The document analyzes the album covers of several hip hop/rap artists including Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, and 50 Cent. It discusses how the covers use symbols and imagery that align with hip hop conventions to portray the artists as wealthy and powerful. These symbols include flashy jewelry, luxury cars and homes, drugs and money. The positioning and lighting of the artists is also described as emphasizing their dominance and larger-than-life public personas. Bullet holes, gang symbols and dark color schemes further position the music as tough or dangerous. Overall, the covers are found to rely heavily on stereotypical representations of the hip hop/rap genre.

1. The type of text used extenuates
the genre used by the artist. The
conventions of a hip hop/rap artist
tend to be that they show their
wealth through their clothes,
jewellery or lifestyle. Because the
name of the artist ‘Snoop Dogg’ is
in a sparkling, diamond style text it
supports the conventions that this
artist could have a wealthy lifestyle,
which is an iconographic element of
hip hop.
Furthermore, the gold cane that he
is holding in his left hand and the
gold chain that is around his neck is
another key feature of being a hip
hop or rap artist. If you were to
review multiple rap videos, the
general consensus is that they wear
‘bling’ and have lots of money.
Where this may not always be the
case, it often is, especially on this
cover. Even the dog in the bottom
left corner has a diamond muzzle
on, with a gold chain around his
neck also.
Furthermore, the certain dogs used in the cover show that the power the artist has. The
angle used for the cover is slightly looking up at the dogs and looking up at the artist. The
breed of dog also gives us insight into the persona of the artist. Having 2 Rottweiler's would
suggest to us that he is a character not to be messed with, that people should possibly be
scared of him, his power and his money. Not only this, but he is sitting on what looks like a
thrown with a white shining light behind him. This connotes him being god like and
omnipotent. Which again promotes the artist as perhaps being the best as what he does and
also gives him a specific identity. Moreover, he is sitting relaxed, diamond rings on his fingers
and what looks a rolled up cigarette of marijuana in between his fingers. This type of
behaviour may cater to a different audience to the one that maybe other styles of rapper
might reach. As people know ‘Snoop Dogg’ to be this drug loving ‘pimp’. And to me this
would limit his audience slightly. Which is why there is a ‘Parental Advisory Explicit Content’
logo on the front, as its important that younger people are advised not to listen, because of
In my opinion, this digipak is quite a
stereotypical one, because it abides by
quite a lot of conventions of typical
rap videos. Not only does it contain
various other characteristics, but it
also contains 2 flashy white cars,
either side of the artist. This yet again
reinforces the notion that the artist is
well off and can afford all of the
luxurious things in life- if that isn’t
already apparent from the cover. In
addition to all of the already apparent
conventions, there is a large white
mansion behind the artist with ‘Snoop
World’ on the top. This reinforces the
artists wealth and power. Suggesting
that if anyone was to be like him, they
would have the luxurious life that he
does have.

2. This Jay-Z ‘Classic Gangster’ album
cover isn’t too dissimilar to the
previous Snoop Dogg album cover.
Perhaps it doesn't have some key
stereotypes that the other does.
But it does have some that are
important to portraying a certain
type of artist. The very first thing we
notice about this cover is the
jewellery that the artist has around
his neck. Not only is it clearly gold it
is very large and looks extremely
expensive. This gets across the key
points about this genre of Hip Hop,
that these Hip Hop artists are very
wealthy and can afford all the
‘bling’ they like. It promotes the
artist in a positive light as we link
the jewellery to the artist successes.
For Jay-Z to have all that jewellery
he must be successful and as a
result produce good music, or he
wouldn’t have these things. In
addition to this he has in his hand
what looks like gold knuckle dusters
and a gold watch on his wrist. These
knuckle dusters also portray a side
of violence that is more stereotypical of present rap artists rather than older ones like
this specific Jay-Z album cover.
Furthermore the logo in the bottom left hand corner of the cover also promotes the
artist as it is a specific clothing brand. The brand is LRG and is a successful clothing
brand, and because Jay-Z has been linked with this brand, it gives the idea that he is
also a successful individual (which he is).
In addition, the typography of the
cover is quite significant. The red
text on the black background makes
the red stand out. The words ‘classic
gangster’ are in red and this
connotes anger or danger. The
colour of the font and the clothing
of the artist match, which may show
to us that we should watch out for
him as he could be dangerous.
Which isn’t dissimilar to the
previous album cover of Snoop
Dogg who used other methods to
show danger or the power that he
had.
The cover itself is overall quite dark
in colour, there is a lot of black ,
dark red and even the white
background is more of a ‘dirty
white’. This could give us an insight
into the genre of the music. This is
because digipaks with brighter
colours often have a younger target
audience. However with a more dull
cover, it could be said that Jay-Z is
aiming for the specific audience,
who know by the cover what genre
of music he has produced.

3. The next digipak cover is one of the artist 50
Cent. He also specialises in the genre of Hip
Hop/ Rap, with the front cover being very
stereotypical from that type of artist. The
typography of the cover is important as there
are 2 different fonts, one with the artists name
in bold, and the other is the album name.
However, it is clear the main focus of the cover
is the artist in the middle. The fact that there is
a bullet hole in the middle of the shot suggests
to us that he is involved with guns and gives us
the impression he has been or is being shot at.
Which is we look into his background he has
been shot 9 times, one of which was in the
chest, where the bullet hole is aiming.
Furthermore, the focus of that bullet shot in at a Christian Cross/Crucifix, which tells us that not only is he a religious man, but he also has
enough money to buy this flashy jewellery. This is even more obvious through the expensive jewellery of the inside cover of the digipak (on the
right of this text). He has a different Christian cross, a clearly expensive bracelet of some kind and the same watch as the one on the from the
front cover, showing a clear link. In addition to this, we see the tattoo on the side of the artists hand ‘G-Unit’. I believe this to be a deliberate
attempt of self-advertising, as this not only the hip-hop group he has been involved in since 1999, but it is the name of the record label that he
himself has founded. If the audience were to be intrigued with the tattoo on his hand, they would look up the meaning, finding more about the
group, only increasing their popularity.
On the back cover is the artist to the right of the image, there is the artist in what
looks like a rough neighbourhood, with him looking over his shoulder. This connotes
to us as the audience, that he is always having to watch his back because of perhaps
who he is, or what he has done. In addition to this the text at the left of the screen as
bold and contrasts the dark background, this could show that even if his life may be
dark, the songs he writes might be the opposite. Also, there is the names of the
executive producers of the album at the bottom. This is hugely important as these 2
names Eminem and Dr. Dre are as famous if not more. So for the artist to be linked
with these 2 is hugely important for anyone who is interest in the Hip Hop/ Rap genre
because it almost shows the audience the quality of the album or they wouldn't
produce it.
To conclude on these 3 panels, they are extremely conventional due to the amount of
stereotypes of the rap genre. Guns, jewellery, tattoos and dark streets.

4. The CD design itself relates to the front cover of the digipak. It has the name of
the album on the CD, which is the same typography as the album name on the
front cover. It also has various bullet holes over the CD, which links to the front
cover having one large bullet hole. This is one of the key characteristics of the hip
hop genre.
The image below the CD is one of the inside of the case and it is of the artist
standing around a table with 2 other men counting their money. Money connotes
a few ideas, firstly it is a stereotype of rap and hip hop artists that they have lots
of money, secondly it could show their success as individuals that they have to get
a counting machine to be able to put a value on their success, or finally it also
links with the album title ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’. This seems to be a personal goal
of the artist and as he is standing their with lots of money
and flashy jewellery around his neck, we would assume that
he has met this goal. In addition to this, the artist is in the
middle of the 2 other men standing up, this could show a
hierarchical system, that the other 2 men are counting his
money for him whilst he stands around. Showing the power
he has, this tells the audience that he is important the
figure is. To match the front cover and the disc, there is a
gun down the artists trousers reinforcing themes of violence
and anger.
In the final image at the bottom there is an image of what
could be the artist pushing lots of money down his trousers.
This has key characteristics of hip hop videos, the artist here
is being a commercial exhibitionist as he is showing off the
wealth he has to the audience. Although the fact that he is
hiding the money down his trousers shows that it could
perhaps be illegal activity i.e. drugs.