This document analyzes the ideologies displayed by Q magazine in one of its articles about the hip hop artist 50 Cent. It finds that Q aims to showcase popular artists to engage readers, as seen by the large image of 50 Cent. Q also presents a serious view of the music industry through 50 Cent's intimidating expression. The magazine further draws in younger audiences through its informal language but also aims to appeal to industry professionals using formal language at times. Overall, the document examines how Q promotes inspiring messages to aspiring artists and presents authentic factual content rather than rumors.

1. Ideology essay
An ideology is a set of beliefs or ideas that guide an individual or group. Magazines
can display these ideologies that they may have in many ways through the articles
that they feature and that is what is going to be explained and analysed throughout
this essay with reference to a particular article.
In this example of an article from the magazine Q it is clear to see that the artist is
about the hip-hop artist 50 Cent. This straight away gives the reader an idea of one
of the magazines ideologies. Q is a popular music magazine that intends on
providing its readers with news on the latest artists, tracks and interviews with the
hottest artists out there. So by having a large image of 50 Cent, a very popular and
well known artist, taking up a whole page the magazine is showing the readers that it
is including the best artists and the ones that they know their readers want to know
about. So one of Q magazine’s ideologies is that they want to showcase the hottest
artists and in this article they have done just that.
In the image, 50 Cent has a very serious and almost intimidating look which can also
suggest another of Q’s ideologies. This magazine has made it clear through its
exclusive interviews and rating systems that it is very much focused on the music
industry and as well as it containing some fun elements e.g. photoshoots it
particularly wants to zoom in on the music side of things. So through 50 Cent’s
serious face, he is giving across the message that Q magazine is serious about the
music and wants its readers to respect that.

2. The language used in this magazine article are really a combination of formal and
informal language which again presents another possible ideology of Q magazine.
The use of informal language will be focused on this paragraph. For instance, in the
main heading the word “hell” is used and it is also printed in italic font. The word
“hell” is evidently a slang term and it shows that as Q is informing its readers about
this hip-hop artist, then it must also reflect the language of the artist so that the
reader can really engage with the artist and understand his terminology a bit better
than they would have if the whole article was in formal language. The tag line
beneath the main heading also demonstrates slang being used in “fiddy” which is
what 50 calls himself and what other people call him too. This again helps the reader
to engage with the artist more and supports Q’s ideology of getting their readers as
close to the music as possible.
The use of formal language in the magazine could possibly represent another
ideology of Q magazine. As well as including informal language to entice younger
audiences and upcoming artists, it is important to appeal to slightly older and
sophisticated audiences such as record label executives. This can be achieved
through using formal language because it gives the idea that the magazine attempts
to address music with a professional approach. This implies that the magazine Q has
the ideology of viewing the music industry through refined and experienced eyes so
that it appeals to audiences who would approve of this e.g. those involved in
business in the music industry.
There is also a more meaningful and heartfelt ideology revealed in this article. The
pull quote in the bottom right hand corner of the magazine on the image says
“getting shot didn’t hurt as much as you’d think”. This suggests that 50 is tough and
is able to deal with bad things such as this which then makes the reader delve into
50’s early life. 50 had a tough upbringing, growing up in the violent and poverty
infested neighbourhood of South Jamaica, located in Queens, New York City. This
tells the reader that 50 is rapping about his life and how hard it has been for him but
he wants to encourage other upcoming artists to express themselves in similar ways.
So, it can be inferred from this that another of Q’s ideologies is to promote inspiring
and thoughtful messages to their readers who they hope the majority would be
aspiring artists.
Another ideology of this particular magazine can be derived by again analysing the
image of the artist 50 Cent and the pull quote. As mentioned before, the facial
expression of the artist shows the serious nature of the magazine and the pull quote
shows that it intends to appeal to new artists that are struggling to find inspiration. In
addition to these points, the serious face of 50 Cent and the pull quote can very well
show that the magazine is genuine and authentic unlike a lot of music magazines in
today’s society. A large amount of music magazines nowadays consist of a lot of
artificial and fake information such as rumours and ‘gossip’ being passed around in
the music industry and the media. However, Q magazine shows through these two
important features that they aim to provide their audience with factual and real
content as they actually delve deep into artists’ backgrounds as well as their music.