Joshua Media Blog

In what ways does the emergence of Grime reflect the social context? [Urban London] The evolve of grime came from garage but with a more aggressive tone and "cheaper" type of beat  that was only found mostly on pirate  radio  stations because of how  aggressive  it was and it not being allowed on certain platforms for a while.  Grime originated from the streets with rappers from poor backgrounds rapping there lifestyle and it was said to have an industrial and very cold sound reflecting living in London estates with doors shutting and police doing raids, it was said to be a real reaction of what was happening in youths lives who come from living in London estates.  It started from moving around London going to youth club to youth club, listening to the olders on the radio and getting into under 18 raves trying to impress the crowd with your "bars" making the rave go mad and the raves usually ended in someone getting shot or stabbed due to gang violence

Introduction to music from JoshuaDudusola

Young thug - Wyclef Jean shows elements of postmodernism in the video as the video is a parody as in music videos we usually see luxury cars and luxury houses, these type of props and locations cannot richness and wealth.However, in the music video we do see luxury houses but instead of real cars we notice toy cars, this gives the comic effect to the audiences. The use of the prop of toys cars helps exaggerate postmodernism as it makes the music video a parody and we are majorly used to  seeing luxury cars and luxury houses which connote wealth and richness. however the props of toy cars don't connote that they instead give off a comic effect to the audience leaving them confused and unsure of the genre of the music.  Eminem- Without me portrays postmodern references such as intertextuality, We know there is intertextuality as they use reference from other texts. They use superhero clothing which adds the comic effect to the music video making it postmodern for the audiences.

Postmodern text can be identified by its eclecticism, demonstrating an erosion of aesthetic and stylistic boundaries. It reflects the pluralistic nature of contemporary culture. Postmodern texts will employ a range of referential techniques and  Postmodern texts deliberately play with meaning. Featherstone describe postmodernism as “stylistic promiscuity”  Postmodernity = breaking of boundaries Postmodernism reproduction and  re-consumption Modernism is production and consumption. Postmodern culture is driven by a consumer culture that celebrates the surface. He states the postmodern condition is “ a new kind of flatness, of depthlessness, a new kind of superficiality in the most literal sense”. 

Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics e.g. lavish living in r&b rap videos, dance routine for boy/girl band, sex scenes in love songs and violence in drill music. There is frequently reference to notice of looking (mirrors, telescopes etc.) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting) The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style)

The use of the montage helps exaggerate the rap video genre characteristics as it shows us them poping the champagne, then pouring the bottles and then toasting to shirts last night which helps emphasise them enjoying and presents the rappers lavish lifestyle as it displays the large amount of ace of spades bottles which are known to retail for £1,655 for 3 Litres also in another we see Kyle; Shiro's best friend driving a mercedes benz which is know to be an expensive flashy car. The medium shot of Rapman at Shiro's party agrees with goodwilns theory that the record label which the artist is assigned to tends to have certain demands of presenting the artist in the music video. Rahman is also present during cuts between scenes in the music video and he is shown lip-syncing