6. CLASS
All my models were from middle class families and this was what I wanted for the
magazine as it is obvious to see it's realistic manner for the following reasons.
Middle class is obviously in the middle of the classes and this would mean that
are a large number of people from the middle class who would want to pursue their
dreams of being a rapper. A person in the Upper Class wouldn’t really think of being
rapper because of them being exposed to something more 'formal'. While the
population in the lower class go down the route of very basic and skilled jobs.
The middle class is the best of all class because they have struggles themselves like
people in the lower class but they are exposed to sophisticated resources such like
upper class.This is why I chose models from the middle class because they can
portray the sophisticated rappers.
7. RACES
In terms of race for my production, I decided to use a common stereotype which is
that rap is a genre which is dominated by people of African ethnicity
Rap is predominantly made by black artists but that’s not to say that non-blacks
can't enjoy rap because that would be ignorant. Yes, there are many white rappers
but there are about double the amount of black rappers. These rappers are not all
good at what they do and are certainly not all bad but most good rappers are black
which is why you would picture any rapper to have a darker complexion. It is
human nature to hear 'rap' and naturally link it with a black person. Here I have
clearly used the appearance of my artist to enforce a stereotype without even
noticing. However Kulture refuses to show the typical, black, 'jewelled up' rapper.
8. AGE
My audience is young adults but my artist are from the ages 17-19. One of the
reasons is because at their young age they are very much influenced by fashion
and this will help us attract our target audience who are older but are interested
in the same thing as the artist in the magazine. Basically my older target
audience are into things that most young people would be into but just delivered
in a different manner compared to how you would find it in Vibe or XXL.
Due to the young age of the models, I believe that the readers will be able to tell
old Mic Jones is due to him wearing a hoodie which is a stereotypical thing to
teenager wearing.
9. GENDER
There are more male rappers in my magazine than female and this may be
interpreted as that men are superior than women in the rap industry which is
why they receive all the fame and acclaim compared to the female rappers who we
hardly see in the limelight.
But there are brief explanations for this:
Hip Hop fans are predominantly male
Males don’t feel they can relate to women
10. MORE ON GENDER
The following was found on Quora and stated by Phil Jones
Another thing you see happen over and over is that somehow women rappers are
pushed towards singing. Presumably by a combination of record-company pressure
or their own search for an audience.
Sometimes it works out, eg. Lauryn Hill. Sometimes the results are so so (Mecca the
Ladybug was a wonderful rapper in Diggable Planets but her song based stuff does
little for me.) UK garage artists like Miss Dynamite and Lady Sovereign went from
being exciting cutting edge artists to forgettable Rnb singers.
11. SEXUALITY
As you can see there is a clear pattern of sexuality with all the artists being
straight. This is largely because rappers and rap fans are against homosexuality.
Why you ask ?
The main topics rappers rap about is crime, their neighbourhoods, their families,
alcohol, money and most importantly, people of the opposite sex. Now obviously you
can see the reason people would not give homosexual rappers a good reception
because not everyone(who listens to rap) would like to hear what one man thinks of
another man as it is something that is unlike the rap genre.
12. CAN YOUR PRODUCTION BE READ AS
HEGEMONIC? DOES IT PROMOTE ANY
IDEOLOGIES THAT KEEPS GROUPS IN
SOCIETY OPPRESSED?
I believe that my product does not promote any ideologies that can keep social
groups in society oppressed because of the audience that I have chosen to make
this magazine for. We see that usually magazines that are produced for a mass
audience contain a lot of controversial topics and ideologies that could oppress
social groups such as the use of females as vixens for photo shoots with rappers
can make a large number females in society feel as if they are objectified and this
is often pushed forward by magazine that have a mass audience. By being very
selective of what type of people I want to read my magazine helped me produce a
product that they will appreciate, understand and agree with thoroughly.
13. DAVID GAUNTLETT
The one female in my production is an empowered female, a woman who is in
control of her sexuality. She is clearly rejecting the passive femininity act and is
showing feminist progress
We can use David Gauntlett's female empowerment theory as the lady in my
magazine has the characteristics for this theory.
The lighting in the photo of her shows half of her body dark and the other half is
visible and this connotes the power she has and that she has a bit of a dark side.
Women are seen as the perfect sex and they are weak but the rapper in my
magazine challenges these ideologies. The challenge she puts up is not just seen
through the photo of her but it is also seen through the fact that she is entering a
genre that is male dominated and she is making big moves too!
14. DOES THE DAVID GAUNTLETT
THEORY SUIT AN INDEPENDENT
INSTITUTION?
Yes, David Guantlett's theory argues that "identities are not 'given' but are
constructed and negotiated. This is the female empowerment theory as this
suggest that women are in control of their sexuality. One of the things we see with
the female rapper in my magazine is that she rejects the act of passive femininity
by entering the rap industry which is male dominated. Now the fact that the
female artist is taking the step to be an independent artist and not working for
any other rapper can be linked with the values and choice of institution of Kulture
as a magazine because I believe in challenging the normal conventions of a rap
magazine in which you would never see a story such this.
