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In this essay I will be analysing the following Hip Hop music videos: Fight the Power by Public Enemy; Pimp Juice by Nelly; and Ill Still Kill by 50 Cent featuring Akon.

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Media Studies In this essay I will be analysing the following Hip Hop music videos: Fight the Power by Public Enemy; Pimp Juice by Nelly; and I'll Still Kill by 50 Cent featuring Akon. During my essay I will analyse how Hip Hop culture is represented within each music video and the messages they convey and using these analysis I will compare the three Hip Hop music videos. Hip Hop culture came about in the 1970's when the government decided to develop expressway's over the South Bronx ghetto which was packed with African Americans and Latino's, this caused a lot of controversy and conflicts. However these conflicts led to music, dance, record scratching and rapping, this became a way to act in response to the violence in the neighbourhood and also to reflect what was happening within the neighbourhood, for example drug dealing. In the 1980's and 90's the situation deteriorated resulting in things like gangster rap which focused entirely on the fixed theme of guns, gangs and prison life. This endured a darker side of Hip Hop and increased the number of stereotypes. 'Public Enemy' is a prominent Hip Hop group from Long Island, New York. They are known for their politically charged lyrics, criticism of the media, and active interest in the concerns of the African American community. ...read more.


This portrays a very dominant look and signifies women as objects. The final message being conveyed to the audience is that women have two sides, one which is sexual and one which is not, the sexual side gets portrayed more in Hip Hop videos to signify male dominance, misogyny and of course money. 50 Cent was born on July 6, 1975 in South Jamaica, Queens, he arose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin' and The Massacre. Both albums achieved multi-platinum success, selling over twenty-one million copies combined. 50 Cent's video "I'll Still Kill" is about prison culture and revenge. It depicts a lot of homoeroticism and hyper masculinity about this side of Hip Hop. In "I'll Still Kill" the messages being conveyed are all about violence, racism and hyper masculinity. For example when "I'll Still Kill" starts off there is a close up on Akon and 50 Cent who are both in vests which shows there muscles and aspects of their abdomen, this creates a very intimidating affect and portrays the message of manhood and homoeroticism. Furthermore 50 Cent says "...all across the globe like the worlds mine" this portrays that 50 Cent is somewhat a role model for the audiences and that the world follows in his footsteps. ...read more.


This portrays that the woman is after the "Pimp Juice" or wealth of Nelly. On the other hand 50 Cents male dominance gets portrayed differently, the director uses no women in 50 Cents video because the use of women would bring weakness and would soften 50 Cents image about violence and of course male dominance. In "Pimp Juice" Nelly says "...It could be money, fame, or straight intellect" this tells us that the women in "Pimp Juice" get portrayed as objects presumably gold diggers. "Pimp Juice" portrays a profound message about money is everything and that women crave for people with power and money. Correspondingly in "I'll Still Kill" Akon says "...Cause I be long gone like the ripper" this portrays the violence and criminal nature of Akon and 50 Cent. It also symbolises the hatred towards the enemy and portrays that violence is intentionally good against the enemy. In conclusion, I believe that Hip Hop culture can portray different messages about life and other people. In the three music videos we get introduced to other aspects of the same genre like fighting for social injustice and women. Overtime I believe that Hip Hop has changed from an aggressive yet not violent type to an aggressive violent type. However the use of women as objects is almost common in new era Hip Hop videos just to portray wealth and money. Qasid Ahmed 10WW Words: - 1,667 ?? ?? ?? ?? Qasid Ahmed 10WW ...read more.

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