1. Muna Alawi
Similar Text Analysis
CRS (Child Rebel Soldier) – Us Placers
This video was directed by VA$HTIE for the song "Us Placers" off Kanye's mixtape "Can't
Tell Me Nothing". The artists in the music video are Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco and Pharrell
although none of them feature in this specific music video the director chose to instead use
child versions of each artist. It is very creative and in my opinion unique to most as it also
includes a message, it is a concept song. It is one of my favourite videos as it was made by a
female director and on a zero budget which makes it so original compared to many
mainstream hip-hop videos out now.
It starts of f by introducing the child versions of each artist. The camera adjusts itself and
starts off blurry and then
comes into focus by
revealing ‘Lupe Fiasco’
first with the name
accompanied by the
character to reveal who
the child is portraying. It
then goes out of focus
again and then fades into the next child while the camera is still unsteady and blurry then
when it comes into focus it reveals ‘Kanye West’, and also uses the same technique when
introducing the young versions of ‘Pharrell’ and ‘Thom Yorke’. The shaky camera
movements combined with the urban graffiti background which the characters are against
give the depiction of a raw hip-hop scene. Instead of the characters moving the camera
makes the actions by using the jittery
movements in the scene. Then the name of the
song ‘Us Placers’ appears upon a black
background and the font colour used is white to
make it stand out.
A low angle show is used to show the children as superior and
they stand tall and confident to represent them as dominant as
the actual artists are in the current rap industry. The children are
in a studio and are surrounded by a white backdrop, there is first
a close-up shot of them and then it fades into an establishing shot
whilst the camera pans towards the right. Then there is contrast
when the child mimes the lyrics they are against a black back-
drop, it is very simple and keeps our focus on the child artists. Instead of being set in an
urban location where the scenery and setting would be the main focal point, in this video the
artists are the main focus and this is demonstrated by the multiple use of close-up shots.

2. The character who plays ‘Lupe Fiasco’ is first to rap, he not only mimes the lyrics but he also
holds up cards with certain lyrics to them or visual images which he shows parallel to the
lyrics. His lyrics contain typical conventions of the hip-hop culture as
Lupe begins to rap about ‘Lifestyles of the rich and famous, bought a
big house and a whole lot of rangers’. It includes close-up shots of the
luxury items that are represented alongside the lyrics to connote the
wealth of the typical rapper and the general conventions that a rapper
possesses in the hip-hop culture.
The camera uses the technique of tracking into another shot back and forth such as the close
up shot of the ‘Two pinky rings’ and it returns back by tracking to the left again while ‘Lupe
Fiasco’ holds up a card with the words ‘Manicured fingers’ then tracks back to the right to
show white ‘German Shepard’ barking against a black backdrop to make it stand out. The
editing is fast and sharp and it flows really well working with the lyrics to reveal the images
at the same time, there is a strong relationship between the lyrics and the visuals.
There are a lot of conventions associated with the genre
of the music video such as the weath, the clothes, the
money, the women all signify the hip-hop culture. Part of
the lyrics in the first verse state ‘Young supermodel that
shall remain nameless’, and accompanied by these lyrics
there is a shot of a model walking towards the boy and
she kisses him on the cheek while he gives a cheeky smile, this brings some humour to the
video. Images of beautiful women are significant in hop-hop videos and are normally present
as it is a convention.
Even by using the cards with significant lyrics written upon them or
images such as the ‘yachts’ are a clever and unique technique used to
pinpoint the considerable lines. It almost seems as though the children
playing the roles have written it themselves and this gives it more of a
virtuous quality as well as a symbol of innocence. This music video
itself contains conventional displays of the hip-hop culture although it
doesn’t go to the extent of famous rappers such as 50 Cent who is
known to contain seductive women who are used as an accessory in hip-hop videos, money
and flash cars to represent his power and dominance in the hip-hop scene. In contrast to the
way 50 Cent supports this lifestyle this song shows how irrelevant all the materialistic items
are.
The connotation of the lyrics is that money can’t buy you everything. Lupe raps about all the
useless items you buy when you're famous, bigscreen TVs, boats, expensive paintings, a
mansion to put it in, and a doberman to protect all your precious belongings, And ends with
him pretty much saying that money can't buy happiness, by ending his verse with ‘All the
money in the world don’t make it painless’.

3. The second verse is by Kanye West and he is talking about being a Reality TV show star who
has all the troubles of a famous
person but not nearly enough
money. The whole thing hanging
over their heads all their life, or even
the person that got famous through
MySpace. ‘Look at all the new
beautiful faces At home supermodel,
myspaces’ during these lyrics an image of the homepage of a MySpace is shown and the
profile picture rapidly changes using different images, this is effective and shows the reality
of the social networks which the audience can relate to.
The camera uses multiple shots but mainly stays static while the rapper is rapping, or it either
slowly tracks to either the right or left or it tilts from the floor up so you still witness the focal
point but using various camera movements. Wide-shots, mid- close-up, 3-shot and close-up
shots of the artists are the most common shots use. The editing used it mainly cut and fade,
which are the most effective and simplest to use it makes it appear more fluent and flows
from shot to shot. The main feature is the use of rapid camera movements into a next shot
which gives it a swift flow.
Towards the end of the music video the child artists are
surrounded by colorful balloons which are shown using
extreme close-ups and it is slowed down to show the
movement. The children are innocently playing around with
the balloons and this shows a naïve and fun quality, overall it
is a virtuous value and juxtaposes the representation of most
hip-hop videos. At the end there is a mid-shot of
‘VA$TIE’ who was the director for this music video,
but like the other characters she is also shown as a child
in a directors chair. She is clapping and smiling at the
end which makes gives it juvenile and cute this
connotes that the entire video was seen through the
eyes of a child. Overall the video signifies all the
typical conventions within its lyrics and provides visual images to represent the hip-hop
culture and the convention linked to it, although the song does show the reality and exposes
the negativity that can come with the fame, the money and the misfortunes. When it comes to
the lyrics it doesn’t support the materialistic lifestyle within the rap industry.