The document analyzes the conventions of rap music and its representation in magazines, highlighting typical styles, accessories, and themes associated with various rap artists. It explores how magazine covers use imagery, text, and fashion to convey messages about the artists and the genre, while also discussing audience engagement through celebrity culture and relevant social themes. The piece emphasizes the importance of incorporating elements of rap culture, such as graffiti art and narratives of struggle, to resonate with fans of the genre.

1. ARTICLE AND GENRE
RESEARCH

2. CONVENTIONS OF GENRE – RAP
• The genre of my magazine is rap (or hip hop) music. Rap music is a genre consisting of stylized
rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping.
• Typical conventions of the rap genre include:
Casual clothing – clothing that is not to characterized but is subtle and loose.
The rap artist needs to clearly portray their emotions – if the tone of a song is dark and angry, or if the
artist is typically conveyed as a person associated with struggle then the artist has to have moody or dark
expressions when being publicized.
Accessories are often used in rap music, such as gold chains and gold rings that are often worn by
prominent male rappers e.g. Drake, 2 Chainz etc.
Positioned to look directly at the camera (especially with rappers who have struggled in the past)in order
to portray the shot that there is no difference between the audience and the rapper, or to show that
people can relate to what the rapper has been through.
In rap music today, rappers often have other artists, from different genres, feature on their tracks (e.g.
Eminem ft. Rihanna – “love the way you lie” and “the monster”).

3. CONVENTIONS OF RAP
MAGAZINE FRONT
PAGES
• HOW DOES THE MAGAZINE CONNOTE THE GENRE?
This specific magazine front cover connotes the genre of rap through the use of
clothing that 50 Cent wears. 50 Cent is wearing a chain with a Christian cross that
emphasizes that 50 cent represents the ghetto variant of rapper who have struggled in
their early lifetime and originate through treacherous roots such as drug abuse or
arrests. The magazine also connotes the genre of rap through the bold text, which
illustrates the strength of a rapper and the power of their words against injustice or
against the norm, and its strength in mesmerizing an audience.
• STEREOTYPICAL STYLING OF ARTISTS ON RAP MAGAZINE FRONT COVERS
Injustice and ghetto is a common stereotype with these rappers; 50 cent, for example
has been jailed in 1994 for selling drugs and for substance abuse. His ghetto style is
further conveyed through the use of tattoos, and his black vest. Tattoos and vests are
often affiliated with “ghetto” personalities like Eminem, that again emphasizes on
struggle), therefore 50 Cent’s clothing clearly emphasizes that he has gone through
events related to struggle. He isn’t wearing anything fancy like a gold chain or rings, or
leather jackets which may be expected to show wealth of other rappers.

4. CONVENTIONS OF RAP
MAGAZINE FRONT
PAGES
• HOW DOES THE MAGAZINE CONNOTE THE GENRE?
This specific magazine front cover connotes the genre of rap through the use of
props and accessories. In this magazine, Chris Brown (the rapper featured dawns: a
gold ring on his finger, a gold bracelet on his wrist, a gold accessory in his mouth, a stud
earing on his ear and a gold piece of jewelry in his mouth. These are all the
conventions of a wealthy rapper who use their music to show off their wealth (such as
drake who often is portrayed as a rapper with wealth). The background in the back also
denotes several rapper names, which is used as a marketing scheme for audiences to
buy the magazine.
• STEREOTYPICAL STYLING OF ARTISTS ON RAP MAGAZINE FRONT COVERS
The jewelry connotes that Chris Brown has money and thus he represents the rapping
population who don’t face struggle and who show off to the audiences about their
money. It is another common stereotype with rap music, and is the opposite of the
ghetto styled rappers. In the first cover, 50 cent stares directly at the audience to
convey that he goes through the same problems everyone does; while in his cover, chris
doesn’t even look towards the camera, he just shows off his “bling” and his “tattoos”,
which is a clear indication that Chris has the intention of showing off his wealth to the
readers and that these readers should appreciate his wealth and his style; it also
signifies that he looks down on the readers due to the fact that he doesn’t even
acknowledge them with his eyes closed.

5. CONVENTIONS of RAP
MAGAZINE FRONT
PAGES
• HOW DOES THE MAGAZINE CONNOTE THE GENRE?
This specific magazine front cover connotes the genre of rap through the use of
style and symbolism. In this magazine, Eminem is featured to be wearing casual
clothing, which includes a white tee, a jacket from and pants. his use of casual clothing
could emphasize on his attitude towards fashion or his surroundings in general; he
doesn’t care about what society thinks about him or his look (which could be an
explanation for his carefree expression), what matters the most is his music, which is
symbolised through the use of the radio Eminem is carrying on his shoulder. The radio
is large and it looks rather old, which could mean that Eminem has the intention of
brining back what hip hop used to be before it became mainstream. rap used to be
about the music purely and fighting against injustice, perhaps one of Eminem’s aims is
to bring that back. it is also featured as a lyric in one of his songs “Berzerk” – “lets take
it back to straight hip hop and start it from scratch”.
• STEREOTYPICAL STYLING OF ARTISTS ON RAP MAGAZINE FRONT COVERS
A convention that this image of Eminem connotes is the dog tag on his torso. a dog tag
is used in the military as a means to identify a soldier from a particular unit, so the use
of a dog tag in this context could emphasize that Eminem has a fighter attitude, which
he is always portrayed to have. Another stereotypical convention (as mentioned in the
previous slides) is that Eminem clearly displays his emotions in this magazine cover. he
isn’t smiling, but he is shown to look more neutral or angry in order to further portray
his music as not being for people who prefer happier tones of music. He is representing
himself in terms of his own music. he is also looking directly at the camera as if he is
conversing with the audience and his fans to illustrate that he is just like them.

6. HOW IS THE GENRE OF MUSIC
PORTRAYED IN A MAGAZINE?
I will specifically look at how this Q Magazine front cover portrays the genre of music:
• THE Q magazine front cover portrays the genre of music through the use of the
burning electric guitar; stereotypically the electric guitar is used by rock bands who
use the distortion of the electric guitar as a means of showing how “hard core” the
band really is. It is used vigorously in metal and rock music. In terms of this
magazine cover, the burning electric guitar symbolizes that Kasabian are a rock
band who are affiliated with being rebels and the fire represents that they are
topping the harts or their music is selling well in the UK.
• The text is used to denote the inclusion of bands, which portrays the genre of
music. The text on the header states “music magazine”, which conveys to the
audience that this magazine is about music and the artists that are affiliated with it;
the text also shows the names of several popular alternative rock or rock artists
such as Green Day and the Arctic Monkeys on the front cover to attract audiences
who are fans of these bands. The text for the Arctic Monkeys (that is embedded in
quotation marks) emphasizes that there could be an interview in the magazine
regarding their music, which would attract fans and portray the genre of music
within the magazine. Finally, the red text says the “hottest things in music now”,
which denotes that genre of music, as it keeps audiences up to date with new and
trendy music.

7. HOW IS THE GENRE OF MUSIC
PORTRAYED IN A MAGAZINE?
I will specifically look at how this “Drummer magazine” contents page portrays the
genre of music:
• The “Drummer” magazine cover connotes the genre of music through the use of the
drum kit in their photos. The drum kit is specifically used in all the genres within
music, whether it be Rap or Pop or even Reggae, which universally portrays the
genre of music, and not just a specific genre of music. The various drum kits could
also be used to influence young audiences to get into music because it is regarded
as a way of expressing yourself and this is further conveyed through the use of
young artists in the image, such as those in image “22”, which “markets” the genre
of music.
• The text is used to denote the articles that will directly portray the genre of music,
an example of this is under the “Features” column. The article “26” is titled “Jazz
is…” which focuses on the genre of jazz, and thus it portrays music. The use of
articles is not the only other convention that conveys music, but the use of boy
band artists is also used to convey the genre of music. Boy bands have a huge
segment in the music industry today and are easily identified with audiences (One
Direction are a huge boy band) and so it clearly emphasizes on the fact that boy
bands can be a symbol for the genre of music.

8. HOW DOES THE GENRE OF MUSIC
ENGAGE AND INTEREST AUDIENCES?
• The fandom for music and several artists would have the audiences yearn for news and gossip
that regards their favourite stars, so that is why music magazines engage the audience, because
of the use of celebrities and artists that audiences love listening to, and because of their affect in
the audiences life, which is why magazines often feature celebrities who are known or who have
made a massive impact in the music industry. The fandom begins when an artist makes a song
that would either have an impact on the audiences life (as in something they can relate to) or it
just entertains them and makes them want more singles and records from the artist. Magazines
give the audiences the opportunity to learn a bit more about their favourite stars, such as: when
their new record will be releasing, who they truly are in terms of personality and interests, what
they do away from music etc. audiences tend to want to learn more about their favourite
celebrities and magazines give them this opportunity.

9. FEATURES OF A MAGAZINE
FRONT COVER
• Masthead – the masthead of a magazine refers to the name or a banner of a magazine.
• Main Image – the image that is the prime focus and the main feature of the magazine itself, which conveys to the audience that there is a
great perspective of the person being featured in the magazine.
• Anchorage text – The text of the magazine that is affiliated with the main image of the magazine.
• Skyline – a promotional message that features any competitions or prizes that are up for grabs, which is sponsored by the magazine itself.
• Buzz words – words that are placed into emphasis in hopes of attracting an audience to read a magazine’s double-page spread.
• Secondary Images – images that are placed in the front cover to convey that there are other fascinating stories for the audience to follow.
• Text – to outline any other features of the magazine.
CONTENTS PAGE & DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
• Text – text is used to state what articles are featured in this magazine and their page numbers to guide audiences.
• Images – they are used as an anchorage to show images of some of the articles.
• Background – to stand out and show design in the magazine.

10. ELEMENTS OF THE RAP GENRE THAT
COULD BE INCLUDED IN MY MAGAZINE.
Elements of the rap genre include:
• Colours that could represent graffiti art – rap came to prominence as a sign of graffiti art. It has been described as a way of
expressing yourself and showing off your identity through art and writings. Stereotypically, graffiti art is a sign of rebellion that is
conveyed through teenagers and young adults. Using graffiti art would appeal to this niche of the market. The graffiti could be used
as a background in my double-page spread or contents, or I could have the colours of my text to represent the colours of graffiti
(multi-colour).
• Charisma & ego – charisma and ego are typical conventions that rappers tend to have. I will need to portray my rappers as having
these two factors (or one of them) by illustrating it in the main body of text in my double-page spread. The need to show a great deal
of enthusiasm and poise in what they want to achieve.
• Creditability – Rappers are known for having credit in the street, which ties them up to taking part in rap battles in remote areas
around the city and show that hey have a sort of posy. To include that will really show the utilization of rap elements.
• A Voice – Rappers often have a voice, and speak against anything that would be classified as injustice (such as the Eminem’s “White
America” and “Mosh”) they often say things that the public are afraid to voice. I would like to implement that into my magazine.

11. ASPECTS OF GENRE AND AUDIENCE
•HOW DOES THE MAGAZINE USE ASPECTS OF GENRE TO ATTRACT THEAUDIENCE?
The magazine uses aspects of genre (in my case, rap) to attain the attention of audiences by using hip hop/rap
elements that were made famous by rap, because its those elements that engage a fan of rap music and perhaps a
mass market of music. Some of these elements include: the use of graffiti art, the use of imagery and concepts
(mainly on injustice) etc. The specific elements of rap (as listed in the previous slide) is what draws the attention of rap
fans to the magazine, which is why elements of rap must be conveyed in order for the rap magazine to appeal to an
audience.
•HOW THE MAGAZINE MEETS EXPECTATIONS OF THE AUDIENCE (RAP / HIP HOP MUSICFANS)?
Audiences who listen to hip hop or rap music are stereotypically described as people who feel inspired to tackle
injustice and rebel against what they believe is incorrect (though it is also big amongst general music fans). So the
magazine must tackle components that would appeal to this type of audience. Rap audiences are bound by rap stars
who get involved in “beefs”, who attack other artists who aren’t popular with fans and who appreciate the fame over
the art, and who get involved in illegal activities from time to time. I feel that I must oblige by creating this sort of
environment for my rap magazine. I must create two characters (who will feature in my double-page spread and front
cover) who can relate to what Hip Hop/Rap fans expect from rap stars, and make them have pseudo backgrounds that
involve “beefs” and the integration of such activities.