Kanye West's "Through the Wire" music video effectively illustrates the story told in the song's lyrics through its visuals. As the video progresses, it becomes clear that Kanye is rapping about his car accident and injuries, such as the metal wire in his mouth. Scenes depicting a corkboard of memories and Polaroids show his journey from the accident to recovering in the studio. The music and visuals also sync up precisely to create a smooth narrative flow. While some elements like the corkboard challenge rap conventions, others like the male in a jersey reinforce typical iconography of the genre. Close-ups of Kanye's face and injuries portray the personal nature of his experience and story.

1. Goodwins conventions
Kanye West – Through the wire

2. Relationship between the lyrics and
the visuals
• The relationship between the visuals and the lyrics is amplified. As the video progresses we understand
that Kanye West is actually telling a story of his accident that resulted in his fatal injuries and how he is
still able to rap although his mouth is wired. A clear example is at the beginning when there is a preface
that informs us the motives behind the artists song.
The artist says “I’ll spit it through the wire” meaning he’ll continue to rap although the metal wire in his
mouth as shown in the middle picture. The lyrics usually associate with what it seems the be a
corkboard filled with memories of how he got from the accident to the hospital back into the studio
reinforcing the fact there is a story behind what happened, a clear illustration of how the artist has
‘progressed’ through his recovery stage and how the on screen images present that

3. Relationship between the music and
the visuals
• From 0:21 to 0:25 we see how the beat of the music is in sync with the appearance of the
words, just as the lyrics this illustrates the music because of its precise timing. This is
illustrated throughout the video when changing from picture to picture, it creates a flow to
the music video and allows the artist to move on from one point to another as the narrative
progresses, creating a more smoother effect so the music and visuals don't contradict one
another.

4. Style and iconography
The style and iconography of this particular music video contradicts as well as conforms
to typical conventions of iconography in a Rap/Hip-hop video. An example of the video
challenging typical iconographic conventions would be with the corkboard and how the
artist portrays his story through memories he has hung up on the wall, as well as the
Polaroid picture snippets which are usually associated with more of an indie younger
audience.
The image on the right is what we expect to see in a Rap/Hip-hop video because the
male besides Kanye is wearing a basketball jersey and a baseball hat with chains, and
the environment is a studio where the artist is recording his songs. We also see that the
main artist is on stage with Jay-z towards the end which seems to appear as a tour from
the artists.

5. Close ups
• In the music video here are several close ups of the artist. These close ups portray emotion of the
character and promotes the main artist. Because the music video contains emotion and the story
described is a personal saga for the artist the close ups create a feel of the story being of his own and that
he is the author, that type of portrayal. The close ups portray the features of a rap video, it includes what
he wears and shows his injuries/mouth restriction due to the wire.

6. Voyeurism
• In terms of looking screens within screens the
constant effect throughout the music video of
how the pictures begins as still images but
changes into a video is used throughout the
music video.

7. Intertextual references
• In the music video there are intertextual references to different labels and
broadcasters. An example of one is MTV airing the accident of Kanye west.
Another example that is shown is Jay-Z’s label roccafella, alongside with
music labels a variety of albums are shown in a burst of 6 seconds, albums
such as Illmatic by nas, there are others from Tawlib kewl and many other
artists such as Jay-z