Thursday 27 October 2016
Thursday 6 October 2016
how are the conventions of the psychedelic genre evident in ASAP Rockys video for L$D
Our chosen song "Tidal Wave" can't really be defined by one genre so for this piece I will focus on its roots in the psychedelic genre. Although famous for his rap career, ASAP Rockys L$D is one of his most well known and popular songs. The song itself has a very modern psychedelic feel to it and this is made even more obvious in its music video. Tempesst's video for Tidal Wave is also very psychedelic so I believe it is a good match.
The song was released on May 21, 2015 and is the 3rd from Rockys second studio album. As of 2015 the album has been certified gold for selling the equivalent of 500,000 copies. ASAP Rocky is a rapper and record producer from Harlem, New York. Born on October 3 1988, Rocky started rapping at the age of 8 with his father going to jail in connection with selling drugs when he was the age of 12 and later died in 2012. A year later his older brother was killed in Harlem, his brothers death inspired him to take rapping more seriously. To make money, Rocky was selling drugs while moving between homeless shelters with his single mother and sister, at the age of 15 he was selling crack cocaine in the Bronx. He eventually moved away from this with his mother to midtown Manhattan. In 2007 Rocky joined the A$AP Mob, a Harlem based collective of rappers, producers and fashion designers with similar interests in art, music etc. In 2011 Rocky released his first mixtape Deep Purple, in August 2011 Rockys debut single Peso was leaked online and received airtime from Hot 97, a high profile New York radio station. In October of that year he released the mixtape Live. Love. A$AP to critical acclaim and signed himself a two year $3 million record deal.
From the start, the video features a variety of visual effects, included in the video to mimic the effects of psychedelic drugs. The wikipedia entry for psychedelic music states that musicians creating music in the genre often "used electric instruments and electronic effects–notably the lead electric guitar played with heavy distortion". Present throughout is the use of a heavily distorted guitar rift showing that the song follows the conventions of the genre. The video itself is set in the city of Tokyo, the location and idea for the video is heavily inspired by the film "Enter the Void" a heavily first person film shot from the perspective of a psychedelic drug user living in Tokyo.
When looking at the mise en scene for the music video it is very clear what it has borrowed from the psychedelic genre. From the two inserts the similarity between the film Enter the Void and the video is very clear. One convention of the psychedelic genre is that media that conveys it is often set in almost exotic locations, in the way that not many people visit the places, know what they look like and just how foreign they generally look compared to mundane England. Tokyo is such a different looking city that is very easy to use it to create the effects of a psychedelic trip and to then present this to the viewer. Using Tokyo as the location for the video really helps create a psychedelic atmosphere, with all the different lights, locations and objects.
The colour pallet used throughout the video is heavily inspired by what psychedelic users claim to see whilst tripping, with an intense, vibrant, range of different colours and light effects. These conventions of the psychedelic genre being present help create the image that ASAP Rocky is trying to portray, as he said in his interview with Times magazine "Giving people drugs through music"
Another way the psychedelic genres conventions are followed in the video is at the point of 0.39 where the editing and camera work takes the narrative to another location by going into a tail light of a car and then coming out again from a fire place in an entirely new location ( an idea we want to explore for the filming of our music video). By creating a surreal location change from two contrasting environments it really helps represent what people claim to see when tripping and creates a psychedelic atmosphere.
Goodwins theory of music videos can be applied to the video, one of Goodwins points is that music videos can be linked to film genres, known as intertexuality, the music video is clearly linked to film Enter the Void. Another of Goodwins points is that there is a relationship between the music and visuals. In the music video the shots cut and change to the beat of the song, helping to create a stronger bond between the two and makes for a more enjoyable viewing experience.
Goodwin also stated that the record label will want lots of close ups of the artist and this is evident throughout the music video with there being many different shots of Rocky at a variety of distances and a range of different angles. Finally, another of Goodwins points is that there are often intertextual references, as seen from the screenshots above, Rocky even credited his idea for the music video to be from the movie Enter the Void, both pieces of media are set in the city of Tokyo. The colour pallet between the two is also very similar along with the visual effects.
The song was released on May 21, 2015 and is the 3rd from Rockys second studio album. As of 2015 the album has been certified gold for selling the equivalent of 500,000 copies. ASAP Rocky is a rapper and record producer from Harlem, New York. Born on October 3 1988, Rocky started rapping at the age of 8 with his father going to jail in connection with selling drugs when he was the age of 12 and later died in 2012. A year later his older brother was killed in Harlem, his brothers death inspired him to take rapping more seriously. To make money, Rocky was selling drugs while moving between homeless shelters with his single mother and sister, at the age of 15 he was selling crack cocaine in the Bronx. He eventually moved away from this with his mother to midtown Manhattan. In 2007 Rocky joined the A$AP Mob, a Harlem based collective of rappers, producers and fashion designers with similar interests in art, music etc. In 2011 Rocky released his first mixtape Deep Purple, in August 2011 Rockys debut single Peso was leaked online and received airtime from Hot 97, a high profile New York radio station. In October of that year he released the mixtape Live. Love. A$AP to critical acclaim and signed himself a two year $3 million record deal.
From the start, the video features a variety of visual effects, included in the video to mimic the effects of psychedelic drugs. The wikipedia entry for psychedelic music states that musicians creating music in the genre often "used electric instruments and electronic effects–notably the lead electric guitar played with heavy distortion". Present throughout is the use of a heavily distorted guitar rift showing that the song follows the conventions of the genre. The video itself is set in the city of Tokyo, the location and idea for the video is heavily inspired by the film "Enter the Void" a heavily first person film shot from the perspective of a psychedelic drug user living in Tokyo.
When looking at the mise en scene for the music video it is very clear what it has borrowed from the psychedelic genre. From the two inserts the similarity between the film Enter the Void and the video is very clear. One convention of the psychedelic genre is that media that conveys it is often set in almost exotic locations, in the way that not many people visit the places, know what they look like and just how foreign they generally look compared to mundane England. Tokyo is such a different looking city that is very easy to use it to create the effects of a psychedelic trip and to then present this to the viewer. Using Tokyo as the location for the video really helps create a psychedelic atmosphere, with all the different lights, locations and objects.
The colour pallet used throughout the video is heavily inspired by what psychedelic users claim to see whilst tripping, with an intense, vibrant, range of different colours and light effects. These conventions of the psychedelic genre being present help create the image that ASAP Rocky is trying to portray, as he said in his interview with Times magazine "Giving people drugs through music"
Another way the psychedelic genres conventions are followed in the video is at the point of 0.39 where the editing and camera work takes the narrative to another location by going into a tail light of a car and then coming out again from a fire place in an entirely new location ( an idea we want to explore for the filming of our music video). By creating a surreal location change from two contrasting environments it really helps represent what people claim to see when tripping and creates a psychedelic atmosphere.
Goodwins theory of music videos can be applied to the video, one of Goodwins points is that music videos can be linked to film genres, known as intertexuality, the music video is clearly linked to film Enter the Void. Another of Goodwins points is that there is a relationship between the music and visuals. In the music video the shots cut and change to the beat of the song, helping to create a stronger bond between the two and makes for a more enjoyable viewing experience.
Goodwin also stated that the record label will want lots of close ups of the artist and this is evident throughout the music video with there being many different shots of Rocky at a variety of distances and a range of different angles. Finally, another of Goodwins points is that there are often intertextual references, as seen from the screenshots above, Rocky even credited his idea for the music video to be from the movie Enter the Void, both pieces of media are set in the city of Tokyo. The colour pallet between the two is also very similar along with the visual effects.
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