For our A2 media project we have chosen to do a Music Video but before we do this we have to do some research about institutions to find out what label would be right for us and what genre we would like to use. For this I have chosen 3 major music institutions and 1 independent institution.
Strange Music:
Strange Music, Inc. is an American independent record label specializing in hip hop music. It was founded by Tech N9ne who is the music labels biggest artist and Travis O'Guin in 1999.It is currently distributed through Fontana Distribution. Last year in 2014 Strange Music sold 114,005 albums last year from "Tech N9ne- Strangeulation", "¡Mayday! x Murs- ¡MursDay!", "Ces Cru- Codename: Ego Stripper" and finally" Rittz - Next To Nothing", Tech n9ne making most those sales as his album so 78,000 copies.
Top Artist:
Tech N9ne is the brand's biggest stars and a founder of the label and has released 15 studio Albums with 1 more 'Strangeulation Voll. ll" to be released later this year. Tech N9ne has made multiple songs challenging the government and exploring his true beliefs and you see this in particular with the song "Aw Yeah? (interVENTion)" and in this song the first lyrics are "Question for the the maker…and it's…aw yeah? This the way it's supposed to be huh? Alright " then shortly followed by "If you up there Upstairs, This is Nina tellin' you to listen, The vision I'm givin' everyday, Life is dumpin' on us like a pigeon" telling us his beliefs of religion that he wishes to make a change in society and that if there is a god help him to make change society for a good and not for destruction. "Yellin' this to my superior, Degrading of love is inferior,Upon this earth a lot of people jerked around about 300,000 to Syria Are you serious?" This quote challenges the government as he is talking about the events going on in Syria and showing that the government are just throwing lives away.
Analysis of Video:
In this music video Tech N9ne is the only person in the video and and as he raps is consistently moving his arms to match to his words furthering his message through body language.The Camera at the beginning of the Video is a close up of the rappers face looking at it from the side with a flickering light on his face which you learn later on are candles. Then you see a long shot of him with White Make up on his face with hundreds of copies of himself in the background used possibly as an establishing shot to express his view that society wants a change and the make up on his face has one key feature which is a Cross on his nose hinting the religious theme this song his based around. The editing is very fast pace cutting to a load of different angels matching the pace of his rapping and could help emphasize how he feels about his material. The setting is mostly in a empty factory that looks like its been abandoned for years possibly representing the unemployment in the country. The Music in the background is a combination of modern day hip hop as well as opera possibly 19th or 18th century which could represent music older n times which were much more religious would listen to say at a theater or church which matches the theme of the song as well as introducing his style with the hip hop beat. At the end of the music video the music cuts and he just shouts out " And I ain't even got around to askin' you the question God, What about my, mama!?" and this stands out as he shouts this with no music in the background so doing this makes it go straight to you the viewer so showing he misses his mother and wishes she was still there.
"The majority of teens (66%) surveyed 10 said they had not seen any programming on TV before 9pm in the previous 12 months that had made them uncomfortable or they had found offensive11"
this was taken from " http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/t mm earch/ofcom-for-parents/prewatershed-tv-programming.pdf " and this states how teenagers find certain aspects of music videos offensive and the reason i am referencing this part to this music video is because this song talks hugely of religion and the goverment but not in a positive aspect and America still being a hugely religious country loads of families grow up around religion so they might find remarks that Tech N9ne references to offensive.
"The level of concern regarding music videos was higher among parents aged 35-44, female parents, parents whose eldest child is aged 10-14,".
"The majority of teens (66%) surveyed 10 said they had not seen any programming on TV before 9pm in the previous 12 months that had made them uncomfortable or they had found offensive11"
this was taken from " http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/t mm earch/ofcom-for-parents/prewatershed-tv-programming.pdf " and this states how teenagers find certain aspects of music videos offensive and the reason i am referencing this part to this music video is because this song talks hugely of religion and the goverment but not in a positive aspect and America still being a hugely religious country loads of families grow up around religion so they might find remarks that Tech N9ne references to offensive.
"The level of concern regarding music videos was higher among parents aged 35-44, female parents, parents whose eldest child is aged 10-14,".
Shady Records:
Shady Records is an American record label which was founded in 1999 by the rapper Eminem and his manager Paul Rosenberg after the release of Eminem's second Studio album "The Slim Shady LP" as it was hugely successful selling around 18,000,000 copies worldwide and getting a multitude of Platinum certifications. After being signed for 3 years with Aftermath Entertainment under Dr dre and now despite having his own record label is still signed with Aftermath for now 15 years.
Analysis Of Video:
Video starts off with a dual shot of nurses not paying attention to their jobs then a close up to the dwarf nurse just chucking the medicine without looking showing she doesn't care about what happens to the patients then a mid long shot of a room full of people in normal cloths but acting strangely including the rapper himself in a Patient's robe.Multiple shots afterwards mostly all focusing on Eminem with strange things happening include a panning shot of him running in a superhero costume. Often low angle shots looking at Eminem as he raps the lyrics "real slim shady" This could imply a viewpoint of personal self as in you should be the real you and this is emphasized in this by having multiple men around him who look identical with him with the same bleached hair and white top and jeans combo but them standing around him and the real "Slim Shady" square in the middle. Also the lyrics "My bum is on your lips, my bum is on your lips
And if I'm lucky, you might just give it a little kiss"
This image above could suggest relates to the lyric raps at that moment as you can clearly see from a low angle point of view a large prosthetic bum exposed by a massive hole in the lycra suit. With the bright colors combined with the superhero style of the costume could be used to juxtaposed his lyrics and contents making it ironic as he is not a superhero here to save the day he is just a man rapping get his point across. The lyrics above the image suggests that Eminem is tired of fed up of people trying to be like him and Brown nose him through imitation of his style and persona. This could suggest that Eminem feels that everyone is unique is their own different way and you shouldn't try to take someone else's uniqueness away from them and focus on what makes you authentic. Often when you see him rapping in the video the camera normally focuses on his face in a form of close up or like a zoom and the lighting is normally very strong highlighting on him specifically.
Aftermath Entertainment:
Aftermath Entertainment is an American record label which was founded by rapper and producer dr.dre in 1996. It operates as a subsidiary of, and is distributed through, Universal Music Group's Interscope Records. The Record labels current acts include such artists like Dr. Dre, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, and Jon Connor with former acts including 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes,Game, Raekwon, Eve, Rakim and many others.
This video has the rappers ( Eminem, 50 Cent, Cashis, Lloyd Banks) all in prison uniforms being transported to other prisons possibly used to mock societies views on rap on how it causes people to commit crimes because of the music which you can also link to ICE CUBE's song "Gangsta rap made me do it".
Doggystyle Records:
Doggy Style Records formerly known as Dogghouse Records, is an American record label founded by Rapper Snoop Dogg in 1995. It is named after Snoop's 1993 debut album, Doggystyle which was the Rappers debut studio album released by Death Row Records.
