Marie’s Medium

ARTWORK 2

This is the second art piece I created. This wasn’t inspired by a specific artist but art style. This art style is classified as ‘word art’ which seems to be very self explanatory. The way in which I decided to use this piece was by using two very notable logos/symbols in Hip Hop and using lyrics from both eras to fill them in. 

To do this I decided on using the famous Wu-Tang Clan logo which is a bird, the Shaolin bird to be precise. This logo is one of the most famous logos in Hip Hop and Rap as it is known by people who are not fans of the genre, it is usually black and yellow, with writing in the middle sometimes or just the plain bird symbol. I decided on going with the one without the writing so it could give me more space to put lyrics onto it. The Wu-Tang Clan has had such a big impact on the Rap and Hip Hop scene from the individual artists themselves to the group itself, till today their songs have been used in samples for songs and their lyrics, still referred to in songs and debates and talks about Hip Hop.

The second logo used in this art piece is the Drake, OVO sign which is an owl. OVO is also an abbreviation for ‘Octobers Very Own’ a reference to Drake’s birthday month.This sign is also popular with both fans and non fans, this sign was used heavily during 2013-2015 along with the prayer hands. Drake is another artist who is notable with his songs going #1 constantly and his most recent songs turning into worldwide dance challenges on social media.

In the Wu-Tang Clan logo I decided to fill it up with old school rap lyrics, both vulgar, poetic, inspiring and notable. The reason for this was to show the shift in rap and how the lyrics have changed, by using two popular logos, from their respective times, it showcases again how the genre has evolved and developed over the time. Similarly, the OVO logo  is filled with rap lyrics from the 2010′s and earlier, the difference between this one and the Wu-Tang logo is that I incorporated hangul, which is the Korean alphabet. I decided to include this to show rap is now a genre which is not only mainstream for English speakers but also non-native English artists. 

This art piece was much more easier than the other one as I had to only draw the outlines, I did have some difficulty with the owl and had to constantly try to draw and re draw the artwork. Finding lyrics was also a problems as I had soo many lyrics rushing to my head that I began to forget the ones I initially wanted to incorporate. I used YouTube and Spotify to help me find lyrics which would be of use to my art work. 

The crack in the middle is up for interpretation, it could be seen as the divide between the two eras in music, show how how small this ‘divide is,’ it can also be seen as the two worlds actually coming together. 

In the future, if I was to recreate this art piece again then I would make the artwork slightly bigger so I can add more lyrics, in regards to lyrics, I would search up notable songs and catchy lyrics people still use to this day to make it more relevant and contemporary. 

ARTWORK 1 VIDEO

Artwork 1

(The artwork is made with 3 pieces of A3 paper which is why the artwork has been posted in segments)

This is the first art piece I created. I took inspiration from an art piece by Vanley Burke called ‘5000 years and 70 miles.’ His art piece focuses on the Caribbean movement and settlement in the United Kingdom. I drew inspiration from this art piece as I felt it perfectly showcases the black diaspora and their migration from one culture to another. The use of layering to show how their culture has been built upon and is still being built upon is interesting and also somewhat inspiring. The use of the red, yellow and green colour scheme, which generally links to the pan-African colours and also colours situated with the Caribbean draws it together and allows the viewers of the art piece to make solid connections between the subject and its purpose which is to show how the Caribbean diaspora resettled and migrated to the UK after the Second World War. My main focus is diaspora, music, globalisation and media. These are key concepts which I find to be the most interesting and informative for myself. The way in which music, just as the Caribbean diaspora, has moved from it ‘hometown’ to new places and new cultures and how it has changed but also grown and evolved. 

I decided to showcase this by using images of notable rappers and artists who have made some kind of contribution to the genres Hip Hop and Rap and to do so I had to do research into the notable artists and people who changed these genres, current artists who are still using the genre as a means of communication and also the socio-economic impacts Hip Hop and Rap has had on society.

This was the first problem I ran into as I had to make notice of everyone but how? Upon doing my research I would forget which artists it was that I wanted to involve in the artwork, I would also allow my bias as a fan of the genre dictate who would be placed in the picture. In doing so, I have unfortunately missed out on some extremely talented and important artists who have made an impact such as Snoop Dogg, a living legend. 

I also ran into the issue with groups, I wanted to include everyone but how could I include all the notable groups into the art pieces as I would not have enough for the soloists. Another issue was space, originally the art piece was only meant to be one sheet of A3 paper, I had to extend it twice and used three A3 pieces of paper in the end. 

I used the colour scheme which related to the pan-African flag as it is a colour which can be seen in music videos such as Erykah Badu’s - Love Of My Life music video. I also decided to use images of the black panther movement and the fist to show the political impacts the genre had. 

Overall, it took me over 12 hours to complete as I had to do research, print, cut out, glue, colour and amend anything which looked lout of place or inaccurate. The finished piece includes around 70 artists from different time periods, countries, ethnicities, genders and sexual orientations. 

How To BLACK: An Analysis of Black Cartoon Characters (feat. ReviewYaLife) (Toonrific Tariq, 2019) 

*Viewer discretion is advised. Explicit language.*

This video is something I found interesting, I feel as though it speaks volumes on the issues and also the successes with black portrayal in media, specifically cartoons. In mainstream media the portrayal of black characters is on the rise, however, the representation of black characters in cartoons is by far some of the most disappointing in my personal opinion. 

The idea that ‘black children don’t watch cartoons’ is absurd as I, a black girl, was glued to the television screen every day watching cartoons, one thing I realised at a young age was that there wasn’t a lot black characters, as a result I conformed to the ideas and views of what a black girl should be through the cartoons I watched. I would act ‘sassy’ and ‘cool’ like Sasha from Bratz, Numbuh 5 from  Codename: Kids Next Door and Susie from the Rugrats. I adopted this type of behaviour because it seemed to be the only type of ‘black girl’ I would see on television, its not say I copied them or tried to be them but I did find myself adopting things they would do or say. 

10 years down the line and I’m yet to see more black cartoon characters who aren’t black because ‘we need to make a political statement’ or ‘seem inclusive.’ Most black characters, or even ethnic minority cartoon characters seem to be there for a purpose and not to just .. be there. 

I would say Diasporic Media has allowed for some diversity to come along as we have media organisations such as BET who have allowed for a better representation of black people in media and have gifted us with animated television shows and movies which depict black characters in different forms. 

One of my favourite cartoon shows is actually ‘The Proud Family’ which was an animated tv series produced by Disney, they allowed the characters to be black but not JUST black. they could be more than just their race but were also able to talk about their race, it seemed like the perfect balance to me. (See video for further explanation of its success.)

I am grateful nonetheless for the presentation of black characters in media, however, we have a long long long way to go before it’s perfect. 

Marie’s Music Monday 

On today’s edition of Marie’s Music Monday (MMM) I will be dedicating it to a very notable artist, which is Erykah Badu. Erykah Badu is a very well known artist who has made songs with, in my personal opinion, eye catching music videos and down to earth and inspiring lyrics. Her unique voice is one which is captivating and soulful. 

The specific song I chose to look at today is ‘Erykah Badu - Love Of My Life (An Ode to Hip Hop) ft. Common’ The lyrics seem to be directed towards a person and seems to confused people when looked at, at first glance. I found myself being confused the first time I heard this song as I didn’t know how the song was directed to Hip Hop and her love for it but after reading the lyrics and researching what an ‘ode’ was I found that the whole song was sung in a metaphorical and personified way. 

Erykah Badu personifies Hip Hop and explores how Hip Hop changed her life in a good way and the connection she has with genre on a personal level, the genre is so connected to her that she has seemed to have fallen in love with it as if it is an actual person or living being. 

The music video is another member of her eye catching videos as it captures the journey Hip Hop has gone through, from being a genre used to talk on political issues, how it expanded from a genre to a movement and also the gentrification of the Hip Hop audience. The music video also includes her freestyling/rapping with a notable face in Hip Hop, MC Lyte. The outfits are also iconic as they once again show how Hip Hop has continued to change and evolve. 

Diasporic Media are a platform for self-expression, the representation of cultural artefacts and the contestation of negative steraotypes by migrant people in the public hemisphere. (Ogunyemi, 2015)

Diasporic Media is one of the more interesting topics to me. The way in which ethnic minority groups have formed our own subcultures online and created communities to help us spread a message and talk on issues which we may or may not be facing. It gives us, the people, a place to voice our opinions, speak, negotiate and actually be heard. 

Diasporic Media ALLOWS us to see ourselves, I don’t have to be seen as the ‘ghetto black girl’ or the ‘angry black woman’ on television and movies, I can just be me. I can see women who look exactly as my friends and I doing things which we could only dream of, achieving feats our ancestors never thought we could. 

This concept is one which I believe every ethnic minority group can relate to, our struggles aren’t commodities to corporations which have no care for our problems and struggles, they can finally be struggles which are genuinely brought to light to help us come together and achieve an end goal and bring about change for our communities. 

From black face, to damaging stereotypes to now being on mainstream media as more than just a derogatory character. Diasporic Media has opened the door, no, it has created a path, a platform and a movement for global media organisations to be more open minded and understanding. To accept all people, no matter your race or ethnicity. I do agree that we have a further way to go before it’s all equal and black people aren’t just characters for a political ploy but the fact that we can be heroes, anti-heroes, villains, funny, clever, dumb, boring, athletic characters on the big screen is an achievement in itself. 

Marie’s Music Monday

For today’s Music Monday I will be looking at the collision between American and British Hip Hop artists. The collaboration between American recording artist A$AP Rocky and British artist Skepta explicitly showcases the connection between the motherland of Hip Hop, New York and another place which has adopted the sound and culture. 

Rap is a sector within the culture of the Hip Hop, this part of Hip Hop can be argued to be one of the more widely known parts of it as it can be seen being incorporated in different genres such as Pop songs and can be seen in other forms such as poetry. 

A$AP Rocky is an artist who is known globally for his good looks, fashion sense and more importantly his music, you could say he rose to fame after his collaboration with other notable rappers on his song ‘F**kin’ Problems ft. Drake, 2 Chainz, Kendrick Lamar.’ The song has garnered over 180 million views online due to its lyrics, artists and to some extent the visuals, however I find the collaboration between A$AP Rocky to be one of the more interesting collaborative pieces Rocky has done in his music career. 

They’re not the same? 

Globalisation and Glocalisation seem to be similar concepts which some would go as far to argue that they are the same, they both focus on the way the worlds profound interconnectivity, however, they are completely different in their own respective ways. 

Globalisation can be defined or refer to the growing interconnectedness of different parts of the world, a process which gives rise to complex forms of interaction and dependency (Thompson, 1995)

whilst ..

Glocalisation can be defined or referred to as where the local and the global are engaged in a relational and reciprocal process whose dynamics are mutually formative as they feed off each other in their struggle for influence. (Kraidy, 2003)

What does THIS mean?

They both have their own influences on society in their own separate contexts whilst also embodying their own personal impact on society and also how we view society. In a more musical context they can both be seen as factors which have directly had an influence on the way music is not only taken in but how its produced and given to an audience, in this case, both fans and consumers of music. 

So, which has a bigger impact?

I have soo many more great posts to come now that I have my things sorted. I have some finished artwork that I’ve been working on for the past few weeks to post and show you guys, some more critical posts that talk about some of the topics I would like to uncover and look at. 

Globalisation and Media?

Globalisation and Media is one of the topics I want to touch on. How Globalisation affects Media and Music is a very interesting subject and topic to touch on. Globalisation is the intensification of world-wide social relations, which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa. Whilst Media in its more simple terms is the main means of mass communication (broadcasting, publishing, and the Internet) regarded collectively.

Due to the development of technology media has been able to go through a more global medium or in this case mediums. Genre’s such as Hip Hop have been able to travel across the world and find itself in countries on the other side of the world and be influenced by genre’s completely different to its origin. When looking at genre’s, not only one in specific, we can see how it has changed, the topics it talks about, the audience it has, the sound, music videos and soo many other things have changed and in some instances have evolved. Genres such as Hip Hop was a very unknown and niché genre which people, in this term the mainstream media audience, had no care for, now we see Hip Hop artists sitting alongside Pop artists at prestigious award shows and also featured in music videos with artist who have no affiliation with the genre. 

DPR for instance is a collective situated in Korea, it is a collective who make music, produce music, make videos and do a-lot of other things pertaining to the creative arts. DPR LIVE is one of the main artists in the collective and is known for his Hip Hop and RnB songs which touch the hearts of his fans. At the concert that I attended, which this photo was taken at, the line up to even enter the building was filled with people from different backgrounds, the line was filled with people from countries all over the globe, not just any specific country. Africans, Europeans, Asians, Hispanic, Caribbean, Latinx were all seen in attendance for one artist. 

DPR LIVE’s use of social media has allowed him to garner several fans from different sectors of the Earth and communicate with them all at once on a global but personal level. Thanks to social media, artists are able to connect huge amounts of people at once and speak to them as if they’re speaking to someone close to them or someone they have known for years. DPR LIVE and his talents have allowed him to garner several fans over the years and garner over a million streams on streaming sites such as YouTube. 

“This is the most people I’ve seen over the weekend for one artist ... yesterday we didn’t even have this many people.” This is the response I received from one of the security guards whilst we waited to go in. He informed me that the night before the hype for the person performing was no where as close to the ‘hype’ and excitement for this specific artist, in this case DPR LIVE.

The emergence of these sites, such as YouTube, also plays a huge role in the connection which globalisation and media has as it shows how the world has now become interconnected all at the click of a button. If something happens in a country on the other side of the world people like myself will know due to the development and emergence of these global mediums dedicated to connecting and bringing the world closer together. 

Marie’s Music Monday

On Today’s episode of Marie’s Music Mondays I will be talking about the artist Joey Bada$$, a New York native with a political rap, boombap style. This Brooklyn rapper has been making music since the mid 2000′s and came out with his first notable mixtape ‘1999′ on 12 June, 2012. This album featured the popular song ‘Waves’ which would later be sampled by another rapper famous for his raw lyrics, J.Cole. 

The song I chose to use today is ‘Paper Trail$’ off of his first studio album B4.DA.$$, a play on words such as his names ‘BADASS’ and the phrase ‘Before the money.’ The song is such an interesting song as it looks at how society is so driven by money whilst also critiquing this love for money. We are so focused on material capital and ‘flexing’ on others rather than being ourselves and being motivated by our dreams. The song is contradictory in itself as it glorifies the need for money whilst also looking down on the fact that it is something needed to sustain ourselves. 

Marie’s Music Monday

‘DPR LIVE - Text Me’ 

This is the 3rd song on DPR LIVE’s EP ‘Her’ which was released in 2017. This song has garnered over 4.3 million views (YouTube, 2018) on the streaming platform YouTube and is not the only one of his songs to do so, other songs from said EP have also been able to achieve this record and hit several million views and streams. 

DaBin formerly known by his stage ‘DPR LIVE’ is part of a collective known as Dream Perfect Regime, romanised as DPR and consists of artists, producers, photographers and many more other positions. 

DPR is currently on his ‘Coming To You Live World Tour’ and just finished the European leg of the tour, which I was fortunate enough to attend. The music video for ‘Text Me’ was shot in London, by DPR IAN, and features DPR LIVE walking around the streets of London searching for a character named Jasmine. 

The song itself has Hip Hop elements infused with RnB. The music has several elements and layers, courtesy of DPR CREAM’s production, which add to the ambience of the song. The ad-libs, the sounds of texting and the use of dialogue alongside the use of the hi hat, guitar and other instruments create a nostalgic sense and add to the listeners experience of the song. 

This page is currently dedicated to my love of music, sociology and media. I will be going through the connection between the three of them more importantly the connection between Music and Contemporary Media Cultures. Follow me in this journey of uncovering the way in which Music has travelled from its indigenous origins to the outside world and the way we react to it after its journey from home.