Media Magazine for Critical investigation

http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/mmagpast/MM45_read_rap.html

http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/mmagpast/MM45_read_rap.html

Bristolian rapper David Aidoo, aka ThisisDA, considers what’s important in ‘reading’ the meaning of music. Is it the lyrics, the rhymes, the beats – or the intensity of the emotion created in the listener? Does music have meanings you can analyse – or is it an experience you feel?

Amazon Research for Critical Investigation x 10

AMAZON

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Music-Video-Politics-Representation-Moving/dp/0748633235/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384852699&sr=8-1&keywords=rap+representations

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sex-Violence-Issues-Representation-Experience/dp/0415057345/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1384853008&sr=8-7&keywords=violence+representations

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Male-Representations-Masculinity-Contemporary/dp/0874270936/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385050388&sr=8-1&keywords=books+on+representation+of+black+males

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Genocide-Representation-Cultures-Practice-Violence/dp/082234405X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1385050415&sr=8-2&keywords=books+on+representation+of+violence

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Violence-Representation-Routledge-Research-Cultural/dp/0415829402/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1385050415&sr=8-4&keywords=books+on+representation+of+violence

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sex-Violence-Issues-Representation-Experience/dp/0415057345/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1385050415&sr=8-6&keywords=books+on+representation+of+violence

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rape-Representation-Gender-Culture-Series/dp/0231072678/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&qid=1385050523&sr=8-22&keywords=books+on+representation+of+violence

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Rhymes-Poetics-Hip-Hop/dp/0465003478/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1384852898&sr=1-12&keywords=rap+hip+hop

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Understanding-Rap-Explanations-Confusing-Understand/dp/0810989212/ref=sr_1_14?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1384852898&sr=1-14&keywords=rap+hip+hop

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hood-Comes-First-Space-Culture/dp/0819563978/ref=sr_1_25?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1384852966&sr=1-25&keywords=rap+hip+hop


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cant-Stop-Wont-History-Generation/dp/0091912210/ref=sr_1_15?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1384852898&sr=1-15&keywords=rap+hip+hop

Google Scholar for My Critical Investigation x 10

Google Scholar

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01973533.1995.9646099

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of exposure to rap music on the attitudes and perceptions of young African-American males. Subjects u were exposed to violent rap music videos, nonviolent rap music videos, or no music videos (controls). They read two vignettes, involving: (a) a violent act perpetrated against a man and a woman, and (b) a young man who chose to engage in academic pursuits to achieve success, whereas his friend, who was unemployed, "mysteriously" obtained extravagant items (i.e., a nice car, nice clothes). Results indicated, first, that when compared to subjects in the nonviolent exposure and control conditions, subjects in the violent exposure conditions expressed greater acceptance of the use of violence. Second, when compared to subjects in the control condition, subjects in the violent condition 'reported a higher probability that they would engage in violence.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01544683#

The purpose of the present study was to assess the effects of exposure to nonviolent rap music on African American adolescents' perceptions of teen dating violence. African American male and female subjects were exposed to nonviolent rap videos (which contained images of women in sexually subordinate roles) or they saw no videos. They read a vignette that involved teen dating violence perpetrated by a male.

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=61724

Hip hop's capacity to circumvent the constraints and limiting social conditions of young Afro-American and Latino youths has been examined and celebrated by cultural critics and scholars in various contexts since its inception in the mid-1970s. For instance, the 8 February 1999 issue of US magazine Time featured a cover photo of ex-Fugees and five-time Grammy award winner Lauryn Hill with the accompanying headline ‘Hip-Hop Nation: After 20 Years – how it's changed America’. Over the years, however, there has been little attention granted to the implications of hip hop's spatial logics. Time's coverage is relatively standard in perceiving the hip hop nation as a historical construct rather than a geo-cultural amalgamation of personages and practices that are spatially dispersed.

http://pwq.sagepub.com/content/19/2/195.short

he purpose of this study was to determine the effects of cognitive distortions concerning women on sexually aggressive behavior in the laboratory. Twenty-seven men listened to misogynous rap music and 27 men listened to neutral rap music. Participants then viewed neutral, sexual-violent, and assaultive film vignettes and chose one of the vignettes to show to a female confederate. Among the participants in the misogynous music condition, 30% showed the assaultive vignette and 70% showed the neutral vignette. In the neutral condition, 7% showed the sexual-violent or assaultive vignette and 93% showed the neutral vignette. 

http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=zGC_ZNOrKDwC&oi=fnd&pg=PP9&dq=rap+music+on+audience&ots=eRwHEZ6DLr&sig=GJFsnkCMKPb3Iw2kaWw6y8xSLCI#v=onepage&q=rap%20music%20on%20audience&f=false

http://gpi.sagepub.com/content/5/2/133.short

In two experiments, primed subjects were exposed to violent and misogynistic rap music and control subjects were exposed to popular music. Experiment 1 showed that violent and misogynistic rap music increased the automatic associations underlying evaluative racial stereotypes in high and low prejudiced subjects alike. By contrast, explicit stereotyping was dependent on priming and subjects’ prejudice level. In Experiment 2, the priming manipulation was followed by a seemingly unrelated person perception task in which subjects rated Black or White targets described as behaving ambiguously. As expected, primed subjects judged a Black target less favorably than a White target. By contrast, control subjects rated Black and White targets similarly. Subjects’ level of prejudice did not moderate these findings, suggesting the robustness of priming effects on social judgments.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01544683#page-1


http://gpi.sagepub.com/content/5/2/133.short
In two experiments, primed subjects were exposed to violent and misogynistic rap music and control subjects were exposed to popular music. Experiment 1 showed that violent and misogynistic rap music increased the automatic associations underlying evaluative racial stereotypes in high and low prejudiced subjects alike. By contrast, explicit stereotyping was dependent on priming and subjects’ prejudice level. In Experiment 2, the priming manipulation was followed by a seemingly unrelated person perception task in which subjects rated Black or White targets described as behaving ambiguously. As expected, primed subjects judged a Black target less favorably than a White target. By contrast, control subjects rated Black and White targets similarly. Subjects’ level of prejudice did not moderate these findings, suggesting the robustness of priming effects on social judgments.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1447759/

Rap music videos are a media genre that is attracting considerable attention. Rap music has evolved from African American music forms, with influences from rhythm and blues, fusion, contemporary gospel, and bebop. Although there is considerable concern regarding the themes and images expressed in rap music videos, limited empirical research has examined the effect of rap music videos on adolescents’ behaviour.

Google Advanced Searches for Critical Investigation x 6

Google advanced searches

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/27/17485146-anti-violence-campaign-draws-criticism-for-rapper-chief-keef-photo

The image prompted an instant backlash from people who thought the rapper with often violent lyrics had no place in an anti-violence ad, with one commenter calling on Keef to "repent of his messages of murder and drugs."

http://raprehab.com/interscope-records-the-real-gangsters-of-gangsta-rap/

When news of his 2011 arrest hit the streets his then unknown anthems “Bang” “3HUNNA” and “I Don’t Like” became the soundtrack of the city where the murder rate has increased 38%in the past six months.

http://raprehab.com/is-hip-hop-destroying-black-america/

Is Hip Hop Destroying Black America? To answer this question fairly, we must first discard the distorted image of Hip Hop that mainstream media has passed off for the past 20 years. Hip Hop is a movement consisting of 4 main artistic elements: DJ’ing, Rapping, Breaking and Graffiti. But at its core, it is a philosophy based on the idea that self-expression is an integral part of the pursuit of peace, love and unity. 

http://www.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/mediarace/negative.htm

In April 1992, Texan Ronald Howard was driving through the state in a stolen car. He was pulled over by state trooper Bill Davidson for a possible traffic violation and became uneasy about the stolen car. During the encounter, Howard removed a nine millimetre Glock pistol from his glove compartment and shot officer Davidson, killing him at the scene. At the time of the incident, Howard had a pirated copy of the tape 2Pacalypse Now playing in his automobile's cassette deck. This album, performed by Tupac Shakur, and produced by Atlantic Recordings and Inters cope Records, both subsidiaries of Time Warner, Inc., also contained similar gangster rap lyrics and messages (this recording occurred before Tupac signed with Death Row Records). One specific song on the 2Pacalypse Now album titled "Crooked Ass Nigga" talks about a frightfully similar situation to the one that took place between Howard and Davidson.

http://blackexcellencex.wordpress.com/tag/gbe-gang/

  Annual Chicago police statistics show a majority of both homicide victims and offenders are young black men with criminal records… A deeper review of the numbers shows males ages 15 to 35 made up nearly three-quarters of African-American homicide victims…

http://globalsiteplans.com/environmental-design/communityeconomic-development/chief-keef-and-chicago-illinois-murder-rate-the-glorification-of-youth-violence/
Mostly by coincidence the summer radio airwaves were gripped by a new voice in hip hop, that of teenage rap sensation Chief Keef. The sixteen-year-old’s breakthrough hit “I Don’t Like” features numerous gunshot noises and the percussive annunciation of “bang bang” by Keef and his associates, as he proceeds to list the things he, well, doesn’t like. The question remains whether Chief Keef is merely reflecting the violent environment he grew up in, or whether he is glorifying a violent lifestyle. David Drake and David Turner, writing in Complex Magazine, argue that Keef is a product of his environment, but that his fame carries with it new responsibility:

Review Critical Investigation

WWW: whats gone well so far is that i have been able to collect a great amount of research and have also been obtain the source of my research will make my bibliography much easier.

EBI: i have not carried out nearly as much of analysis as i should have and have not made as much progress as i wanted to have done by now. below are a list of other targets
More in depth sources
Use a wider range of sources and begin to use media magazine more
Speed up productivity

Notes & Quotes 2000 Words

My notes and quotes has been created in order to give me a detailed and very useful list of sources that relate to my media investigation below are links of sites than contain information and theorys relevant to my critical investigation and will be used for my essay.

To start this off i have carried out detailed research to find out what is so violent and sexist in chief keefs music as well as the content of which he talks about drugs and have found some of his lyrics relating to these topics:

"Shoot a nigga then act like its nothing" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T5F8DPsejs

"we got AK's and shotguns" -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eppLEoFpCHw&safe=active

"im always stoned, im all high" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eppLEoFpCHw&safe=active

"i hate being sober, ima smoker" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNMuIPsz6lE&safe=active
"I fucked that bitch but i dont know remember her name" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eppLEoFpCHw&safe=active
"what you smoking on i need a blunt of that shit" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLZtcfFObso
"I had a threesome with a millionare different hoes today" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLZtcfFObso

Chief keef was also involved in some contraversy with Katy Perry Threatening to smack her.

In fact he has been involved with a number of controversy including lupe fiasco and even the death of another Chicago rapper

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/27/17485146-anti-violence-campaign-draws-criticism-for-rapper-chief-keef-photo

The image prompted an instant backlash from people who thought the rapper with often violent lyrics had no place in an anti-violence ad, with one commenter calling on Keef to "repent of his messages of murder and drugs."

http://raprehab.com/interscope-records-the-real-gangsters-of-gangsta-rap/

When news of his 2011 arrest hit the streets his then unknown anthems “Bang” “3HUNNA” and “I Don’t Like” became the soundtrack of the city where the murder rate has increased 38%in the past six months.

http://raprehab.com/is-hip-hop-destroying-black-america/

Is Hip Hop Destroying Black America? To answer this question fairly, we must first discard the distorted image of Hip Hop that mainstream media has passed off for the past 20 years. Hip Hop is a movement consisting of 4 main artistic elements: DJ’ing, Rapping, Breaking and Graffiti. But at its core, it is a philosophy based on the idea that self-expression is an integral part of the pursuit of peace, love and unity. 

http://www.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/mediarace/negative.htm

In April 1992, Texan Ronald Howard was driving through the state in a stolen car. He was pulled over by state trooper Bill Davidson for a possible traffic violation and became uneasy about the stolen car. During the encounter, Howard removed a nine millimetre Glock pistol from his glove compartment and shot officer Davidson, killing him at the scene. At the time of the incident, Howard had a pirated copy of the tape 2Pacalypse Now playing in his automobile's cassette deck. This album, performed by Tupac Shakur, and produced by Atlantic Recordings and Inters cope Records, both subsidiaries of Time Warner, Inc., also contained similar gangster rap lyrics and messages (this recording occurred before Tupac signed with Death Row Records). One specific song on the 2Pacalypse Now album titled "Crooked Ass Nigga" talks about a frightfully similar situation to the one that took place between Howard and Davidson.

http://blackexcellencex.wordpress.com/tag/gbe-gang/

  Annual Chicago police statistics show a majority of both homicide victims and offenders are young black men with criminal records… A deeper review of the numbers shows males ages 15 to 35 made up nearly three-quarters of African-American homicide victims…

Source: 

http://www.debate.org/opinions/does-modern-rap-and-pop-music-have-a-negative-influence-on-children

 I think it all depends on the music. Like what lincoln.Douglas07 wrote,"Well if you're rapping about money, drugs, sex and all that it forms an impression on kids." I agree.

But it seems like every year they push it even farther. Profanity after profanity. Then you have some that say well the parents should stop children from listening to it, Well its kind of hard with all this technology and if their friends listen to it. So how can you stop your child from hearing it when they go all the others listen to it.

However the opposing side argued that - Raps got a bad rep!

I have been listening to rap since the mid 80s up to 2004. It has never once pushed me to do anything! Music effects people in different ways not everyone isnt the same. It's not rap that's ruining kids. Parents just need to be more involved with their kids life.

Debate as to whether music influences the youth or not - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLOzNp4vmN8

I have to put out the bad parts of Hip-Hop at least once though.

When you turn on the radio, most of the music you hear tends to be related to drugs, sex or alcohol.

This is the type of music that is exposed to teenagers today. Much of main stream hip hop and rap mostly contains themes of immoral activity. Yes, the bad words are bleeped out, but the message is still there, and it is the younger teens (12-16) that listen to the radio more often. Therefore, they are more easily put in to the mindset that if Weezy is doing it, we can too, and even assume they are cool doing so.

Hip hop and rap lyrics are so catchy, and they become embedded in our minds, to the extent where they potentially motivate our actions. Gangster rap usually reflects inner city life, glorifying criminal activity and degrading women.

It’s ironic that even though most rappers and hip hop singers show women in a sexual, degrading light, women still pine for them. It almost seems like the majority of today’s younger women are okay with being portrayed like that. Most teenagers memorize and constantly repeat the words of rappers, and for those words to be promoting alcohol, weed and sex just destroys the morals instilled by their parents.

Rap and Hip Hop also promotes a thug lifestyle, one that centers on not fulfilling an education, but instead doing drugs, and spitting rhymes while doing so. Though not all rap and hip hop focuses on these themes; most of old rap speaks of getting through hardship. The whole “get paid and laid” idea is more geared toward the newer generation rap and hip hop.

http://www.tmz.com/2013/05/21/chief-keef-arrested-disorderly-conduct-atlanta-georgia/

After the arrest, Keef tweeted, "Jus Got Out Of Dekalb County jail In Atlanta Mad As f**k."

Keef is considered a prodigy -- and has rapped with huge stars like 50 Cent and Wiz Khalifa.

Keef is no stranger to the law ... he's been arrested at least two times before -- and even has a gun conviction under his belt. 

It's been a rough year for the rapper ... We broke the story, he was recently sued for child support​ by his middle-school-aged baby mama who claims Keef fathered her kid -- born in 2011 -- when he was only 15.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2013/05/21/chief-keef-arrested-disorderly-conduct-atlanta-georgia/#ixzz2lI3KbfiQ

Year 13 Critical Investigation Proposal

Working title

The title of my critical investigation is - "How are violence, sex and drugs represented in Rap music through artists such as ‘Chief Keef’ and what is the effect on the audience?" I chose this question as I felt it was something i was passionate about and I liked looking into the representations. 

Angle

The angle I am focusing on looks into how hip hope music affects audience particularly in a negative way on younger audience aged 16-21. In order to help me with this I will be looking into representational theories as my critical investigation focuses on music artists such as Chief Keef. I will also be looking into different things such as audience pleasures and desensitization.

Hypothesis

Ultimately they are represented in a very negative way, rap music is sometimes seen in a positive way however the new generation of inspired rap music has perhaps created a negative misrepresentation of rap music as a whole.

Linked production piece

News style documentary on the effect rap music has had on certain people (Biased and negative)

Interview with rapper can respectively give an alternate view to the negativity surrounding rap music

MIGRAIN

Media representations

My investigation focuses on Chief Keefs music videos particularly – ‘Love sosa’ which is a video that has struck the younger audience particularly. He is presented as a gangster and a criminal as well as talking about killing enemies and portraying women as sex objects which arguably is the dominant representation of women within the hip hop industry.

Media audiences

The audiences for the chief keef video attract those who are able to identify to the rapper chief keef and so those who live or lived the in the same geo-demographic as him in Chicago. The primary audience for this would be male teenagers aged 18 who aspire to be like chief keef as well as those who have a socio economic classification of E.

Media institutions

As expected the institution behind the record has a great impact as to the final outcome of the video. The institution need chief keef the artist to target his audience to the best of his abilities and also reach out to larger audiences in order for them to be considered successful and so they place certain iconography in the video such as guns in order for this to take place.

Genre

The genre of this can go under hip hop and rap however is considered to be ‘trap’ which is a new type of music that the younger generation call when they listen to music associated with murder, crime and violence. Confirmation of these genres is through the

SHEP

SOCIAL –

The video has a social impact on men. It creates a social pressure for those chief keefs age to dress and act like him by acting in a similar way to him by pursuing a violent and sexist nature in order to fit in with the society.

HISTORICAL –

This video has quite a historical impact as there has been many representations in the past of things that chief keef presents in his video such as a sexist attitude towards women as well as violence within those regions of Chicago and other parts of America. As well as this another historical impact this video has is the dominant black male representation which has been around for a long while that they are dangerous and criminals and this video is able to present this historical representation.

ECONOMICAL –

It is arguable that there is a certain pressure upon rap artist to reach out to a larger demographic in order to obtain sales and make money by appealing to the audience’s needs.

POLITICAL -

Apply the Wider Contexts to your text/topic, including at least three bullet points on each one.

Issues/Debates

As expected their are many stereotypes and representations within chief keefs music and so i will pick 5 and explain how they link to my media study.

The first is black males stereotype this relates to my study as chief keef himself is a black male and so it means that he could be considered a criminal and dangerous due to this stereotypes and also by his lyrics

The second is moral panic, chief keefs music can create moral panic as his music is being spread rapidly amongst a huge demographic and he has been affiliated with many unlawful activities and thus means moral panic amongst parents as to if their children will be influenced takes places.

This debate of tv regulation takes place within chief keefs music some of the things presented in his video such as guns are shown in his video without being censored and so the audience is able to see everything, this cause a negative effect on the audience.