Hip-Hop genre example

Hip-Hop is described as a culture and form of ground breaking music and self expression with elements that consisted of the elements of graffiti art, DJing, MCing, and breaking. Today Hip-Hop is considered to be dead in the mainstream because so-called mainstream Hip-Hop doesn't have the elements of hip-hop and have no meaning, however there are few artists that are extremely influencial in this genre such as Kanye West, 50 Cent and Notorious BIG.

The video I have picked to summarize this genre is Kanye West - Stronger. The camera angles use panning shots on the female characters, and switches to a hand held camera to show close ups and mid shots of Kanye himself to centre our attention on him. There is a lot of slow motion used to show power and images are usually placed over the top of other footage to show two things at once. Also other footage of government wars is cut in between the action. The editing is very quick and uses freezes, dissolve shots and establishing shots, the latter used to show the futuristic city. There is no other sound apart from the actual song and mise en scene shows the typical costume of sunglasses and baggy clothes with hood up on the lead singer, with soldiers in futuristic outfits on motorbikes. There are dark and harsh lights used to illuminate focus for the audience and women are typically in little clothing attracted to Kanye. These things show the typical futuristic conventions of a hip-hop video such as machines and a busy city, with a main theme of the power Kanye has as it fits in with the song.

The CD cover for this song is cartoon, with a cartoon bear version of Kanye leaving a planet/school, and the title of the album - Graduation, focusses on him leaving somewhere. The CD cover is bright and although dosen't fit in with the single, the use of cartoon is eye catching. A kind of space theme again fits in with the futuristic conventions of the hip-hop genre.