BEYOND THE WORDS: Production, Tone, Images, Music Video and Format
When hip hop music videos started
being shown on MTV in 1989, Run DMC hosted the first episode of Yo! MTV Raps. Run DMC hosted this show
in the pilot episode bringing hip hop to a broader audience than its rival
television station BET.
Their first video “Rock Box” was the first ever music video
to air on MTV and paved the way for other groups. The music video is a mix of
hard rock with a rap flow over top of it.
The funky style of this music video
and of the group in general made a huge impact on the world of videos
especially being the first one shown on national television.
In contrast to the old school flow
of “Rock Box”, a more modern example of music portrayed through video is
exemplified in Trinidad James’ song “All Gold Everything” he says “gold all in
my chain/ gold all in my ring/ gold all in my watch/ don’t believe me just
watch”. He wants you to know how incredibly rich he is by showing off his blinged
out style. In the music video for this song it goes through the lyrics and
shows off his gold chains, rings, watches etc.
He even wears a shirt with the word
“RICH” written across it to prove his main point. With cars in the background
and his boys flashing cash, he’s clearly trying to show off.
Contrasting to Trinidad James’ braggadocios
song about his flashy bling, Kanye West’s song “Made in America” featuring
Jay-Z and Frank Ocean gives thanks to those who paved the way for them to be
able to make their come up. They thank Martin Luther King and his wife as well
as Malcolm X and his wife for their help in the civil rights movement and then
they of course thank God, Jesus, Mary and Joseph for the religious support in
the hard times they had growing up. The music video doesn’t show the artists
like any other video production would, but instead we see Black youth and
adults alike in the streets of New York happy and celebrating their freedom and
life in America. The importance is placed on these people because these artists
on this track were once average citizens just like them but because they had
the opportunity to make it big and live the American dream they now sport nice
clothes and are criticized by audiences for doing it big.
I enjoyed how you compared Trinidad James' video with Kanye's "Made in America." Your examples show the true power of music videos; they can be bragging party songs or they can be influential pieces of art. Good blog, great comparison.
ReplyDelete"Made in America" is just a great song as is a great example from contrasting with Trinidad James. I thought the blog was well put together and there is a huge contrast from today's music videos like 2 Chainz "Birthday Song" to Run DMC's "Rock Box."
ReplyDeleteI like your comparison you made between the songs of choice. It really shows how a music video can really put a visual to the song and really give the song meaning!
ReplyDelete"Made in America" is for sure a jam with unique tone and overall production. Theres so many elements in the sound and style. Adam makes a good point about the contrast in music videos form now and say 18 years ago
ReplyDeleteI do enjoy the contrast of the 3 music videos in content and appearance of video. I think Made in America definitely brings the more modest music video back into fruition.
ReplyDeleteIt really shows how far we have come in hip hop/rap music today. It's very interesting to see the difference styles from different eras
ReplyDeleteI'm not a big Kanye fan but I like how he recognizes in that "Made in America" song that he did not get where he is today alone.
ReplyDeleteThe Made In America video was a great contrast to the Trinidad James video. Also the contrast between those videos and the Run-DMC shows how much hip- hop and its videos have changed
ReplyDeleteWith your contrast we can definitely see how far hip hop has been objectified compared to back in the day.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a lot of variance in the videos from the different era's of hip hop.. Thought it was a good example of how rappers use their videos to bring about a specific message with their visual material to match either their mood or the particular songs message. Definitely can be done by some over others, but rap music videos will always be awesome, no matter what!
ReplyDeleteThe tone, and images of the song are a large factor that plays into the overall theme and message of the song.
ReplyDeleteThere is definitely a great contrast between trinidad james and Kayne's video, it really proves your point. The blog was ver well done.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. The three videos show a good variety of styles and possibilities in the music video industries
ReplyDeleteGood examples. I like how you used videos by mainstream artist too, showing that they aren't all about the money
ReplyDeleteHip Hop has definitely changed and you can see it through the examples given. Really like the post awesome job
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