Famous inspiring music videos:
I have decided to also look at videos that were created in America by much more famous artists that are similar to the other British music videos when rapping but are different due to the American style and due to the popularity of the artist. The famous artists that made a success are: Chris Brown, Drake, Wiz Khalifa, Fetty Wap etc.
Loyal: Chris Brown:
The setting of the music video is at a mall during the night with bright lights around suggesting that he’s very popular as the spotlight is on him and makes Chris Brown look rich as he’s out shopping suggesting that he has enough money to spend it on the expensive things. When walking in the mall, Chris Brown comes across to see many of his friends or is walking with them, this makes him seem that he’s very popular and liked by many people- wherever he goes, he’s recognised. There are also many girls on the background for example when Chris Brown steals a girl from her boyfriend which relates to the lyric about girls not being loyal which means that the music video is telling a story at certain times. The girls that are in the music videos, are seen as sexual objects as they’re showing a lot of skin and show that girls are gold diggers as they will only go to those, that are rich, which many people may find sexist and offensive.
There are many men and women smoking in the video which could be a bad influence on the audience as they might make the younger generation think that smoking is cool and that’s what everyone should do when having fun or when partying. At most times there are a group of people behind Chris Brown which you can see by full and medium shots, which shows who the artist is friends with and who he is the closest with which makes the audience keen about knowing who Chris Brown hangs around with- his fans, for example there are close-ups of Usher, Trey Songz.
The video promotes Chris Brown a lot as most of the time, the camera is concentrated on him when singing and when dancing, also his album that was coming out was promoted in the background as the mall had posters of hi ‘X’ album which raises awareness. Some of the artists are also promoted such as Usher as there are close-ups of him with Chris Brown.
Fetty Wap: Trapqueen:
The video includes a lot of dancing of the girls and Chris Brown which makes the audience concentrate on him most of the time to see his talent and what he is able to do- being able to impress the audience and we can see this by the full shots to see all of his movements. You can also see through the medium full shots the clothes Chris Brown is wearing to show that he has a good style and wears designer to impress and that he can dress well which will drag the audience’s attention as they’re interested in what he is wearing. There are also many dancing routines which show the effort that they’ve put into it and it shows that it was well rehearsed. There are also a lot of low camera angles and diagonal angles which makes Chris Brown look powerful, in control, prestige, on top, different and classy.
The music video of this song looks very simple and looks very low-budget but became very famous very quickly. There are many close-ups of the artist in the car and close-ups of him counting money which shows the audience that he’s rich and loves what he does due to the money which links to the lyric: ‘in love with the money’. Most of the time, the camera shows a woman and the artist being the main thing in the music video as he sings about his girlfriend introducing her as his ‘trapqueen’ which means that she’s helping him to make money. However, most of the time she’s seen as a sexual object to the audience as the medium shots show her being around Fetty Wap and close-ups of her body when she gets in the car which makes the audience look at her body which represents her as a sexual object.
Fetty Wap is rapping with many people around him which suggests that he’s liked around the area and that many people know of him. The editing is kept simple, there are some slow motions whenever the girl is in the scene which could suggest the fact that she means a lot to him- giving the audience a longer time to look at her. The locations are also kept simple, as the scenes are filmed in: Fetty Wap’s house, at the front of his house, in the car and in the park.
Wiz Khalifa - We Dem Boyz: