysis

C.R.E.A.M - Wu Tang Clan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjZRAvsZf1g

The genre of Wu Tang Clan video of C.R.E.A.M is East coast Hip-Hop and Rap. East Coast Hip Hop and Rap is occasionally referred to as New York rap due to its organs and development at block parties thrown in NYC during the 1970s. In contrast to the simplistic rhyme pattern and scheme utilized in old school Hip-Hop, East Coast Hip-Hop/Rap has been noted for its emphasis on lyrical dexterity. It has also been characterized by multi-syllabic rhymes, complex wordplay, a continuous free-flowing delivery and intricate metaphors. This video is a representation of what the song title C.R.E.A.M means which is Cash Rules Everything around me. The video represents this meaning through what we would stereotype what a gangster/rap life is about. One of these is how in the video drug dealing is making their money, this is shown by one of the guys in the group standing with a group of people who have come up to him, hands near each other, go away from him with the guy with a lot of money in his, giving off the impression that he just dealt them drugs. Another example that shows that money is the most important thing is when the whole group sitting around a table with big bags of money everywhere and champagne flowing. This could be appearing to the audience because it is showing that by being like the Wu Tang Clan or even being a drug dealer could mean that you have the high life. This also shows that drug dealing could mean the big time and is a way of a rappers/gangsters life. Another example of a gangster life apart from drugs is when there is a close up on the group in a car, driving fast away from the police with a black piece is clothing finding the guy face who is standing so he is above the car which then cuts to a mid shot of 'method man' shooting his fingers to the camera implying that guns link into how crime of drug dealer is how you get the money. This link to crime through drug dealing is also shown through the close up of 'Ghost Face' in handcuffs hang from the ceiling of a bus which then cuts to a group of people behind bars, this also links in with that put of the 'Handcuffed in a back of a bus, forty of us.'

Code of the Streets - Gang Starr

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT4jQld_FiE

Code of the Streets by Gang Starr is also about the hard ship of living a gangster life style and how you can get through that and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. A representative of this starts at the beginning of the video before the song even begins where there is dialogue of the group sitting on steps outside a town house talking about how they are being discriminated from getting a taxi to Brooklyn, where they live because there are gangs around there and they are being stereotype because they are black that because their not white and from Brooklyn they are criminals. Another Example of this is the other dialogue clips that have been added into the music video and song. These bits of dialogue are shown as close ups group shot of the group in the taxi's talking to the taxi drivers who are making excused lie 'No Gas,' ' Don't go to Brooklyn,' 'Show me the money first' and 'Its my lunch break' about driving them to where they want to go. This links in with the meaning of the song of how their is a street code that other people don't really seems to get or understand. Also like the Wu Tang's song 'C.R.E.A.M' Gang Starr's video represents the gangster life style of drug dealing and crime. The example of this in the video also co-inside with the lyrics of the song; For Example when the song goes 'It starts with the young ones doing crime for fun and if you ain't down, you'll get played out son so let's get a car, you, know, a fly whip get a dent, pull a screwdriver,' there is a couple of shots of teenager by a car going to steal it, showing the weapon that they will use which then finishes with a extreme close up of a screwdriver breaking into the car. This could relate to the audience because a part of the target audience are people who are from the East Coast- Brooklyn NYC so they can relate to the video because its probably what they know and how they grow up. This video also relates and appeals to the audience by how in the video when the street are shown there is rarely someone alone showing that through this lifestyle you are a union and the code of the street is being apart of something. A good example of this is at the end of the video where there is a long shot of the Gang Starr group walking down stairs to the sub-way altogether. This also shown that by being in a union of the code that they are apart of something but still discriminated, this is shown by the fact that they cant get a taxi but have to take the sub-way.

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