Goodwin's theory, Ill mind of Hopsin 5 by Hopsin

This is a music video by the diverse rap artist Hopsin. It follows some of the concepts set by Goodwin in his theory although not all of them. Goodwin suggests that there should be a relationship of music to visual, music to lyrics and lyrics to visual. Goodwin also suggests that there should be clear genre characteristics, voyeristic notions, intertexual references it also says that there will be at some stage a sequence of star image motifs.

The first of the genre characteristic is the components of the mise en scene. The video follows a technique in which one location is used. This can be expected from a rap video of rap artists starting their career because using one location lowers the costs of producing the video. This is vital as new artists can be less well off than other established artists or even those of mainstream genres .For pop artists it is not unusual for the record label to pay for the video, however a disadvantage of this is that the music label take control of the video and it loses the authenticity of that when the artist creates them. Another aspect of the mise en scene that characterises the genre is the artist’s ethnicity and his outfit. The artist is African American which has become the stereotypical ethnicity of the genre; this is not always the case as artists such as Eminem have found ways to the top of the industry through Niche markets through being white American. Rap is often related to social positioning mainly surrounding the absence of wealth. The final characteristic of the genre found within the mise en scene is the lighting. The lighting is low key lighting, denoting a lack of basic homely needs which in turn connotes poverty or hardship for money, a reoccurring characteristic of the rap genre. The darkness can also connote uncertainty of the artist in terms of his career and mainly how his fans perceive this song. Or alternatively the darkness can connote the dark side of American society in which is a common theme of the song both in the lyrics and visual of the music video.

The relationship between lyrics and visual has a few pivotal points. One obvious one is when Hopsin includes lyrics surrounding girls getting pregnant irresponsibly, which is parallel to the visual when a pregnant teen. Another area in which there is a relationship is when Hopsin sings about drugs and alcohol with the actors having alcohol and drug looking items, these objects are iconography of some of the issues in America, for instance it has always had issues with alcohol in its history such as in the 20’s during the prohibition movement. The final and most pivotal link between the two is Hopsin himself. The way Hopsin performs the rap shows clear links especially as the video is primarily performance orientated. When the lyrics become more personal and more descriptive Hopsin delivers them louder or faster to illustrate his emotion towards the points he is making. This technique also draws emphasis to the connotations of the song, this style Hopsin has chosen to use also allows the audience to create a bond with him and even relate to the views-this effect comes under the star image motif Goodwin explains is vital to the success of a music video.

There are no relationships between music and visuals making the representation of Hopsin diverse to the conventional artists of the rap genre. Through being diverse Hopsin's fans will see him to be a more niche artist catering to a smaller audience, which will give the audience a feel of significance, as they could see that Hopsin would rather target them rather than the mass of a mainstream audience. Hopsin breaks this aspect of Goodwin’s theory. Unlike many videos in which there is a cut per beat this video has no set sequence to the time of a cut in relation to the beats. This makes the video more unique as it is more unpredictable and which makes it more exciting for the audience view. This unconventional style of editing can parallel the unconventional situation of the characters which is parallel to undesirable situation of America.

 

There is a strong sense of star image motifs in this video. The artist has many close ups in the video and he also wears tinted white contact lenses. Techniques like this are expected for new artists like Hopsin. Making him memorable allowing the formation of a relationship with the audience, this is an opportunity to cross promote two products of the record label (the song and artist). Unlike most stereotypical videos this video has no use of intertexuality, common ones used are; Television, Radio, Computer games and the most common one used it designer brands, often used to show wealth and the social position of the artist e.g. wether he is in gang or more a "social outcast".

On the whole this video could be classified to be 90% performance based with the most common camera shot to be focused on Hopsin, there is also rarely a shot in which Hopsin is not performing, the shots Hopsin is not in shot performing often has relation to when there are no lyrics in the song-Goodwin’s theory. By this video being so performance orientated it allows Hopsin to be more identifiable by his fans, increasing his popularity in the music industry, this is unlike some artists like Gorrilaz who opt not to appear within their music videos.

This video is 10% concept the selection of the actors and the characters they play portray the breaks in American society; the lazy male who doesn’t work or provide anything to the country. Then there is the slutty female who goes out in skimpy outfits too much. This conforms to Laura Mulvey’s male gaze theory. The issue of teenage pregnancy whereby the parent is not in a position to bring up the child morally and financially is portrayed by the female who is pregnant and the pseudo gangster represents the crime issues in America and the vast amount of youth that fall into criminal activities. These points illustrate the connotation of a warped American society that is not attractive and breaks American ideology of the American dream.

I have scored the amount of narrative in this video to be 0%. The video stayed in one location with the same set of characters in the same stage position, with not much occurring to excite the audience or explain lyrics in the song. A reason for this technique is too limit any confounding variables that may draw attention away from the lyrics and messages of song as Hopsin may believe that the product is the most important aspect of what he delivers to his fans.