Recent update

Subscribe to RSS feed

Abstract

December 11th, 2009 by khaleddn

Abstract

Hip hop music videos are known for mainly one thing, seduction. The way they got that reputation is by repeatedly incorporating sexual images of, perfection personified women in their clips and portraying them as easily obtainable. The depiction of how people live, in music videos, is unrealistic for most people, yet is very intriguing to become a part of. The sex and violence (boys see it as resilience) is attractive for males. The perfection and confidence played by the women in the clips, is admired by females. The luxurious, rich and popular lifestyle is attractive for all audiences.

From the research I’ve looked at, I found that hip hop music videos, as people used to know it, shifted entirely to a whole new focus. Yet, in the past decade, it has not changed at all and the sex in the video clips are increasing. I am interested in exploring if we can somehow anticipate a large shift in the face of hip hop cinematography, in the future. I would like to see if there will be a change, what could cause it and what the most accurate route can be to discovering this.

One of the methodologies I will be using is a quantitative discourse analysis for music video commentary. The other methodology I will be using is an in depth analysis of music videos. Finally, I will briefly do a short historical analysis of change in music videos over time. All the studies I will complete, will be involving music videos of one consistent hip hop artist.

Youth Reactions to Hip Hop Music Video

Music videos are one of the most influential forms of entertainment effecting youth, today. They are extremely popular, contain seductive elements, the trendy thing to follow and because of that they can influence children’s self esteem & image, behavior, language, fashion sense, lifestyle and most importantly, future. This is all fine, children are easily influenced by many things and people. The problem is that, hip hop is promoting unfavorable behavior and ideologies, which children interpret and allow these aspects to lead their lives. This results in various ways and takes different forms, from acceptance of dating violence to working towards impersonating these artists and more.

The hip hop music industry does not take responsibility for these results and more-so support aspiring young hip hop artists to follow in their footsteps. This means that these actions are in fact normal and should be considered as such, by parents and the rest of the general public who do not associate with the hip hop culture. This attitude toward the shocking level of sexuality and violence in music videos is what helped the maintain the explicit face of hip hop and allowed it to boom.

If there were a strong movement toward changing the values in music videos of hip hop, there is hope in a shift happening. Yet, from the research I mention in my literature review, it states that any action taken by parents and authorities are often unwritten or applied subjectively (Jones, 1997, p 346). The last shift that has happened in hip hop music videos was one which benefited the industry by appealing to wider audiences and becoming the most popular genre today. They did not shift for ethical reasons. This makes me wonder, if hip hop’s identity will ever change from being sexually focused to positively focused messages to the world.

This mentality, the hip hop industry, possesses is selfish as is concentrated on materialistic benefits. Hip hop artists are looked up to by children and admired. They are inspirations and have every opportunity to put a positive encouraging message out there. They could create cause related marketing if they wish to, to help reduce violence and negativity. Instead, many of them are promoting these behaviors as though they are positive. Children are not only starting to follow in their footsteps but they are having difficulty distinguishing between what is wrong, what is right and what the norm is.

Clearly, there is a serious problem with hip hop music videos. Artists are not considering that children begin to admire them from a very early age, especially with the easy access of them via internet. This is becoming a problem with how children are raised and with hip hop’s reputation and what it has come to; if the industry thinks about the negatives that effect them. Will we be able to determine if and when there is a shift in the hip hop image? Which generation will lead this shift?

Posted in Uncategorized | | 0 Comments

Leave a reply


 

Bad Behavior has blocked 36 access attempts in the last 7 days.