Textual Analysis: 2 Chainz - No Lie ft. Drake

2 Chainz is a well known American rapper, who's 'No Lie' video features the Canadian rapper Drake. Their music video 'No Lie' is a common rap music video, which includes a variety of conventions you would expect to find in a rap video/song. Firstly, from the album cover of 'No Lie' it shows the audience already what type of genre it is. The clothing 2 Chainz wears on the close-up cover, which includes a dark hooded top, dark sunglasses along with gold jewelry, surrounded in smoke. This represents his power and wealth to his audience through the mise-en-scene of the photograph/cover.


From the beginning of the music video I first realised that the whole video is shot in monochrome with a variety of slow-motion & close-up shots. The opening scene of the video starts with a vertical split screen transition which reveals the name '2 Chainz', which is already boldly advertising and showing the audience the artist. The lyrics which appear at the beginning of nearly all of 2 Chainz records says, "Mike Will made it" this promotes & advertises the producer Michael Williams, which is followed by the words "2 Chainz". This adds to 2 Chainz motif as the audience can quickly understand who both that artist & producer is through the style it is sung at the start of this record and many others.

The opening scenes then cuts to fast pace cuts of medium close-ups of 2 Chainz & a lady dancing in slow-motion, which has already included conventions for a rap video within the first 30 seconds. The next scene cuts to a close-up shot of 2 Chainz directing the audience. In this shot he fills the majority of the frame, while wearing some unique clothes, this represents his power from how he is placed in the frame and stands out & wears dark clothing to stand out from the plain background to put the full attention of the audience upon him.

Throughout the video there are several medium and close-up shots of voyeurism from a males perspective. This is another key convention you would expect to find in a rap video, which shows the type of audience 2 Chainz targets. This represents his power throughout the video from having these girls dance in the video and in some shots around him where he is seen as the dominant one. An example of this is in the screenshot on the left, the scene fades in where 2 Chainz is seen as the dominant gender from him sitting, whereas the girls are shown as weak & a possession  from the way they are both dressed and dance around the artist in a sexual way.

The voyeurism is seen in more the beginning and end of the video. I feel this has been edited in this way to accompany the main artist 2 Chainz, rather than Drake as the voyeurism and sexual dances mainly occur when 2 Chainz raps and not Drake. I feel this has been done to imply 2 Chainz is more dominant that Drake and this expresses his wealth & power through the chosen scenes.

There are several relationships between lyrics & visuals throughout the music video. This is shown at around 0.58 where the lyrics say, "And all I get is cheese like I’m taking pictures" which is when the artist 2 Chainz makes a hand movement to simulate a camera, this is a close-up shot where he dominates most of the frame and directs the audience. It is a fairly low-key shot in which there is a lot of contrast on his face, which directs the audiences attention upon the artist.

There is a straight cut to both 2 Chainz & Drake in the foreground of the scene, in a painted drizzled black & white room. As Drake is only featuring in 2 Chainz video, Drake is seen a less dominant through the height of the artist and his clothing. In the scene I have shown on the left 2 Chainz in seen at a higher height wearing dark low-key clothing, this represents him a more powerful & dominant than Drake as it puts more attention upon 2 Chainz.

The ending of the video ends in a two separate shots of both artists, this again similar to the opening of the video promotes and advertises both artists through the video, but in different ways. 2 Chainz appears to dominate the frame along with the font, he wears some unique clothing & sunglasses which he wears throughout the video which promotes his unique style, this is accompanied by lighting directing upon him, this puts your main attention on both him & the bold white font which is seen throughout this & other videos.

The next shot is similar within the layout and style, but advertises and promotes Drake. This shot of Drake contrasts with 2 Chainz closing shot from how it was low-key background, with the main attention put upon 2 Chainz and the bold white writing. This contrasts as he seems to be the opposite with a bright high-hey background. However, the attention in not so much upon Drake from his high-key clothing and how he is lit, I feel this has been done to contrast with 2 Chainz to show who has more authority as Drake is featuring in 2 Chainz music video.

The second from last closing shot is of a girl in very little clothing, which the attention put upon her from how she is lit and the 'BY DIRECTOR X' wording which advertises and promotes the director. From low-key plain background and how the girl is seen throughout the video this shows to the audience what type of music video's 'Director X' is involved in and their type of target audience.

Textual Analysis: Macklemore - Thrift Shop

Ben Haggerty, known by his stage name Macklemore is an American rapper. He is only recently gathered a larger fan-base across America & United Kingdom, he is best known for his hip-hop narrative and abstract based music video's, such as Thrift Shop, Can't Hold Us & Same Love.

The beginning of the music video opens with a long-shot of a group of people moving towards the camera. From this opening it is clear who the main star/artist is, this is shown through his unique appearance, where is is placed within the frame and the height he is seen at. Macklemore wearing a large animal printed fur coat is seen to be higher and in front of the other people, with the main focus upon him, this represents his authority, image and wealth.

The large group behind accompanying Macklemore, are also dressed in informal unique clothing which corresponds with the main artist. Which are a mixed group of genders, ethnicity, but are all around the same age group which represents his type and age of his target audience.

The next shot opens with extreme close-up and close-up of hands and the two girls accompanying the artist. Here again he is seen a higher than two ladies of how they are either side of him as he is significantly at a higher level than them, with Macklemore dominating the frame which is shown with the central composition, this again represents his authority and wealth. Both girls are represented as 'eye-candy' this is shown through the slow-motion close-up shots of the girl sipping her drink

As the visuals carry on the music starts to come in which corresponds with the visuals. Macklemore raps about his love for buying things at the thrift shop and saving big money. The representations of Macklemore changes throughout the video. It starts off he is seen a a very dominant character and expresses is wealth through his clothing and props. This changes as he is represented through the video as someone who saves money and mocks people buying big brand names, when he pays 99 cent for items in the thrift shop.

Until this point the visuals have juxtaposed the music, he now sings the words, "They had a broken keyboard, I bought a broken keyboard!" This then matches both visuals with sound, as he then goes on to rap about buying sheets & knee-boards which also corresponds both visuals and sound. All these shots are medium close-ups of Macklemore, with producer Ryan Lewis where they dominate the frame, apart from the long-shot which establishes his location.

The shot at 1:40 in the video of a large lady lip syncing Macklemore's song comes across a slightly sarcastic and is seen a bit of a parody, especially by the the appearance of the lady they have used. However, throughout the video there is a large variety people from different ethnic backgrounds. This peruses the artists as an a believer is equality, which he also raps about equality in marriage in a song & music video 'Same Love'.

Macklemore - Star Image

I noticed throughout his Macklemore's 'Thrift Shop' video and other music video's that Macklemore's star image motif is him wearing a gold watch in nearly every scene, along with him Ryan Lewis his producer also wears a golden watch when he is seen in the video's. This corresponds with his unique star image image, this is seen through the appearance of his unique and different clothing & haircut. It is important that this star image and motif is seen throughout his music video's so that it promotes & advertise him, his music and his beliefs. The photograph below promoting the song & music video Thrift Shop, shows there motif of both Macklemore & Ryan Lewis wearing the gold watch.