REPRESENTATIONS OF SOCIAL

GROUPS WITHIN MY MUSIC

MAGAZINE ‘SUPERIOR’

The first part of the slideshow is an insight into the dominant social group belonging to the Hiphop scene of music and culture and how I used or challenged dominant ideas following this particular social group. The second part of the slideshow displays Hiphop artists as a social group and how I used or challenged conventions and stereotypes to represent their social group.

Dominant representation of social groups

belonging to the Hiphop genre;

The Hiphop genre can be looked at as a sub culture which includes conventions of Hiphop dancing, graffiti styles, dedication to rap and fashion items such as high top trainers, and the images below are features which follow and contribute to the social groups. Features such as these are what individuals belonging to the Hiphop genre or who consume the Hiphop genre are typically associated with…

I did not include any aspects of dance and graffiti in my music magazine as I wanted to challenge stereotypical features which are assumed to come with the Hiphop genre and I found that these two aspects were not normally represented in typical Hiphop magazines. I found that rappers and fashion trends such as high top trainers played a significant part in typical Hiphop magazines instead as you can see to the right. The artist 50 Cent, a famous rapper, stands as the main image on this example of VIBE magazine’s front cover.

Therefore I followed aspects of rappers and fashion trends which play a significant part in the dominant representation of social groups typically associated with Hiphop. I included a feature in my contents page in my magazine about ‘High tops’ to represent conventions of fashion trends which this social group follow. My page reference read: 36 HIGH TOPS HITTING THE HIGH STREETSean Hunter asks why everything associated with Hiphop has to become mainstream. I also included a representation of rap through the article featuring on my double page spread; in the interview my artist says: I enjoyed being able to sing more than I ever have whilst performing and recording with them. Most of my songs have a larger rap approach than a singing approach so when collaborating with these guys, gave me a chance to actually sing more than I did rap.

Black people as the dominant representation of

social groups within the Hiphop genre;

Hiphop originated from African/Caribbean-American communities in 1970’s therefore is a fairly recent development in music history. Even though it is said that other ethnic backgrounds have contributed to the cultural development and movement of the genre, the roots of Hiphop suggest individuals belonging to social groups within the genre, are still often represented as being African or from the Caribbean. Social groups including the Hiphop dancers, the graffiti artists, the individuals following Hiphop trends of fashion, consumers of the music or the artists themselves are typically represented as being black therefore with this dominant representation of this social group surrounding the genre, I felt it was essential to represent this in my music magazine. I supported this dominant idea through the use of duo ‘CLONED’ to ensure I portrayed a realistic version of artists associated with Hiphop however challenged this by using my artist, Tyra, who is lighter in her skin to suggest that my magazine was becoming influenced by other ethnic backgrounds.

Swearing as a dominant representation of

social groups within the Hiphop genre;Swearing; On the left is an article taken from Hiphop music magazine XXL; on the fifth and 6th paragraph the artist being interviewed has incorporated swearing in his language. From this, I incorporated swearing in my article to include an aspect which social groups belonging to the Hiphop genre use. In my article, Tyra says, “You’re never gonna fully escape from your haters, so I say f**k the haters!” Below are two images of two rappers belonging to the social groups of Hiphop who are swearing using body language. I did not want to incorporate this on my artist as I felt it inappropriate for the style and character I was giving off in the images of her. Instead I challenged this representation of Hiphop social groups, by incorporating positive images, for example the image of my artist, Tyra. Swearing as a feature of representation connotes abuse and threatening behaviour and I wanted to break this negative representation included in social groups belonging to the Hiphop genre.

The following slides are an insight into the social groups of artists belonging to the Hiphop music genre, black male or female rappers/singers which follow certain conventions in music magazines. They all share similarities which unites them as a social group and through-out the construction of my music magazine, I used these artists as inspiration to not only appeal to social groups within the Hiphop genre but to allow my own artists to seem like they fit in with the social group existing artists in the industry belong to.

Social group of black male artists following

the Hiphop scene of music & culture;

The social group of black male rappers;

The previous images, are photographs of well known artists belonging to the Hiphop music genre. When thinking of social groups belonging to the Hiphop scene, popular male black rappers are the majority. Producing a Hiphop magazine and wanting to use a female artist as the main focus and USP, I needed to think outside the box and develop and challenge conventions in order to represent a different social group other than black males. Even so, it was hard to escape from the dominant stand black male rappers have in the Hiphop genre so I incorporated aspects of this particular social group in my magazine.

Supporting the representation of the social group of black

male rappers through my main image on front cover;

Direct mode of address- The example to the right is of famous Hiphop artist, 50 CENT and I was inspired by his usage of direct mode of address therefore I used it in my image for my front cover to convey aspects of power and dominance, ultimately representing this particular social group.

Musicality- Following conventions of social groups which keep the music of Hiphop alive. I was inspired by Hiphop music magazine THE SOURCE and this issue’s front cover image of a Hiphop artist wearing headphones. As I saw that this social group also communicates aspects of musicality I wanted to do so too to follow conventions and successfully represent the social group.

Colour schemes which are followed by

the social group of black male rappers;

Through previous research, I discovered that colours such as red and black are conventional within the Hiphop genre. As seen in the examples to the left, black male rappers follow this colour scheme; red and black connote danger and power and even mystery therefore this particular social group belonging to the Hiphop genre live up to these connotations by wearing clothes with the same colours.

I represented the colour scheme familiar with this particular social group belonging to the Hiphop genre, through the use of the red text on my double page spread, used on the letter ‘T’ of ‘Tyra’ to allow her to directly represent them and on the question font to allow the magazine itself to represent this also.

I represented the black colour scheme which the social group follows through the contents page’s background, the black leggings the main artist, Tyra, is wearing and the black tops the duo ‘CLONED’ are wearing.

Supporting colour scheme’s within the

social group;

Challenging the social group of black male rappers

in my magazine through facial expressions;

The first image is of Hiphop male rapper Lil Wayne who belongs to the social group of black male rappers in the Hiphop genre. A convention which follows these individuals is their serious facial expressions when posing for a photo. The second image is of Jay Z who is also holding a serious expression. I have contrasted both of the image against the two images which I have created for my double page spread of my main artist Tyra. I have challenged this convention by creating two images which hold two different facial expressions; one is a positive expression as the artist is smiling whilst also looking cheeky as she is posed with her tongue out and the other is another fun one as she is pouting using her lips. I wanted to challenge serious facial expressions which artists belonging to this social group tend to use as I wanted to create a positive and fun character for my artist to differentiate her to typical male rappers belonging to the same genre.

A second social group within the Hiphop

scene of music and culture;

The social group of black female artists;

Even though the majority of artists belonging to the Hiphop genre who stand as a social group for the representation of the scene and culture of the genre, are male, females still play a significant part. As I used a female artist in my music magazine, I needed to not only represent a male social group but a female one too, to appeal to both genders of my target audience and to represent both genders belonging to the social group of Hiphop.

Supporting the representation of the social group

of female black artists in the style choices of the

main image on my double page spread;

For the main image on my double page spread of my artist, Tyra, I followed conventions of tribal print by incorporating the design in the choice of leggings she appears in. I was inspired by Hiphop artist Rihanna, who belongs to the social group of black female artists. I thought the style of Rihanna in this image as different, quirky but upcoming in the fashion industry and wanted to represent an aspect of hers to represent this type of social group.

Through the use of contrasting colours of yellow black and white, on my image of my artist I wanted to convey a quirky and different look similar to the image to the left of Hiphop artist, Nicki Minaj who belongs to the social group of black female artists.

Supporting the representation of the social

group of female black artists in the

creation of the duo ‘CLONED’; in my

magazine;

I created a Hiphop duo ‘CLONED’ which appeared on the contents page in my magazine. I was inspired by the duo group in the image to the right who belong to the social group of female black artists. I was inspired by their similar looks and styles and the sexual connotations which were put forward in this image. I used black females for my own version of a duo and I reinforced the name of the duo through their similar facial expressions and challenged the meaning of their name through contrasting body language. I followed the sexual tones which were put forward in the image of the existing through the short black tops worn by my duo.