For my AS Media- evaluation Q2

1. The first part of the slideshow is an insight into the dominant social
group belonging to the Hiphop scene of music and culture and how I
used or challenged dominant ideas following this particular social
group. The second part of the slideshow displays Hiphop artists as a
social group and how I used or challenged conventions and stereotypes
to represent their social group.

2. The Hiphop genre can be looked at as a sub culture which includes conventions of
Hiphop dancing, graffiti styles, dedication to rap and fashion items such as high top
trainers, and the images below are features which follow and contribute to the social
groups. Features such as these are what individuals belonging to the Hiphop genre or
who consume the Hiphop genre are typically associated with…

3. I did not include any aspects of dance and graffiti in my music
magazine as I wanted to challenge stereotypical features which are
assumed to come with the Hiphop genre and I found that these two
aspects were not normally represented in typical Hiphop magazines. I
found that rappers and fashion trends such as high top trainers played
a significant part in typical Hiphop magazines instead as you can see to
the right. The artist 50 Cent, a famous rapper, stands as the main image
on this example of VIBE magazine‟s front cover.
Therefore I followed aspects of rappers and fashion trends which play a
significant part in the dominant representation of social groups
typically associated with Hiphop. I included a feature in my contents
page in my magazine about „High tops‟ to represent conventions of
fashion trends which this social group follow. My page reference read:
36 HIGH TOPS HITTING THE HIGH STREET
Sean Hunter asks why everything associated with Hiphop has to
become mainstream.
I also included a representation of rap through the article featuring on
my double page spread; in the interview my artist says: I enjoyed
being able to sing more than I ever have whilst performing
and recording with them. Most of my songs have a larger rap
approach than a singing approach so when collaborating
with these guys, gave me a chance to actually sing more than
I did rap.

4. Hiphop originated from African/Caribbean-
American communities in 1970‟s therefore is a
fairly recent development in music history. Even
though it is said that other ethnic backgrounds
have contributed to the cultural development and
movement of the genre, the roots of Hiphop
suggest individuals belonging to social groups
within the genre, are still often represented as
being African or from the Caribbean. Social groups
including the Hiphop dancers, the graffiti artists,
the individuals following Hiphop trends of
fashion, consumers of the music or the artists
themselves are typically represented as being black
therefore with this dominant representation of this
social group surrounding the genre, I felt it was
essential to represent this in my music magazine. I
supported this dominant idea through the use of
duo „CLONED‟ to ensure I portrayed a realistic
version of artists associated with Hiphop however
challenged this by using my artist, Tyra, who is
lighter in her skin to suggest that my magazine was
becoming influenced by other ethnic backgrounds.

5. Swearing; On the left is an article taken from
Hiphop music magazine XXL; on the fifth and 6th
paragraph the artist being interviewed has
incorporated swearing in his language. From
this, I incorporated swearing in my article to
include an aspect which social groups belonging
to the Hiphop genre use. In my article, Tyra says,
“You‟re never gonna fully escape from your
haters, so I say f**k the haters!” Below are two
images of two rappers belonging to the social
groups of Hiphop who are swearing using body
language. I did not want to incorporate this on
my artist as I felt it inappropriate for the style
and character I was giving off in the images of
her. Instead I challenged this representation of
Hiphop social groups, by incorporating positive
images, for example the image of my artist, Tyra.
Swearing as a feature of representation connotes
abuse and threatening behaviour and I wanted to
break this negative representation included in
social groups belonging to the Hiphop genre.

6. The following slides are an insight into the social groups of
artists belonging to the Hiphop music genre, black male or
female rappers/singers which follow certain conventions in
music magazines. They all share similarities which unites
them as a social group and through-out the construction of
my music magazine, I used these artists as inspiration to
not only appeal to social groups within the Hiphop genre
but to allow my own artists to seem like they fit in with the
social group existing artists in the industry belong to.

8. The previous images, are photographs of well known artists
belonging to the Hiphop music genre. When thinking of
social groups belonging to the Hiphop scene, popular male
black rappers are the majority. Producing a Hiphop
magazine and wanting to use a female artist as the main
focus and USP, I needed to think outside the box and
develop and challenge conventions in order to represent a
different social group other than black males. Even so, it
was hard to escape from the dominant stand black male
rappers have in the Hiphop genre so I incorporated aspects
of this particular social group in my magazine.

9. Direct mode of address- The example to the right is of
famous Hiphop artist, 50 CENT and I was inspired by his
usage of direct mode of address therefore I used it in my
image for my front cover to convey aspects of power and
dominance, ultimately representing this particular social
group.
Musicality- Following conventions of social groups
which keep the music of Hiphop alive. I was inspired by
Hiphop music magazine THE SOURCE and this issue‟s
front cover image of a Hiphop artist wearing
headphones. As I saw that this social group also
communicates aspects of musicality I wanted to do so
too to follow conventions and successfully represent the
social group.

10. Through previous research, I
discovered that colours such as red
and black are conventional within
the Hiphop genre. As seen in the
examples to the left, black male
rappers follow this colour scheme;
red and black connote danger and
power and even mystery therefore
this particular social group
belonging to the Hiphop genre live
up to these connotations by
wearing clothes with the same
colours.

11. I represented the colour scheme familiar with I represented the black colour
this particular social group belonging to the scheme which the social group
Hiphop genre, through the use of the red text on follows through the contents
my double page spread, used on the letter „T‟ of page‟s background, the black
„Tyra‟ to allow her to directly represent them and leggings the main artist, Tyra, is
on the question font to allow the magazine itself wearing and the black tops the
to represent this also. duo „CLONED‟ are wearing.

12. The first image is of Hiphop male rapper Lil Wayne who belongs
to the social group of black male rappers in the Hiphop genre. A
convention which follows these individuals is their serious facial
expressions when posing for a photo. The second image is of Jay
Z who is also holding a serious expression. I have contrasted
both of the image against the two images which I have created
for my double page spread of my main artist Tyra. I have
challenged this convention by creating two images which hold
two different facial expressions; one is a positive expression as
the artist is smiling whilst also looking cheeky as she is posed
with her tongue out and the other is another fun one as she is
pouting using her lips. I wanted to challenge serious facial
expressions which artists belonging to this social group tend to
use as I wanted to create a positive and fun character for my
artist to differentiate her to typical male rappers belonging to the
same genre.

14. Even though the majority of artists belonging to the Hiphop
genre who stand as a social group for the representation of
the scene and culture of the genre, are male, females still
play a significant part. As I used a female artist in my music
magazine, I needed to not only represent a male social
group but a female one too, to appeal to both genders of my
target audience and to represent both genders belonging to
the social group of Hiphop.

15. For the main image on my double page spread of my artist,
Tyra, I followed conventions of tribal print by incorporating
the design in the choice of leggings she appears in. I was
inspired by Hiphop artist Rihanna, who belongs to the social
group of black female artists. I thought the style of Rihanna
in this image as different, quirky but upcoming in the
fashion industry and wanted to represent an aspect of hers to
represent this type of social group.
Through the use of contrasting colours of yellow black and
white, on my image of my artist I wanted to convey a quirky
and different look similar to the image to the left of Hiphop
artist, Nicki Minaj who belongs to the social group of black
female artists.

16. I created a Hiphop duo „CLONED‟ which appeared on
the contents page in my magazine. I was inspired by the
duo group in the image to the right who belong to the
social group of female black artists. I was inspired by
their similar looks and styles and the sexual
connotations which were put forward in this image. I
used black females for my own version of a duo and I
reinforced the name of the duo through their similar
facial expressions and challenged the meaning of their
name through contrasting body language. I followed
the sexual tones which were put forward in the image of
the existing through the short black tops worn by my
duo.