The video for Tyler the Creator's song "Yonkers" departs from many rap music video conventions. It features only Tyler and no other people, women, or urban settings typically shown. It also lacks displays of money, cars, or weapons usually used to convey success or danger. Through its sole focus on Tyler, dark lighting and color, and his isolated, lonely portrayal, the video matches the dark, suicidal lyrics. Its unconventional elements like Tyler eating a bug and hanging himself also go against genre norms of portraying confidence. Record labels typically push for recognizing the artist, so the close-ups suit their goals of growing Tyler's brand, while the video's cult following aspect also centers on him as the main attraction

1. Analysis of Yonkers

2. It is a song that is quite angry, The lyrics to the song are quite
dark and talk about hurting people and include the lyrics “still
suicidal I am”. this is why he is on his own all the way through
the video as it shows us that is he isolated and maybe feels
alone. At the end of the video he hangs himself as well so the
lyrics match the visuals there.
The use of light also makes him look
Isolated because all the background is
white and he is in the dark, this also
shows he stands out and is alone. This use
of light and colour Sets the tone for the
video and shows that he is dark which
also matches the lyrics because they have
dark themes.
He is someone who has a reputation for being
different and standing out, in terms of his fashion,
personality and in music. This also makes sense for
him to be on his own as it is emphasising the point
that he is different to other people, although the
dark nature of the video could be suggesting this is
not a could thing and perhaps feels alone
Tyler is different

3. Record company demands
Tyler the creator is the focus of his video as he is the only person
in it and there is also not much else going on in the background,
this would suit the record company as they want their music
videos to have lots of shots of the artist to increase their
recognisability and their brand.
The record companies are out to make money so increasing the
brand of their artists is something they will push for, as it has the
potential to increase sales, especially
For merchandise and things like that.
This could be one of the reasons it is
just him in the video and it contains
So many close ups.

4. Cult figure
Another possible reason that they choose to make tyler the
creator the focus of the video is that he is in some ways a cult
figure and is known as much for other things as he is for his
music, such as his unusual personality and his clothing line, so
maybe people who are watching the video are doing it due to
interest in him rather than the music itself, so it is appropriate to
focus the video completely on him as that is what people may
want to see as it is what attracted them to
the video in the first place.

5. conventions
It is a common convention in rap music to have shots of the artist looking toward the
camera and rapping and there is obviously a lot of that in the video for yonkers. Other
than this it is very different to most videos from the genre, as there is commonly shots
of a large group of people, women in not very much clothes, shots of urban areas with
things such as graffiti, the artist holding stacks of money or sometimes even weapons
and guns, or driving around in expensive cars or with expensive cars in the
background, these things generally show success and that the artist is confident and
sometimes dangerous, however in the video for yonkers it goes against the
conventions as it shows the artist to be lonely and doesn’t suggest success. None of
these conventions are featured in the video for yonkers as it is just Tyler the creator
and no other artists or women, he is not outside, and there is no shots of him holding
money or guns. It is uncommon in all genres of music videos including rap to have the
artist eat a bug, or kill themselves, and Tyler the creator does both of these things in
the video which shows he is not afraid to go against the usual conventions. In some
ways the lyrics meet the conventions of the genre as they mention sex, violence and
money which is common in rap music, but it is uncommon to rap about some of the
things he does.

6. Common images of the genre