JAY Z - The story of O.J.

1. Music video Analysis

2. JAY-Z – The story of O.J.
The story of O.J. animated
music video imitates the styles
of early 1930s – 1950 cartoons
that depicted the black
community as derogatory
ethnic stereotypes. This
intertextual reference hints at
the meaning of the song: no
matter how successful a black
person becomes, he will
always be seen as lesser.
The way the animated video is edited, creates a video that feels like it uses real people and not animated characters. This ‘real life’ look
is created by using techniques such as direct gaze. This is used frequently through the music video, creating a feeling that the character
is talking/looking directly at you. Because of this, when more shocking scenes are playing out (such as when JAY-Z’s character is being
lynched) and the characters are looking straight at you, there is more emotion created as it feels more personal. This ‘notion of looking’
is also used in a voyeuristic way when the video depicts black men throwing money at performers at a burlesque style show. This
voyeuristic treatment of the female body and the men throwing money at her is also an illustrative relationship between the lyrics and
video. The usual hip hop trope of being able to throw lots of money in a strip club is deemed to be nonsensical, and would rather invest
his money. This is shown in the music video, by Jay-Z with his back to the burlesque dance and more interested in his drink.
Throughout the video, thought beats is
used constantly through the music video
to connect the music and video, this
creates a more cohesive experience for
the viewer to watch. As you watch the
video it is easy to see that each of the
animated characters movements are in
time with the songs beats. For example,
when JAY-Z’s character ‘Jaybo’ eat a
watermelon and spit out the scenes in
time with the beat as he raps. This
highlights the stereotype JAY-Z is
addressing, while also referencing the
famous racist short called ‘Scrub me
Mama with a Boogie Beat’ which
depicted a similar image. Many of these
intertextual references are mimicked to
highlight the negative light African-
Americans have faced throughout
history