50 Cent - In Da Club (Mise en Scene)

Our music video genre is going to be hip-hop.  To gain a further understanding of how the best hip-hop music videos are made, I am going to watch the videos of the music industry's elite to see what sets them aside from the rest. For this case, I am going to look at 50 Cent's music video for his hit song "In Da Club".


At the start of the video, the name of the record labels which 50 Cent is signed to appears (Shady/Aftermath which is a collaboration between Eminem and Dr Dre's labels). This gives me the idea that for effect, our group should come up with a label name to give the video that extra bit of authenticity.

The next scene from this video that I am going to analyse is a shot of 50 Cent in an operating ward. This shows that the artist has a sense of authenticity about his production as he is including his real life struggles. It is little things like this that I think push certain videos ahead of others due to their relevancy, and not just a ghost-written choreographed video. 50 later references this ordeal with the lyrics "If you watch how I move, you'll mistake me for a player or pimp, been hit with a few shells, but I don't walk with a limp", which actually gives this scene some sort of relevancy in terms of the video as a whole.

A scene which follows only seconds later is that of Dr Dre and Eminem overlooking 50's operation. I think this shot goes deeper than just them offering their support. Linking back to the first scene I analysed, the on-screen text says "Shady/Aftermath Artist Development Center". This implies that 50 still believes he has a lot to learn from arguably 2 of the best characters in today's music industry.

When the music kicks in, the setting changes to some sort of rehab room. 50 Cent is shown working out whilst hooked up to some medical equipment. I think this is 50's way of showing that not even his recent trauma will get in his way of making his music, and in the case of this song/video, stop him from partying.






The final scene i am going to look at is 50 Cent and his crew, one of them being XZibit who 50 Cent references meeting through Eminem and Dr Dre, again linking this back to how 50 shows his appreciation to Eminem and Dr Dre for how much they have helped aid his career. This scene is a fairly generic club scene, but I noticed how it looks like they are sitting on some prestigious seating which is usually only available to the elite within the clubs.




*Video/Screenshot credit - https://vimeo.com/149446820 

Diss-Tracks

'Diss-tracks' are songs that are made by one artist taking 'shots' at another artists, ultimately starting/exacerbating their 'beef'. There has always been conflict between rappers, especially with rap being heavily dominated by African-American and gang culture, it is no surprise multiple conflicts arise. The most recently famous beef in rap is between Drake and Meek Mill, with both MC's creating multiple tracks in an attempt to diss each other, despite the pair making multiple collaborations in the past.

Disses within songs may not be easy to notice if no actual names are mentioned or referenced, for example J-Cole's recent single 'False Prophets' is a subtle dig at Kanye West, with J-Cole accusing him of changing, selling out and ultimately forgetting where he came from. Another example would be Kendrick Lamar, one of the best and most prolific lyricists of this generation, taking aim at multiple rappers at once, by essentially shaming and mocking those who use 'Ghost-Writers'.


Some artists use diss-tracks as an attempt to gain more publicity and attention. Artists either create 'fake beef' with other artists who don't tend to know anything about it, or in essence join with another artist to create fake conflict for several weeks or month. In this time, several diss-tracks will be released, gaining more attention than usual due to the circumstances, and once both parties are happy their publicity has increased, the conflict will be resolved.