Travis Scott - Butterfly Effect

Travis Scott - Butterfly Effect:

The ‘Butterfly Effect’ is the concept that small causes can have large effects. Travis Scott is also using a double-entendre with “butterfly” as he also refers to the doors on his Lamborghini car. Travis describes his new life, how great it is, and how he could never go back to the old one. The production on this song is by Murda Beatz: 'Murda on the beat so it's not nice', who is producing a lot of the upcoming Travis Scott and Quavo collaboration album.

Techniques:

Different techniques used in this music video are mainly lip-syncing, and very fast cutting to the beat. Lip-syncing is a very common them in this genre as it almost is hand in hand with the Performance style. Cutting to the beat is also very common amongst rappers as it makes the video a lot more aesthetic to watch as it is in rhythm and will flow much better.


Styles: 

The styles used in this music video are Interpretive Narrative and Performance along with stylish special effects. The narrative can be perceived in many different ways depending on how you look at it as well as your own personal culture or background. Or even just how you listen to the Hip-Hop genre itself. Again, the common them of performance is shown by Travis as in Hip-Hop's culture many rappers want to show off their material assets, mainly through jewellery, cars, fashion and women.



Representations:

Whilst Travis is sometimes criticised for 'rapping about nothing', critics have found a clear theme emerging from his most recent songs - Monarch programming. It appears that Travis is now promoting the elite’s MK symbolism to his thousands of young fans. When a new artist shows talent, charisma and star potential, it doesn’t take long before they get recruited by the elite. Afterwards, their work becomes “tainted” with their agenda. For example - Butterfly Effect. Monarch Programming is a method of mind control used by numerous organisations. It is a continuation of the project MK-ULTRA,  which is a mind-control program developed by the CIA, and tested on both the military and civilians. The methods are extremely vicious; its entire purpose is to traumatize the victim. The results are just as horrifying due to the creation of a mind-controlled slave can be triggered at anytime to perform any action required by 'the handler'.  While mass media has ignored the issue, over 2 million Americans have been put through the horrors of this program. For immediate proof, this screenshot taken from the video of Travis spitting out Butterflies after being struck by lightning. Also notice how his brain is all road showing that he is being controlled. 

In the video, Travis rides around in sports cars while girls dance around him erotically and perform as part of the male gaze. However, the symbolism surrounding the women really implies that they are all owned by an extremely oppressive system. 

Here, one model licks and bites into an apple with butterflies printed on it. This is a very symbolic way of representing them being drugged for MK programming. As this image is along side the lyrics of 'M&M's, sweet like candy cane'. Clearly referencing MDMA and Ecstasy pills.

Here, the models are blatantly just spitting out butterflies - a clear of showing they are under Monarch slavery.

Nearing the end of the video, Travis gets struck by lightning, being completely undertaken by this culture.

Of course this is just one representation of the music video, however it is actually a common them in hip-hop music videos at the moment such as in Lil Uzi Vert's 'XO Tour Lif3' and Playboi Carti's 'Magnolia', therefore needs to be addressed. Here is a further example of Travis and SZA with the Monarch Butterflies:

Kendrick Lamar - HUMBLE

Kendrick Lamar - HUMBLE:

On HUMBLE, Kendrick Lamar challenges his competition. The music video is directed by Dave Meyers and The Little Homies. It features religious imagery intertwined with urban life, for example Kendrick wearing priest’s robes and a moving re-enactment of Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting The Last Supper — with the hook contrasting this with the concept of humility. Also, religiously, the song is also shown to be a reference to the verse James 4:7. 'So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you'. This can be linked to April 7th, the date Kendrick told the industry to 'have their shit together'.

Mike WiLL Made-It produced the beat. It features a deep piano riff and a banging 808 bass line. This style of production is a real difference from the sound of Kendrick’s most recent jazz-influenced project, To Pimp a Butterfly.

The song ended up debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it one of the highest debuting hip-hop singles since Eminem's: “Love the Way You Lie”. Later, the song hit No. 1 on the chart on June 5, 2017, making it Kendrick’s first No. 1 song and second No. 1 song overall on the charts.

Styles: 

This video is predominantly an illustrative narrative, where the lyrics and the visuals have a strong bond, however some parts can be interpreted differently. The music video has a very religious narrative which is seen from the post-modern scenes of Kendrick Lamar dressed as a Pope and representing Jesus on ‘The Last Supper’ scene. The music video does also have a second narrative, in which involves all the other (unreligious) scenes where it portrays the idea of how the people from his race and culture are represented in the society through political views and through the media, as the lyrics link to these scenes as well as the special effects that have been included in the video. The music video has links with Goodwin’s theory as the actual music video has relation to the song lyrics itself. In the case of this music video, there is no real structure like Todorov’s, however this a consistent message throughout the video. Binary oppositions are pretty much used throughout, the whole video is basically one big binary opposition as previously stated, Kendrick Lamar raps about being humble, when doing the exact opposite thing to that. This creates a ironic effect throughout, which makes this video so successful and powerful. The video is quite free flowing, with no obvious storyline or structure, but that adds to the video more. A forced storyline wouldn't really fit in with the message he is trying to connote; also, storylines aren’t really used heavily within hip-hop videos, which is also a reason why he hasn't opted to you use them.

Techniques: 

Techniques being used in this video are Lip-Syncing, Cutting to the beat and some special effects editing. Lighting is used very strongly in this music video and the connotations which he is trying to bring across are fairly obvious. First of all, at the start of the video, Kendrick is in a very low-key lighting setting, with a beam of light focused on him; this could connote that he is God-like or Jesus-like. This along with the message of be humble, is a great juxtaposition as Kendrick is comparing himself to God, while telling people to be humble, which is what makes this video so interesting and powerful. However, high-key lighting is consistent throughout the video, usually focused around Kendrick himself, showing again he's the most important person.

Mise-en-scene and Locations: 

With the very first shot, it shows Kendrick in what appears to be a religious place. This is typical of the hip-hop scene as a majority of artists are very religious and are open about it. Music videos are a huge part of connoting a rappers thoughts, roots or ideas. Again in the case of Kendrick Lamar - HUMBLE. he uses his video to show his roots from Los Angeles, as at around the 54 second mark, it shows him in the famous Los Angeles river. This is very typical of a hip-hop music video as each rapper is battling it out, for their area to try and make theirs the most prominent and best in the scene, with Kendrick Lamar representing Compton in California, it is typical for rappers to base the majority of their videos near a famous landmark or place in their city, state or area; again to show their culture and heritage alongside the music. In one scene, Kendrick Lamar shows up as a new character - the victim of the media. You can see that the women around him are counting money and counters could almost be mistaken for typewriters; the girls could then represent paparazzi journalists. They are making money of his character. Their faces are also hidden underneath a mask which means they are undercover.

Camerawork: 

There is a lot of interesting and unorthodox shots and camera movements in this music video, which makes the video even more interesting for someone to watch. First of all, at 41 seconds, there is a shot which shows Kendrick riding a bike, the shot is very different and isn’t used often in the hip-hop scene. This shot could connote that Kendrick rules the world and is the only person on it who is important as he is the only person in the shot. Another interesting shot is the shot at two minutes thirty, where the camera appears to be shaking. This shot creates an aggressive tone again, where everything is centred around Kendrick. The shots used in this music video are unorthodox to the genre of hip-hop but create such an amazing effect throughout the video.

Sound: 

The sounds focus is purely on the lyrics and the music track itself. There is no other diegetic or non-diegetic sound involved such as skits of dialogue. This is to really emphasise the beat of the music and its catchy lyrics - the chorus has been the most important lyrics as it repeats 'Bitch, be humble (hol’ up, bitch), Sit down (hol’ up, lil', hol’ up, lil'bitch)'. Kendrick’s pressing his competition to humble themselves to his superiority. The media and his fans, have commented that this chorus is directed at Big Sean, who mentioned that he was abandoning his humble attitude on “No Favors.” He also frequently uses the ad-libs “hol' up” and “lil' bitch,” in his songs but Kendrick is likely addressing all of his competition, not just Sean. Kendrick does also have a 2011 song titled, “Hol' Up,” so this lyric is a common ad-lib throughout his music.

Representation: 

In terms of gender within the music video, male are the more dominant gender throughout the video, however women are used occasionally, but not in the typical way they are used in hip-hop videos. Stereotypically, beautiful women in minimal clothing are used in hip-hop videos as a way for artists to show off power and wealth, but in the case of HUMBLE. the stereotype is broken once again. The use of women isn’t to show-off, but instead used as a way to promote the message of the song; where Kendrick talks about how women are photoshopped and given unrealistic goals for them to reach. This isn’t the case in the majority of music videos within this genre, where women are always typically very slim and are often objectified. For black men, there is the stereotype that they are always violent and in gangs, which is shown nearer the end of the music video where a fight breaks out. Kendrick Lamar is famous for trying to bring peace within gangs and young people, so this part of the video where he ignores the fight could add to his stance on it. This again breaks the stereotype where hip-hop artists are violent and dangerous.  

There is an issue portrayed all the way through the video which is when Kendrick mentions his race and culture and how it is viewed in many different ways and the fact society and government is still very racist towards the black culture. He tries not to hide from his identity but still trying to get a message through that still hasn’t been solved.

Migos feat. Gucci Mane - Slippery

Migos - Slippery:

On 'Slippery', Migos team up with fellow Atlantan - Gucci Mane for a song about drugs, jewellery, and Quavo’s aunts and uncles. The track features a catchy beat produced by Deko and OG Parker. This is not the first time Migos have featured Gucci on their tracks. He has appeared before on tracks such as 2016’s “Now” and 2013’s “Dennis Rodman.” As well as this, Migos are thought to have inspired Gucci’s latest album title, Drop Top Wop. The music video was released on May 4th 2017 and already has 141 million views.

Styles: 

This music video style is all performance. As a lot of what Migos are rapping about and a common theme in modern hip hop is showing off. As they have come from having nothing to making millions of dollars they want to show this off in their performance in ways such as jewellery, the setting of the music video (in the rappers' mansion), by pools and jacuzzi's and by sports cars. Although this music video has no elements of performance to an audience, each member definitely performs to the camera and the girls around them.

Techniques:

The main techniques used in Slippery are Cutting to the Beat, Lip-Sync and Multi-Screen. It does also switch occasionally to a retro style video; these shots are actually home recordings of Quavo's most recent house party for his birthday. Cutting to the beat is often used in rap songs as the beats are usually quite fast and you can achieve a fast paced, stylish look when cutting to this. It is often used to cut away from an object or actor to the artist to emphasise an important lyric. For example at 1:14 when it cuts back to Quavo performing to the performing saying 'Ice tray, Ice Tray' - talking about his expensive jewellery. Multi-screen is very commonly used in groups to obviously show each member of the group all at once.





Mise-en-scene:

As can be seen in some of the pictures, Migos are constantly in expensive clothing such as Gucci which is also mentioned in the songs lyrics. And have on extremely expensive custom jewellery. This, of course, is them flaunting their wealth and power over other people and other rappers in the same genre. Also relating to wealth we can see a women pouring a glass of expensive, Royal Elite brand vodka. Gucci Mane, who features on the song is also shown with an expensive, luxury sports car, which again is another example of the rappers showing off their wealth. A yacht is also shown in the background of another shot. In a lot of the shots, the artists or expensive items around them are placed to stand out due to colour and camera angles. This is to make them the centre of attention and develop their star power. This can relate to Richard Dyer's Star Theory as the more a label can develop an artist's star power, the more money they can also make off of them. 


Camerawork: 


The music video is mostly handheld, moving shots which links well to the song making it flow freely and make it feel more real. The music video mainly varies between close-ups and mid shots of the four artists with women used as background figures. We also get a lot of close-ups of body parts of multiple women usually the sexiest parts of the female body, which shows the objectification that occurs in the video which I explain more of in the Representations section. Close-ups are also used for other reasons, for example, to again show the expensive clothes and jewellery the artists are wearing to continue to  show how much money they have.





Sound:

The sounds focus is purely on the lyrics and the music track itself. There is no other diegetic or non-diegetic sound involved such as skits of dialogue. This is to really emphasise the beat of the music and its catchy lyrics - these two lines of the chorus have been most popular: 'Slippery, 'scuse me, please me, I'm up, oh, believe me, believe me'. This is a common theme amongst many hip hop videos as they want people to know their lyrics.

                                                                                    Editing:

There is very little visual/special effects editing in this music video as it seems the key focus is just clean, crisp shots cutting back and forth between the rappers and the appealing women actors. As well as using the 'Cutting to the Beat technique. They clearly had the idea to keep the editing simple and show off in other ways such as their jewellery. There is however, some colour grading to enhance bright colours and make them look more vivid against a dullish background as you can see here in Offset's shirt.


Representation:

Throughout this music video women are objectified and are wearing very little clothing. They are basically treated as an accessory and seem to be entranced by the artists at times. Women are also used in the video as a background accessories, as you can see here from these two Over the Shoulder shots where twice we see the rappers at the front in focus and the women in sexual positions but blurred out behind them.

As the music video does not follow any narrative, the women have very little relevance to anything really going on, they are just there to look good. As well as this, the women in the video, when in the same shot as the artists, are often show behind the artist and at a lower level than them. This connotes the rappers superiority over the women. We see a couple of shots of the same woman in pouring a glass of vodka whilst Migos relax in the pool which could portray that women are only good for carrying out jobs for men. The video almost makes it seem as if the artists own the women, always over them or having them carry out task for them. Overall, Migos music videos are fairly typical examples of how women are represented across hip-hop.


Below are some more screenshots of how the music video has a clear link to Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze, where woman shown in the perspective of a heterosexual man - woman are shown as objects to admired. These shots are all different examples of the types of angels that can be used.

 

 

 

Theories: Richard Dyer

Richard Dyer's Star Theory:

The Star as a Construction - the artists image is constructed throughout their music videos, not a real person

The Star as a Commodity - stars are created by labels to generate a profit through music, music video, and merchandise

The Star as an Ideology - the artists represent certain social groups and views. This results in fans copying them and their behaviour (they idolise them)

Paradox of the Star - the star must be both ordinary and extraordinary; relatable to society yet still idolised by their fans, and present and absent; involved with fans enough yet also from a professional side - out of reach

For example, Miley Cyrus became famous and viral for her explicit music video, twerking and riding naked on a wrecking ball. However it is likely that she wouldn’t be doing any of this stuff in the privacy of her own home. This means that the person Miley Cyrus is and her star profile are two different people.

Theories: Barthes

Genre Case Study

I thought Hip-Hop would be a great genre to research as although it has been around as long as most other genres, only recently it has overtake ‘Rock’ to become the most popular genre of this modern, youth generation. A first example I am going to show you is Playboi Carti - Magnolia. I feel this video shows all elements of Hip-Hop at the moment especially through the visuals. As with constantly improving technology, editors are finding new ways to show off their skills with combining different shots together and creating other elements to the video such as the Butterflies.

Hip-Hop can date as far back as 1924 and has been majorly influenced by artists such as Run DMC, The Rock Steady Crew, The Grandmaster and more.

Brief Timeline:

1980s - Throughout the 1980s artist ‘Afrika Bambaataa’ helped define not just the genre and it’s songs but the culture itself. His key thoughts were that Hip-Hop was a state of mind and a way of expressing yourself creatively not a set of hard rules and guidelines.

1990s - The 90s is where Hip-Hop really started to become a popular genre. This century saw the rise of some of the biggest and most important names in Hip-Hop. Legends like Snoopdog, 2 PAC, NAS and The Notorious B.I.G all took over. NAS's first big album 'Illmatic' is thought of as one of the greatest Hip Hop Albums of all time. During the 90s, 2 PAC is also involved in gang violence where he was shot five times and served 8 months in prison, beginning to give the Hip Hop culture a particular stereotype.

2000s - Dr Dre, Eminem and Missi Elliot, N.W.A and Puff Daddy (now known as P Diddy) are now on the scene and are bringing new ideas. Eminem created a huge stir in the industry as he was one of the only white rappers in Hip-Hop (seen to be for the most part a black culture), to start challenging the other rappers lyrically and defeating them.

2010s - Kanye West, J.Cole, Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Mob, Nicki Minaj and many more are now some of the top Hip Hop artists of our generation. Hip Hop is ever-growing and in 2014 Eminem was the first Hip Hop rapper to headline at Wembley Stadium, selling out a venue holding 90,000 people. Hip-Hop has also very recently taken over the Rock genre in being the most popular and listened to genre; this is the first time in years. Also the birth of the new sub-genres of Hip-Hop such as 'Soundcloud' and 'Mumble Rappers' have evolved like Travis Scott, Lil Pump and XXXTentacion.

Key Examples:

Lil Pump:  Lil Pump at only 17 years of age, is an American rapper and songwriter from Miami, Florida. He began uploading songs to the recently popular music sharing website SoundCloud in 2016, gaining almost one-hundred million streams combined on the site. He linked together with fellow Miami rapper Smokepurpp, who was already quite popular for this new style of Hip-Hop. He has already performed at the Rolling Loud Festival. Lil Pump is best known for his song "Gucci Gang" which peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100.

A$AP Mob: A$AP Mob are a hugely influential group on the Hip Hop scene and holds a total of 12 members. They have their own record label called A$AP Worldwide but are also represented by RCA Records and Polo Grounds Records. A few of the group's largest members include A$AP Rocky, A$AP Ferg and the late A$AP Yams.





J.Cole: J. Cole has 10 top selling albums and has toured world wide multiple times, most recently selling out the O2 on multiple dates. He's a producer, songwriter, rapper and singer. He says he was inspired by Canibus, NAS, Eminem and Tupac - mainly by their ability to story-tell with their lyrics and word play. He is currently signed with Dreamville Records and like I mentioned, has just finished his most recent world tour to show off his latest platinum album, For Your Eyez Only.

Theories: Laura Mulvey

Theories: Goodwin

Music Video Styles and Techniques