Codes and conventions

       Codes and conventions of rap

There are many different codes and conventions for the rap genre. These range from generic conventions to conventions associated with a specific artist, and even different codes and conventions of the different eras of rap. 

Codes and conventions list

Gang Culture - Gang culture is a key convention displayed in rap. This has been key throughout raps history and is still a key aspect of rap in today's era which is the late 2000s.

American struggle - This specific theme is present in a lot of rap videos and lyrics. However, in the late 2000s this specific theme seems to be fading as glamour, money/ luxury life style is becoming more popular in today's rap music. 

Bling - Although contrasting to the American struggle, bling (jewellery) was very popular back in the 1980's which is a huge contrast to the themes they talk about, as bling shows wealth. However, this could act as a message to viewers demonstrating how you're life can change drastically.

Urban locations - Urban locations such as cities are a key feature in a rap music video. This is because they are able to showcase the different range of cultures such as gang culture. In American rap, city's such as Compton are featured heavily and is normally the main focus point for LA rappers. 

A picture of Los Angeles at night

Props - Guns, drugs, cars and jewellery are huge iconic symbols of the rap genre. Props such as Guns and Drugs help display the ruthlessness of gang culture and cars and jewellery portray the opposite, Luxury. This also displays evidence of Levi's theory of binary opposites. Props such as bling were a common convention in the 1980's and also are still used today by a few selected artists such as Fetty Wap. 

A picture of the artist Fetty Wap wearing bling

Colour - Black, white, blue and red are all conventional colours used in  music videos as well as album covers. Black and white colours represent the grittiness of the artists lifes and the blue and red colours could represent gang culture. This is due to the compton gangs like the crips and the bloods who have a fierce rivalry between each other. These colours symbolise this as the crips represent the blue and the red represents the bloods.

How rap has changed since 2010

Since 2010, rap has in some cases diverted from it's roots and has incorporated new elements into it for example, certain artists are using more of pop music culture into the music, and conventions such as guns are being seen less and less. However, a large majority still oblige by the old structure and foundations of rap music, as seen by a recent music video, 100 by the game. In this music video, we can still see evidence of gang culture, shown by the colour red which represents the bloods (a notorious L.A gang), and their gang symbols shown through their hand gestures. We can also still see elements of bling, like the gold necklaces around their necks, as well from over rap stars like Fetty Wap and drake.

Summary - What I have learnt so far

Overall, genre conventions in from different eras, are still consistently being used in todays modern rap to a certain extent. As the years have past, some conventions have faded away such as bling, however, this seems to have been released by physical money which symbolises the same thing, luxury and wealth. On the other hand, some rap stars still use older conventions to this day for example, Fetty was with bling and The game with gang culture.

The style I would prefer to recreate for our main music video task, would be the newer style, as it still includes older elements of rap like bling but, introduces new elements that would work well with the facilities we have. For example, we could include the music studio into our music video, as a lot of current artists contain images of them working in the studio, therefore we will be able to conform to modern and older conventions better than just older conventions.