Rap music videos in the 1980s were controversial. The first major rap video, "Rappers Delight" by Sugarhill Gang, portrayed the rappers as heroes through low camera angles and bird's-eye shots of dancing crowds, though it was criticized for including sexual dancing. NWA's "Straight Outta Compton" was the first stereotypical rap video, using dark lighting and portraying the lyrics through actions like MC Ren pretending to hold a gun. Both videos aimed to seem relatable through normal clothing but had different styles - Sugarhill Gang's was purely performative while NWA's combined performance with a narrative storyline.

1. Rap Music Videos in the 80’s
In the 1980s the genre rap wasnot reallyconsideredbymanymainstreammusiclistenersasa genre
of music.Netherthe lessall couldagree atthe time thatthe music videosusedforthe songwhere
verycontroversial.
Sugarhill Gang
The firstnoticedrap musicvideointhe 1980’s was the megahit“Rappers Delight”.Throughoutthe
whole musicvideoyouonlysee youngyouthsdancing. Throughoutthe majorityof the musicvideo
there are a lotof lowangle shotslookingupatthe rappers.As a resultof this,the rappersare
portrayedas heroes. There are alsoa lotof bird’seye view shotstoshow andto emphasisthe joy
that people are gettingfromthe music.The onlycontroversialthingthathappensinthe musicvideo
isthe sexual dancinginthe middle.Asaresultof this,manyof the general publicbelievedthatdue
to this,rap musicwasinappropriate anddegradingtowomen. The lightingthatisevident
throughoutthe musicvideoisbrightandfast changinginpace. As a resultof this,itcouldbe said
that the lightingconnotesthe wayinwhichthe artistswantthe songto be viewedandembarrassed
beinghappily.
The attire worn bythe artistour clothesthatyou wouldexpectnormal peopletowearinthat
particularenvironment(disco).Youcouldsaythat the reasonfor thisisbecause theywantto seem
as relatable tothe targetaudience aspossible.
The music videoisaperformative musicvideo.Thisisshownbythe factthat the musicvideo
basicallyconsistof the “SugarHill Gang” rappingto people dancing. The musicvideocan alsobe
seenaspromotingboththe group musicand brand.Thisshownviathe use of close upson the
individualartistastheyare rapping.
NWAStraight outta Compton
The “Straight OuttaCompton”musicvideowasthe firststereotypical rapmusicvideothathadbeen
seenbefore.The musicvideoisbothaperformative andnarrative musicvideo.Evidenceisshownby
the fact that everythingthatthe artistsayin the lyricsisillustrated andportrayedinthe actionsand
the thingsthat theydoin the musicvideo.Anexample of thisiswhenMcRensays “MC Rencontrols
the automatic”and the portrays himself asthoughhe isactuallyholdinganautomaticgun.
At the beginningof the musicvideoandatmidintervalsof the musicvideowhenDrDre is speaking,
the lightingisdarkand negative. Thislightingsetsanegative aggressivelightingthattheywere
tryingto create throughthe lyricsand alsonegative actionsandbodylanguage throughoutthe

2. musicvideo.Havingthisdarknegative atmosphericlightingatthe beginningof the musicvideosets
the tone of the musicvideoandalsogivesaninsighttothe audience aboutwhatthe musicvideois
goingto be about.
The attire worn bythe NWA throughoutthe musicvideoisall black.The connotationof the colour
blackis aggressive andnegative.Asaresultof this,youcouldsay that the NWA are tryingto
promote themselvesasabrand as beingbadand verycontroversial.The attire wornby the NWA can
alsobe interpretedasbeingnormal clothes.Asaresultof thisyoucouldalsosay that the purpose of
the attire worn bythe group isto make they seemrelatable totheirtargetaudience.
The editinginthe musicvideochangesdependingonthe tempoandhow fast the particularrapper
israpping.Thiscan be seenbythe fact that whenIce Cube israppingthe pace of the editingis
substantiallyfasterthanwhenEasyE israpping.The editingtechniquesisthe musicvideoare not
excellentandfull onasa resultof the fact thatthe technologyatthe time wasnot as advance as itis
today.