Hip hop magazines

Bold eye catching orange font, star in the ‘o’

represents the individuality and fame of hip-hop stars

Bold red font, in all capitals to draw attention, ‘hip-

hop music, culture and politics’ gives a summary of
the articles inside

Big bold font, yet also informal, all in capitals

except the ‘e’ this shows individuality
 A coloured/outlined font to stand out from
the background

‘the arrogant voice of musical truth’ this

tagline may be almost predicting the
criticism they know they will receive
and interpreting it positively to combat
negative press in advance

Good use of Rhetorical and

perspective, the fist controversial question they
is a typically touch know will anger customers
image, and also – all publicity is good
shows his name publicity

A summary of the featured artists to peak the

interest of fans, these artists do not cover the
main picture and therefore do not interfere
with the main headlines
Summary of what’s inside ‘hip- Summary of what’s inside
hop yearbook’ may be ‘ultimate guide’ connotes
intriguing, people may want to exclusivity people may wish
see their favourite artist to purchase so they don’t
featured miss out

Bold stand out font, contrasts the

background image/colours

‘the magazine of hip-hop music, culture

and politics’ tells us what the magazine is
about, clearly an established magazine as
the tagline is covered on the right issue

The main article both intriguing ideas ‘

face to face with the god’ and ‘giving
props to hip-hop’ all in bold font

Headings of the other articles

throughout’ do not distract from
the main article yet can still cause
intrigue ‘genius unleashed’ ‘sex &
booze’
Brief mention of another article
inside however the majority of
attention is directed to Snoop
No general tagline, perhaps because the
magazine is already established or
because there is a diverse range in topics
of each issue

Very intriguing quote to entice readers,

very final. customers feel the contents
will be important and they don’t want
to miss out, combined with the
expression on Tupac’s face we can
assume the real story is to be sinister

The burning American flag is

used to anger customers, it is
seen as disrespectful, all publicity
is good publicity seems to be a
common theme with hip-hop Other articles are mentioned to entice the
magazines readers however none are as emphasised as
the main Tupac story
 Direct mode of
address,
Looking into
looking
the distance
straight at the
shows
reader, making
mystery,
them more
connotes
inclined to buy
misery or
deep
thoughts, may
make the
reader curious

These issues focus on one

star on the cover, however CAGE representation :
they are all part of a bigger Class : not too clear, however the Nas AND Ghostface Killer issues appear to be shot in more urban areas, a
band (or duo), using one lot of hip-hop artists do come for poorer backgrounds, so perhaps working class representation is
member of the band can demonstrated
make the reader think they Age: majority of artists are aged around 20-35, this is a similar age to the target market for this magazine
will have a more personal Gender: all the artists featured are male, often in hip-hop there is a lot of derogatory language used about
experience; it will be women, this may be why ego trip focus on male rappers, it was not until the past 20 years or so that there
information about the star was a large increase in female hip-hop stars
and not the band as a Ethnicity: all the artists on these issues are black, there tend to be more black hip-hop stars than white, so
whole they are probably the easiest ethnicity to represent within hip-hop magazines
 Foxy Brown is dressed in revealing clothes
and is seen to be posing on her bandmates
this may entice male readers to buy it

Mainly direct eye

contact, this may
encourage the
reader to buy it as
they feel pressured
or feel a more
personal connection
with the star

On all these covers, the models all look stern this Cage representation:
may be representative of the tough stereotypes of Class – it is hard to see what class is represented on these magazines, the backgrounds do not look especially wealthy or urban
hip-hop and the message behind the lyrics however there are some signs of wealth for example large chains and jewellery
Age- the majority of the people on these covers look a similar age of around 20-35 however age is not especially emphasised on
these covers
Gender – these covers show a variety of male and female stars however though we see women represented they may still b seen
unfairly for example foxy brown in seen to be wearing revealing clothes and hanging on the shoulders of her bandmates
Ethnicity – there is good representation of non white ethnicities, this is good as often music and magazines can be predominantly
white, however with hip-hop there is good BAME representation
 Snoop and cube
both look off to
the side, this
connote suspicion,
which is further
emphasised by
the question mark
on o shea’s head,
this may intrigue
the reader and
encourage them
to buy the
magazine

Direct mode of address is used on several of these magazines, this will

entice the reader to buy it, as they may feel a more personal connection

Cage representation:
Class – you cannot clearly see which class is represented on these covers, there is a range of signs of wealth and more working class
Several of these magazines use a very plain stereotypes, for example tracksuits, they are also wearing chains and in some cases suits, these are signs of wealth
background, which helps the stars to stand out, a Age – you cannot see the age represented however we can assume they are around 20-35
busy background can distract from the Gender – on these issues all the featured stars are male, this could be a coincidence or could be due to lack of female representation in
expression on their face, for example on the hip-hop due to a lot of derogatory language it is only in the last 20 years there has been more equality between the genders in hip-hop
snoop top left issue Ethnicity – all the featured rappers are black, it seems that there are more black hip-hop stars than there are white, perhaps due to the
subject of many hip-hop songs, this is probably why the majority of featured artists are black