Genre of Music

The genre I have chosen to base my magazine on is Rap/ Hip Hop. On the mood board I have created, you can see a combined mixture of artists associated with this type of music such as Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar (which I will be inspired by to use in my magazine). Stereotypical items that are seen on rap albums and are related with that crowd of people are things such as money (as seen on the ‘Rap’ logo), designer clothes, tattoos, legendary rappers (such as Biggie Smalls) and gold chains (clipped behind the ‘Hip Hop’ logo).

However, to match my target audience I have included females such as Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé, which also fit within this genre. Regarding the ‘Laura Mulvey’ theory, this represents woman as being an object of the male gaze, and widens the target audience which I have decided upon.

I believe that having good knowledge about rap and hip hop culture, will help me with researching, designing and creating the framework for my magazine. I can then create suitable competitions, and articles that are related. 

Below are some links that demonstrate the genre of music I have chosen, from watching them it helps me understand what sort of clothing/ makeup/ and style the rap genre has, which will be beneficial when designing my own magazine:

• No Church in the Wild- Jay-z & Kanye West ft. Frank Ocean, The-Dream
• Recognize- PARTYNEXTDOOR ft. Drake
• Do it again- Pia Mia ft. Chris Brown, Tyga
• All Eyes on You- Meek Mill ft. Nicki Minaj, Chris Brown
• Gold Digger- Kanye West ft. Jamie Foxx
• My Love- Drake ft. Majid Jordan
• Pretend- Tinashe ft. A$AP ROCKY
• 3005- Childish Gambino
• Blessings- Big Sean ft. Drake, Kanye West

Furthermore, I think festivals such as ‘Wireless’ really represent the genre and target audience. Below is a video I recorded at the festival. You can see the artist interacting with the audience, and the bright colours behind him. This will help me understand the target audience for my own magazine, and what their interests are (for example, going to festivals).

     Concerts like ‘Watch the Throne’ by ‘Jay-z’+ ‘Kanye West’ signify the rap genre well, here are some links that show this:

• Who Gon Stop Me- Jay-z & Kanye West (Watch the Throne Concert)
• Shutdown- Skepta ft. Drake (Wireless Festival)

Moodboard of the Rap/ Hip Hop Genre

Outline of the Project

For my AS Media Studies, I will regularly post the progress I make throughout this year and it will include my research, planning and evaluation in regards to my coursework. My main goal is to create a music magazine with a front cover, contents page and double page spread. I will use desktop publishing software’s such as Adobe Photoshop, Publisher and Lightroom. I am also aware I must incorporate original photography and take pictures using my own model. Furthermore, prior to making my magazine, I will create a mock cover and contents page to demonstrate my understand of the project.

This unit will assess, and what I hope to achieve;

•         An ability to plan and construct media products using appropriate technical and creative skills.
•          Become independent in research skills and their application.
•      Understand how my work creates meaning for audience/users, applying my knowledge and understanding.