Textual Analysis of a music video: Jay Z, 99 Problems

99 Problems- Jay Z

Straight away from the start of the music video we see that it is in black and white, this is probably used because of the racial era at the time so they have used it in the video to help us understand this.


It probably also gives us an understanding of Jay Z's past because he was in America at this time and has probably gone through a lot of racial problems because of the colour of his skin. Also in the video it also shows Jay Z being pulled over by the police and being told that "a lot of them are" holding weapons. So he is also explaining himself.

The whole video itself explains the genre of hip-hop through shots of "typical thug life" such as the graffiti, police and criminality for example there is a shot of some one holding a gun out of the window aiming at someone with that person not even knowing.



There is also other ways in which we can see the genre of the song and music video which is the styling of the people init for example all the baseball caps, chains, big puffy jackets and baggy jeans this shown us the time and era of the music video as well as the genre of it.

Another thing which also tells us that the genre of the music video is the derogatory treatment of women throughout by the use of the word "bitch" and also the images of women which are used create a sense voyeurism throughout the video.  

We can relate it to part of Goodwins theory as there is a strong relationship between the lyrics and the music video throughout but mainly when he mentions the word "bitches" it nearly always reverts back to a picture of half naked girls.




We can see throughout that it is set in Brooklyn which is a bad part of New York for violence and crimes, we see this through the scenery and what else Jay Z is showing us throughout the video from this I can interpret that this was where Jay Z was brought up as a kid. (Picture of Jay Z on Brooklyn Bridge)

Another image within the video which is conventional to the hip-hop genre is a record shop it is a influential place so is used a lot in the identity of any hip-hop song.

Lastly the relationship between the music and the visuals can also be seen through the use of fast cuts which is eventually slowed down towards the end where Jay Z is shot which gives another example of hip-hop songs where someone is shot.