#mariesmedium

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.