Music Video Analyse

Application of Goodwin’s TheoryDamien Marley & Nas – Nah Mean

Genre Characteristics• The typical genre characteristic of Hip Hop videos is to include a

large part of performance element as outlined in my other slides. This is once again present within the video, and it is the only element present in this video.

Damien Marley & Nas - Nah Mean (2010)

Public Enemy – Fight The Power (1989)

I purposely chose to analyse this video because unlike the other video’s I chose, it does not follow the conventions of modern hip hop (described in other two music analyse slide shows). It does not glamorize cars, money or clothes nor does it justify or legitimate the voyeuristic treatment of the female body. This mirrors the conventions of early hip hop videos as shown by the similarities between the two screen shots. They both show scenes of the community coming together rather than focus upon individual achievement like modern hip hop. The main differences is the representation of the artist and the issues explored through the lyrics. Early hip hop tends to try tackle socio-economic and political issues through lyrics, where as modern rap is often talk of selfish wants and needs. ‘Nah Mean’ is an example of modern hip hop with the lyrics and video of early Hip Hop.

Lyrics and Visuals• Goodwin’s theory states that there will be a

relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. This relationship can be amplifying, contradicting or illustrative.

• An example of an illustrative connection between the lyrics and visuals is when the artist says “We no like the sound of siren” this is accompanied by a medium shot of children running after a police car as it leaves showing the discontent of the community with a police presence in that area.

• An example of amplifying the lyrics is when the artist says ‘Nah Mean’ and everybody in the background on screen says it as well and puts there hands in the sky. This is useful as it amplifies the meaning of the lyrics ‘Nah mean’ and makes it seem to apply to the whole community.

Children chasing police car away.

Music and Visuals• The relationship between the music and visuals could be

described as amplifying. As the song adopts many musical similarities to reggae music, an older genre of music, and is accompanied by a more traditional type of rap (as explained in previous slides), the music video reflects these more traditional musical traits.

• Firstly the music video is in black and white which is done to amplify the traditional feel of the music video.

Secondly the video consists mainly of one continuous shot and the excitement is provided by the people in the video and artists performance. The camera follows a crowd as they walk, fronted by the two artists creating a sense of a strong group all united. This is far from modern day hip hop videos which have cuts very regularly, and often place emphasis upon the main artist the entire way through.

Demands of the record label.• Goodwin claims that the record labels will demand lots of close ups of the artists in order to create familiarity with the

audience. This is present at the very start of the video with the camera rotating around the two artists. However throughout the video the artists are placed at the front of the crowd but the camera seems to focus just as much upon the other members of the crowd as the is does the artists. I think this is because the song follows traditional conventions of hip hop and therefore the lyrics are more about common problems of people, therefore the video is used to show these people. Therefore the focus is upon the crowd as a whole as oppose to only the two artists. This is illustrative of where Goodwin’s theory cannot explain the conventions of the video.

Voyeuristic treatment

• There are no examples of voyeuristic treatment within this video. This also does not comply with Goodwin’s theory.

Intertextual references

• There are no intertextual references in this video.