99 Problems Music Video Analysis

Genre Characteristics:

The music video is set in an urban estate which is usually a characteristic to the hip-hop and rap style of music. The video contains young black people driving around estates or playing basketball, there are also shown wearing baggy clothes which is usually connoted with the rap sub-culture. 



Voyteuristic:

In Jay Z's music video it shows women a lot differently to how men are shown in the video. Firstly, there are sometimes short scenes of a mid shot of women dancing with not many clothes on. The use of the shot could value women as less important than the men in the video as the shots for the men are more close up. The second type of shot used on women is a close up shot of the women's breasts and bum when they are dancing.



Lyrics and visuals:

"Cause I'm young and I'm black and my hat's real low" As this lyric is sung Jay Z follows the lyrics narratively as he pulls his hat down. Throughout the music video Jay Z seems to do actions which are relevant to what he's rapping. Another example of this being done is when he says 'cash money hoes' and the shot changes to a close up to a woman with barely any clothes on.


Record Label's style being portrayed:

The record label portrays them being towards the urban and street audience as they add all connotations of the street life in Jay Z's video. For example the idea of gangs and having issues with the police is something happening in the music video. By the end Jay Z is shot down but also looks cool whilst doing so. Jay Z is given a cool image with this upbeat track.

Intertextual references:

It could be believed that the dance routine shown 3 minutes into Jay Z's video is a mimic of one of Michael Jackson's dance routine. This may be used because Michael Jackson is a huge black icon and maybe the video is showing respect towards his talent.