RAP/HIP HOP MAGAZINES

By Kyle Rudkin

Researching Genre

Rap based magazines are made to inform people about the latest actions of their favorite artists (rappers) while also giving them information about a wide array of different people, their music and other things they might be doing.

Mainly it is about releasing the most amount of information possible about rap music and what the artists may be doing in their spare time or other projects they are working on.

What are rap magazines?

Three examples of rap magazines

Key components

• Colours

• Main image

• Layout

Colours

The colours mostly used are black, white, and red, though these colours are usually used Lightly, giving the magazine a plain but effective look however this isn't always the case for example the vibe magazine does use white but not a lot of red or black, but I think this depends on the magazines story.

On all three magazine examples I noticed that the colours are used to either link stories together or just to highlight the most important ones either way it is a good use of colour to attract peoples attention and spark their interest. I think red is used a lot because it is a bold colour and makes the whole page stand out, also think that red is a colour that stands out a lot just like the rap genre witch is quite a loud and bold style of music and white is a, blank colour perhaps to show the simplicity of it all.

overall I feel that the colours of the magazine are not the most important component to represent the genre however they are used well to gain the attention of people, because of the linking of colours and the reds and whites which create a simplistic feel to the page and does not make it too messy, I think this focuses peoples attention on the main image and the main story rather that the colour scheme of the magazine. Also the colours somewhat link to the rap genre.

Main Image

Usually the main image of a rap magazine I one artist in the middle, though it can be a whole group, as seen on the XXL magazine. Most of the time the rappers hold themselves in a very similar way, throwing gang signs and having ‘tough’ aspect to them, generally what you would expect from a rapper, but obviously this isn't always the case.

The clothes that the rappers wear are also similar to each other, a lot of black clothes are worn along with chains, watches, snapback style hats and trainers such as Nike or Adidas, hairstyles are never usually long and the overall clothing are normally quite baggy and loose, not tight fitted. Most of the time the backgrounds of the rappers are city based such as New York or LA, again this is not a representation of all rappers.

I think all these things help show the mainstream view of most rappers as there are large similarity's between the main images of rap magazines.

LayoutThe layout of the magazine isn't too messy however its not too basic in its use of layering of shapes, text and the main image.

Words such as crew, hip-hop, rap, money, mic, and song are used throughout the three examples and many more words related to these would be used in different rap magazines to show the type of music.

The masthead is big and bold and usually has a clean red or white font, placed behind the group or rapper which takes up a lot of the page.

Although on the source magazine the main image is black and white the lighting is usually quite normal, focusing on the main image and making it stand out.

What do the audience want to see

I think when people are readers of rap magazines they will usually want to relate to the people in the magazines and be like them, trying to reflect their fame and popularity through rap or other means.

The similarity of clothing and words throughout rap magazines, is the stereotype of rappers and rap groups as well as the lifestyle of rappers, first of all the music appeals to them, therefore they would want to hear about the music in the magazine.

Another thing the audience will want to see is the lifestyle of their favorite artists and may try to imitate that lifestyle.

What will I include?

I will include a similar style to the examples on this presentation, using the same colours as this will make it more recognizable

Although, I would want to make it stand out amongst other magazines so I would add a unique element to the magazine such as a different layout or font while not making it to confusing or messy as I still want it to be distinguishable.