Jay-Z 99 Problems Notes

1. Genre Characteristics 

• Urban setting - Brooklyn, New York,as shown by his hoody.This is revealed  by him revealing the name on his hoody.
• Representation of a " Gangsta lifestyle" cruising in cars, dog fighting, loitering on the streets, getting pulled over by the police, basket ball, guns, criminality and money.
• Street dancing, free styling
• Scantily clad women " Sexy but cheap gold bikinis"
• Jail scenes all inmates are black
• Sterotypical race representation white guys in suits, policeman is also white . Black people jail birds or on the streets causing trouble.
• Goes against conventions of representations of wea;th-lacks fancy cars, cloths and bling and hot women.
• Women are only a minor element in the video, useually all you see is haf naked women in hip-hop videos.

     2. Relationship between Lyrics and Visuals

• "From the hood"- Jay-Z pulls his hood down
• "Radio"-  Image of Radio
• "B**ch"- Image of women
• "Jay-Z"- Points to himself
• "Fast forward"-Moves  his hands along to demonstraight
• "Paparazzi" Camera flashing images of criminals identity shots.
• Overall images illustrate the lyrics sometimes very literally, sometimes in more subtle ways. Theme of song- all the problems Jay-Z has; video shows problems.

     3. Relationship between music & Visuals 

• Video is cut in time with the beat of song 
• Music hard hitting, agressive sounding with an emphasis on beat rather than melody- visuals are also harsh looking and edits

    4. The Demand of the record label 

• Lots of shots of Jay Z not all close ups but there are some close ups of other men as well aggressive looking in appearance.
• Shots of women are long shots, mid-shots because they are not important.
• Less emphasis on Jay Z on his own, he is an established artist & doesn't need as much exposure.
• Jay z has his own record lable as well as being part of Island/Defjam. quiet independent, evidence of less control by the lable in his video than you might expect from a mainstream Label.

    5. Reference to notion of looking 

• Jay z puts his hands over the camera so that it seems as though the audience is looking through his fingers.
• X-ray vision shots of money in a car trunk of Jay Z car
• Scopohilic treatment of women is quite uncomfortable to watch seems totally unnecessary.
• Early shots are almost out of view, creating the impresion that the audience is looking around the hood.
• Video of Jay Z is seen outside the subway

      6. Intertexual References 

• Possibly a video of him referencing himself?