This document analyzes various elements of magazine front covers and contents pages related to hip-hop magazines. It discusses design elements like mastheads, images, colors, text styles, and more and how they are used to represent the genre, attract readers, and market specific artists. Key aspects covered include mirroring and sizing of images to emphasize controversy, use of colors and fonts to stand out or convey meanings, positioning of artists to show hierarchy, and inclusion of other artists or buzzwords to generate interest.

1. Music Magazine
Analysis

2. Front Covers

3. Masthead – This is not like a typical
magazine because it has two mastheads
but they are both very large so to anyone
who passes by the magazine it is clear
who the magazine is produced by. The
red in the masthead also stands out
against the black and white background
to make it more noticeable. It’s behind
the artists head which follows the
conventions of a typical front cover.
Main Image – The main image is a mid
shot that has been mirrored to
exaggerate the fact that Kanye West is a
controversial person and shows the two
differing opinions between the people
who ‘love’ him and the people that ‘hate’
him.
Buzzwords – “Exclusive” is used to show
that the story can only be found in ‘XXL’
and shows that this issue is special. It
gives the magazine a unique selling point
Main Cover Line – It says “love hate” to
show the differing opinions about Kanye
West and how controversial he is. The
mirroring effect goes with the main
image and further exaggerates his
controversial nature.
Cover Line – “Special Collectors issue” is
used to make the audience think that
they should buy this edition and makes it
seem that this issue will be much better
than the rest.
Text – The text is in all capitals this shows
the importance of this particular issue it
also makes it seem more serious. A
simplistic font has been used to make it
stand out but also shows the
professional side of it.
Colour – The black and white are
contrasting colours with connotations of
white being good and black being evil
this is done to further show the clashing
opinions people have about Kanye West.
Cover Line – “The man himself "implies
that he is writing the article himself
Conventions – The barcode is essential
for the magazine to be sold and the
website shows the reader where to go
for more about the magazine

4. Masthead – The text is bold and big
making it easy to read from afar. The red
and white is a popular colour scheme
among hip-hop magazines and it has
been used here. It also stands out against
the rest of the page that is darker which
straight away draws the readers
attention to the masthead.
Skyline – It contains the name of
other hip-hop artists so anyone who
might pick up the magazine might
recognise one of the artists and scroll
through the magazine looking for
articles about them
Main Image – The main image shows
the ‘Black Hippy Crew’ In the cover line it
refers it as K.Dot’s (Kendrick Lamar's)
crew so he is positioned in front of the
other members he is also in the middle
which draws the most attention to him.
His white hoodie makes him stand out
against the black background and the
other members who are wearing darker
clothing. They are looking straight at the
camera which addresses the audience
directly. The serious facial expressions
give the audience an impression that it is
a serious magazine
Conventions – The barcode is essential
for the magazine to be sold and the
website shows the reader where to go
for more about the magazine
Content – It’s made clear to the reader that this
magazine is only about hip-hop as pretty much all
the text on the front cover is to do with hip-hop
artists
Cover Line – Single cover line
shows the main focus of the
magazine it’s also quite large and
says “black hippy” in white
against a black background
because the contrast stands out
Props/Costume – Jewellery on the
main artist shows his wealth
compared to the others and is a
symbol of his power, it’s also just
common clothing for rappers to
wear which conveys that he is a
hip-hop artist to the reader

5. Masthead – Very Bold, partially blocked
by artists head this shows brand is well
known as they don’t need to show the
audience the full name. Takes up a lot of
room to make up for not seeing it
properly
Main Image – Stern look
to portray gangster image
and tilted hat both are
conventions of a hip hop
magazine. Image is
extremely large and takes
up most of the page so
the reader recognises the
artist straight away and it
grabs their interest
Colour – the red text
contrasts with the blue
background could
connote chaos (red)
destroying peace (blue)
Pull Quote – Used to get
reader interested in the
interview Tupac is bigger than
the rest of the text because
he’s a well known name in the
hip-hop scene and saying he’s
been compared to him is a
shocking thing
Skyline – Tells the reader what to
expect from this issue
Buzzwords – “exclusive” suggesting
that this magazine is the only
magazine to cover this story
Conventions – The barcode is essential
for the magazine to be sold

6. Plug – “Power 30” is large but
also very vague which will
make the reader interested and
flick to the page that’s relevant
Conventions – The barcode is essential
for the magazine to be sold
Skyline – Says names of other similar
artists which show it’s a hip hop
magazine and makes readers
interested because the magazine’s
likely to contain information about
other artists
Cover line – “Cash Money Young
Money” appeals to their fans and
they will be more likely to read it
Masthead – 3D effect to make it more
appealing and make it stand out it bright
red goes with the other colours and
matches text
Main Image – Shows hierarchy
between the two because the one
with tattoos is placed in front and
takes up more room. The sunglasses
convey that it’s a hiphop magazine

7. Contents Pages

8. Main Image – The artist has a
concerned maybe depressed look
there’s a female hand reaching over
and grabbing his heart which could
convey being “heart broken” by a
woman
Colour – Grey commonly conveys
depression and gloom it contrasts
against the red heart being taken
Header – Vibe always write contents
broken up into 3 lines this is their
house style and it makes the reader
recognise what magazine it is
Background – Large “V” is also Vibes
house style and it makes them
recognisable against competitors
Layout – The picture gives off a big
message so there is less need for as
much text as we can see the image
takes up a lot more room than the
text

9. Header – “top billin’”
means he’s at the top of
the programme for a show
it is also a reference to
“bills” as in a word for
money. The header and
image are both money
orientated
Text – other artists
names’ are in bold so
people who pick up the
magazine know who
they are instantly
Main Image – Shows the artist
looking stern surrounded in a pile of
money holding a briefcase full of
money. This shows the genre of the
magazine because a lot of hip-hop is
about showing off how much money
you have.
Representation – The artist is
represented as being extremely rich
“top” suggests he’s at the top of the
hip-hop industry
Logo – This is the house
style and makes the
magazine recognisable

10. Main Image – Shows a female
blowing a kiss to the camera the
article is called “eye candy” so
she is represented as flirty
Images – This contents page is dotted
with smaller images to give the
reader a little preview of what is in
the magazine
Header – It is covered by the
womans hair but it is still
recognisable as saying “the B-
side”
Logo – This is the house
style and makes the
magazine recognisable
Colour – Very simplistic mainly
white and black so it can stand
out with the red hyphen which is
because of the house style
where XXL try to incorporate red
into a lot of their pages

11. Double Page
Spreads

12. Colour – Colour scheme is black and
yellow which is a reference to the
artists song called “black and yellow”
They are also contrasting which look
good together
Ideologies – There’s smoke billowing
from the artists mouth and the
header says “how high?” suggesting
he’s smoking cannabis, cannabis
reflects the genre as a lot of hip-hop
artists openly smoke it.
Hanging Indent – Commonly used on
articles in many different types of
magazines, this one is yellow which
goes with the colour scheme of the
page
Main Image – Shows a
close up of the artists
face partially covered
with smoke on a black
background. The
background is black not
only because of the
colour scheme but
because it helps show
up the white smoke
better

13. Text – The hanging indent and pull
quote are made to look like a child’s
handwriting this is because he says
people still think he is a child when
he is 18.
Main Image – Mid shot at a slightly
low angle this gives the impression
that the artist is still short like a child.
Stern look to show he’s unhappy
about being labelled a child like it’s
mentioned in the pull quote
Mise-en-scene – Chain and baseball
cap makes it clear to the audience
that he’s a rapper and shows the
genre of the magazine is hip-hop
Colour – very simplistic his
white t-shirt matches the
white background to make
it visually pleasing