Task 3 (Research - The Growth of Music Videos)

Task 2 (Research - Genre Comparative Study)

The two videos I have chosen to compare are Chipmunk - Muhammad Ali and Bashy - Who wants to be a Millionaire. The reason was because I like the two songs basically. As i did in the first task, I will compare them on the 6 different areas.

The conventions for this new Grime genre are not very clear but i think i know what they are. Both of these videos have shots in the streets, this is definately an occurance in all grime videos. This is because the genre originated from the streets and estates of London, therefore they like to show where they come from and however wealthy they become that they won't forget where they have come from. In both of these videos they are seen going through a market , chipmunk was jogging and bashy was pushing a trolley. In these sequences they use fast cuts, this is because the songs themselves are fairly upbeat and lively. Bashys song is the quicker of the 2 and this is represented purely by the vast amount of cuts. i had a rough count and within 30 seconds there was about 30/40.

One thing that stands out to me, being a follower of the genre, is the amount of intertextuality that is included in these two tracks. The lyrics have a few examples of this but the video does have some as well. In bashys video the first example in the lyrics is when he says 'Lemme see ya go down low, Wit ya head shoulderz knees n toes!' The second half of the line is from another song from a group called K.I.G. and they appear in the shot when he says this line. Also Adam Deacon, an actor in aDulthood which bashy made the main song for, made a brief appearance. In Chipmunks song the most obvious part is when he says 'i float like a butterfly, sting like a bee' an obvious tribute to Muhammad Ali. Most of chipmunks stuff is in the visual stuff such as at 0-50 he bumps into skepta, a more experience MC in grime, at 1-30 he is with tinchy stryder who is also an MC, 1-37 he is with Bashy who sing the song i am compare this to, 1-44 he is with ghetto i am sure you can guess what he does and at 2-27 he bumps into DJ ironik. All of these artists are from London and it shows he has links with other big stars from this genre.

In Bashys tune there is a couple of examples of links between the visuals and the lyrics as there is in chipmunks. the most obvious in bashys is when the chorus starts and he is collecting the bags of money from his followers another is when he say 'I'm on my grind ima grizzly bear' and his head changes into a bear. The next is when he says 'Bashy! big beard No trim... big hair' and it shows two people with a big beard and big hair. In chipmunks the most obvious one is whenever he says Muhammad Ali, there is a graffiti portrait of him with Muhammad Ali scrawled underneath it. Other than that there isn't many more examples of this.

In both videos there is attempts to sell themselves. Bashy shows himself to be fun and versatile. He just looks to be enjoying his time and this will have a positive effect on the person watching this as they feel the urge to move. He even has a little dance, which is very unusual for a rapper to do. Normally they just stand there acting gangster but he threw a few shapes. Chipmunk is made to look hard working and serious but with a funny side which likes to have a laugh. The hard working bit is when he is in the gym and jogging, which is a metaphorical representation of how he practices his rapping. The fun side is shown by his general look on his face, he always looks to be enjoying it and having a laugh.

In conclusion i feel that they videos do have quite a few similarities and it is obvious that they have the influences. Yet they do have their differences which makes them unique in their own special way.

Task 1 (research - Initial Six Stage Analysis)

Kano - Hustler

Conventions- This artist falls into, the rather new, Grime genre. As it is so new, it doesn't really have many conventions. Therefore it is a guess as to what they are. So I think that it does follow the conventions such as being set in a London estate and having a drug dealer theme.

visuals + lyrics- The only time that the visuals and the lyrics convey each other is when kano says 'fire like i got the nine on cock, brap!' he pretends to cock back his shotgun. This is the only example I could find.

visuals + music- As above the time when he cocks back his imaginary gun, the music has the sound of a gun being cocked back. Other than that you would be at a push to find another time.

Intertextuality- This was very hard to find a link to anything else but I did find one. Kano says ' Everyday i hustle like a rick ross rhyme' This is a link because Rick Ross is an american rapper who has a record called hustlin'. So this very insignificant line in the song can be linked back to an american G.

selling the artist- Kano is made to look like a Drug Dealer who is leading his scantily clad army of female workers who are packaging his goods. Although he is not actually a Drug Dealer as such, the drug is represented by his music, and his followers are shown as the addicts that need his music.

art of looking- In this video there is a few women who are in just underpants. They do have their breasts out. Some people may find this offensive but most wouldn't really care too much. This may be for the viewers enjoyment but they are not the most amazing women I have ever seen.