The history of pop and rap. Also the history of pop and rap music videos, plus how our music video will fit in with the genre.

2.  The term "pop song" was used in 1926 in reference to
music "having popular appeal. David Hatch and Stephen
Millward indicate that many events in the history
recording in the 20s can be seen as the birth of the
modern pop music industry, including in country, blues
and hillbilly music.
 Hatch and Millward define pop music as “a body of music
which is distinguishable from popular, jazz and folk
music.”
 According to Pete Seeger, pop music is “professional
music which draws upon both folk music and fine arts
music.”

3.  Pop music has always contained songs from a variety of
sources, including classical, jazz, rock, and novelty
songs, while pop music as a genre is usually unseen as
existing and developing separately.
 Therefore ‘pop music’ may be used to describe a distinct
genre, aimed at younger people, often characterized as
soft alternative rock and roll.
 According to the Grove Music Online, the term ‘pop
term’ “originated in Britain in the mid 1950s as a
description for rock and roll and the new youth music
styles that it influenced...”
 Grove Music Online also stated that “in the early 1960s
the term ‘pop music’ completed terminologically with
Beat music (in England), while in the USA its coverage
overlapped (as it still does) with that of rock and roll.”

4.  Rapping can be traced back to its African roots.
 A long time before hip-hop existed, people in West Africa were
delivering stories rhythmically, over drums and sparse
instrumentation.
 Such connections have been acknowledged by many modern
artists, modern day “griots”, spoken word artists, mainstream
news sources, and academics.
 Blues music, rooted in the work songs and spiritual of slavery
and influenced greatly by West African musical traditions, was
first played by black people, and later by some white people.
 Grammy-winning blues musician/ historian Elijah Wald and
others have argued that the blues were being raped as early as
the 1920s.

6.  Pop videos have changed a lot through time.
 They have developed slowly but dramatically from the
earliest pop music videos in the 70s.
 For example, ‘Fernando’ by Abba was released in 1976.
The music video consisted of close-ups of the artists
singing and playing guitars. The video was low budget, it
was set in a studio made to look like the outdoors. They
were sat around a camp fire, this paired with the
instruments would seem now like an indie music video.
The video has very dark lighting which now-a-days
would be associated with rock. I would say this music
video would be classed as a performance music video as
there was not a narrative.

7.  In 1982 ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson was released. This music
video is a narrative music video. Also this particular video
consists of special effects make up and choreographed
dancing. This is completely different to ‘Fernando’ by Abba.
However, ‘Thriller’ also had dark lighting, which would now
be associated with rock/ heavy metal. The music video
‘Thriller’ fits in with Vladimir Propps theory, which was that
there were 8 character types in folk tales and legends. In
‘Thriller’ there are around 5 different character types. They
are:
1. The hero- Michael Jackson in his human form.
2. Villain- Michael Jackson in his zombie form and the zombies.
3. The dispatcher- the zombies as they give Michael Jackson a
reason to save the girl.
4. The false hero- Michael Jackson in his zombie form, he tries to
hurt the girl and he takes over his brain.
5. The princess- the main girl in the music video who Michael
Jackson ends up saving.

8.  In 1998 ‘..Baby one more time’ by Britney Spears was released.
This was also a narrative music video. This video is different to
the others as the lighting has changed, the costumes have
changed (this is because of the style in the different years).
However, this is similar to both music videos as well. This is
because it is slightly a performance video, but Britney Spears is
performing to the camera (this is similar to ‘Fernando’ by
Abba.) Also it is similar (to ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson),
because there is a lot of close-ups of the artist and there is
some choreographed dancing in parts of the video. ‘..Baby one
more time’ also fits in with a theory. It fits in with Levi Strouses
theory that there are good and evil, black and white, boy and
girl. Two binary oppositions that drive the narrative and make
the viewers what to see what happens to the character. In
‘..Baby one more time’ she is singing to a boy and then he
disappears which makes the viewer want to see what happened
next and where he is gone and what happens in the end.

9.  A recent pop music video is ‘All about that bass’ by
Meghan Trainor. This is music video does not have a
narrative. It is similar to ‘Thriller’ and ‘..Baby one more
time’ as there are large amount of close-ups of Meghan
Trainor singing. However, if you compare it to ‘Fernando’
by Abba, it is very different. In ‘All about that bass’ there
is bright lighting which shows it is a pop video and there
are bright colours. Whereas, the music video for
‘Fernando’ by Abba was very dark and almost looked like
a rock music video. Also, ‘All about that bass’ looked like
a more expensive video to make, this is because there was
a range of various locations. The music video ‘Fernando’
is a simple music video in the way that there isn’t a lot
going on, whereas ‘All about that bass’ there is a lot going
on which keeps the viewer interested.

10.  Rap music videos have not changed a lot over time.
 The first alleged rap music video to be made was ‘Do dat’
by LMNTL in 1978. This video is a performance music
video. There is a lot of quick shots in the video. Also the
music video is quite dark and the location looks like
somewhere underground, for example a train station.
There is graffiti on the walls which now-a-days is also
associated with rap. The rappers were wearing gold chains
and hats which is also associated with rap now.
 In 1989 Biz Markie released the song ‘Just a friend’. In the
music video it was slightly similar to a typical rap video in
2014. For example, the outfits that they were wearing, the
rapper was rapping about a girl.

11.  However, it was also different. There were longer takes/ shots,
the lighting was natural which is typically associated with
indie. The music video was a narrative music video as he was
rapping to his friends about a girl he met on tour.
 In 1994 Dr.Dre’s song featuring Ice Cube was released called
‘Natural born killaz’. This was a narrative video as both
rappers were murderers running from the police, in the end
one of the died and the other got caught. There was a lot of
quick shots, and the locations they were in are typical rap
song locations for example, in a room with two thrones with
chains around them. There was a lot of low angle shots
looking up at the rappers. This music video fitted in with Levi
Strouses theory. There was good (the police) and evil (Dr.Dre
and Ice Cube). The tension drove the narrative forward, which
makes the viewers want to find out what happens to the
characters in the end.

12.  The song ‘Snapbacks back’ by Tyga featuring Chris
Brown was released in 2011. The music video is a
performance music video, and has no narrative. In this
video there are quick shots, canted angles, low angle
shots. There is only two different locations in this music
video. One is similar to ‘Natural born killaz’ by Dr.Dre ft.
Ice Cube, Tyga is sat on a thrown in a room that has
chains around him. Tyga also has loads of snapbacks
around him, hung up and on the floor, these are usually
associated with rap. Also the music video is dark with
flashing lights which is also associated with rap. The
rappers are wearing gold chains and baggy trousers/
tracksuit bottoms which is what a stereotypical rapper
would wear.

13.  Our song for our is a hybrid genre, this means two or
more different genres combined.
 Our music video is going to be more like a pop music
video.
 For example, bright colours, longer shots, etc.
 However, in the rapping part of the song there will be a
few quick shots. E.g. “A 70s dream and 80s best,” will be
Naomi doing an 80s work out but will be a quick short
shot. Then “Hepburn, Beyonce, Marilyn, Massive,” will be
me (Shelby) doing the iconic Marilyn Monroe dress
blowing up moment.