Jay-Z- Star Image

By Jamie Tilsley

Richard Dyer’s theory The theory of Richard Dyer is a construct that states pops stars are generated by the industry with the purpose of gaining fans and achieving a mass market interested in their music and purchase their songs. These celebs have more than just a music carer, being able to stay in the tabloids and public eye without even producing records.

Jay-Z• In this task I will be applying

Richard Dyer’s theory of the industry creating popular stars with the purpose of staying in the public eye and earning attention and money to the popular rapper Jay-Z, and seeing if he fits in with the pop star theory of Richard Dyer. This information gained from the task may possibly allow me to discover how to create my own pop star in the coursework tasks further down the line.

1. How Do you become a pop star?

-Clever management has ensured Jay-Z has remained relevant.

Jay-z has been subject to various news stories and has shown his relevance in pop culture for quite some time. Recently, he has been in the spotlight due to his famous wife, Beyoncé. Their relationship problems and details have been revealed to the public through the personal lyrics within her album “Lemonade”. This shows people are interested in his entertaining relationship with Beyoncé, rather than the music and rap career which got him famous. He has also been featured in news stories in the past for things such as confrontations with other rappers (Nas), Stories from his past- where he shot his brother in his youth, and the news of his new born baby girl.

2. Stars as constructsDyer stated that “ A star is an image, not a real person that is constructed out of a range of materials”.

Pop stars are portrayed as “real” and “relatable” people when they are actually created, have calculated moves to cause publicity and are constructed. Jay-Z, especially in rap has a unique selling point which is his voice. His voice comes with people trying to mimic it and make fun out of it. However, even though he is subject to these jokes, they keep him relevant and people find out about him through the jokes that are made.

3.Industry and audience • Often times in the media, the larger pop stars will refrain

from creating any experimental pieces and will mainly try to play to the fans tastes by producing a similar style of music they always have. For some artists, it is a matter of the industries getting them to change their music to cater to a mass market to get more people interested in their work. With Jay-Z, he has mainly stuck to his roots, getting the same producers in for songs. But he has been subject to getting his music out to a mass market, with features in songs such as: Suit and Tie by Justin Timberlake and Crazy in Love by Beyoncé. These songs are in the pop/R&B genre, which is much more popular than the rap genre and will get Jay more recognition. Also, Jay’s verses in these songs have much more toned down subject matter and lyrics, with the intent of the song being open to younger listeners and with the ability to have the songs played on the radio.

4.Ideology and Culture• This aspect of Dyer’s theory is in regards

to the pop star in question getting involved and giving their 2 cents about relevant subject matter that has already got the worlds attention. This is an easy way for the celebrity to get publicity and to be quoted on the current affairs as people care what they have to say. For example, with Jay-Z, he has gotten attention from the “black lives matter” movement which is in support of stopping violence against blacks and has already become a big subject matter. Jay-Z added his name in the black lives matter discussions by donating $1.5 million dollars to the movement. This action makes him become a part of the subject matter and he is talked about because of things other than his rapping career, which got him famous in the first place.

•Inside the heading of ideology and culture, Jay-Z can also be credited by starting his own clothing line “Rocawear”. This stem out into the world of fashion also makes Jay relevant, with a lot of his rap fans following suit and purchasing his merchandise. This is also a type of cross media convergence, introducing fans of fashion, who know little about rap, to the genre through his clothing line.

Character and Personality • The personality of Jay-Z has seemed to of evolved since his

career began as a rapper. Audiences got a small glimpse of his character and opinions through his lyrics in rap. However more recently, to offset his lack of records being made it seems, his personality has come out more in the media, due to stories about this home life and more personal information. In the beginning of Jay’s career, audiences were introduced to a rapper who had come from a poor family, portrayed in one of his early songs ‘Hard Knock Life’ which discussed some hardships the rapper had come from. This immediately added to the persona of the up and coming Jay-Z which people seemed drawn to, as his hardships made for interesting content in his raps. This persona has only grown since then and meant that he has become more and more relatable and enjoyable for audiences, keeping him relevant in the media.