50 Grand – Devlin

By: Fabien Thresher

Context

• James Devlin is an English Rapper and Grime artist from Essex

• James Devlin is part of a grime collective with several other artists creating the ‘O.T Crew’

• Grime is a genre of music that emerged in England in the early 2000’s it is a development of drum and bass and UK garage combined with rap

Conventions • The common conventions of grime would be someone simply

rapping to a still camera• However grime artists overtime have added a narrative aspect

within their music video, making some grime music videos similar to some rap/hip hop music video.

• Shot in a estate area(poorish area) to show artist rising from nothing

• More expletives in the lyrics compared to other genres

Devlin Rapping in front of the camera as it follows him

3 men about to ‘jump’ someone

Performance/Narrative• This music video is a mixture of performance and concept.

Some parts of the music video we see Devlin and Skepta lipsyncing along to the lyrics of the song.

• There is a narrative in this music video as we see in the beginning of the music video someone showing off their gold to the less wealthy and in result they chase him down and rob him at the end of the music video

• The narrative and performance transitions back and forth seamlessly as if it is one shot

Guy being chased down and robbed for showing off his gold

Narrative scene transitions back to performance within a single shot

Characters from the narrative and artists appear in the same shot at the end after the they robbed the guy

Goodwin’s Theory • There are several elements relating to Goodwin’s theory.

There are several close ups of Devlin and Skepta during their rap scene. Closeups are a key element to sell the artist.

• I believe this music video is aimed at a male audience as the music video is based around a gangster and hustler lifestyle.

• Relationship between lyrics and visuals “50 grand for my chain” shows character biting on his gold chain