A history of the genre of Hip-Hop

Hip Hop is a musical genre which developed alongside hip hop culture, and is commonly based on concepts of looping, rapping, freestyling, DJing, scratching, sampling and beatboxing. The music is used to express concerns of political, social and personal issues. Hip Hop began in the Bronx in New York City in the 1970s, primarily among African Americans, with some Jamaican immigrant influence. The term rap is often used synonymously with hip hop, however, the latter denotes the practices of an entire subculture.

Rapping, also referred to as MCing emceeing, is a vocal style in which the artist speaks lyrically, in the rhyme and verse, generally to an instrumental or synthesised  beat. Beats, almost always in 4/4 time signature, can be created by looping portions of other songs, usually by a DJ, or sampled from portions of other songs by a producer. Modern beats incorporate synthesisers, drum machines and live bands. Rappers may write, memorised or improvised their lyrics and perform their works as cappella or to a beat.


The roots of hip hop are found in Africans Americans music. the griots of west Africa are a group of travelling singers and poets who are part of an oral tradition dating back hundreds of years. Their vocal style is similar to that of rappers.

This music video of Run DMC called "it like that" this video is classed as the best first in new school hi hop rap and came from predominately new york city. the new school was initially characterised from by drum machine, often tinged with elements of rock.

Now days, rappers would raps about what they have been through and what is happening, they would use strong language.

Kendrick Lamar is an Amercian hip hop artist who raps about what he believes in and stands for. Kendrick Lamar raps about peace and politics. He mainly raps about what he has been through.

A history of the genre R&B.

Rhythm and blues is the name given to a wide-ranging genre of popular music created by African Americans in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The Term was originally used by record companies to refer to recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a heavy, insistent beat" was becoming more popular.

The term has subsequently had a number of shifts in the meaning. In the early 1950s and beyond, the term "rhythm and blues" was frequently applied to blues records, for instance John lee Hooker's "I'm in the mood" became number-one Billboard R&B Music Charts.  Starting in the 1960s, after this style of music contributed to the development of "rock and roll", the term "R&B"became used particularly by white groups
to refer to music styles that developed from incorporate electric blues, as well as gospel and soul music. By the 1970s, "rhythm and blues" was used as a blanket term for soul and funk. The modern evolution of R&B is named "contemporary R&B"


Jerry Wexler of Billboard magazine coined the term "rhythm and blues" in 1948 as a musical marketing term in the United States. It replaced the term "race music" which originally came from within the black community, but was deemed offensive in the postwar world.

This video is called jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley, it made it to number 1 in the R&B charts in 1957 and was seen as an acceptance of non-African American artist into a music category known for being created by a africans americans.

How do audiences access music videos

There are a number of ways that the audience can watch a music video, wether it is old or new. The two main ways are:

• Music Channels 
• YouTube

Youtube is very useful as it has almost everything, including the brand new videos. Millions of users watch youtube as the videos are easily accessible and cheap for the record labels for promotional purposes. The music video site VEVO, is where established and upcoming artists upload their videos or viewing and this helps market the video and the artists.

As a result profit is made for example, Carly Rae Jepsens 'Call me maybe' video which gained over 260 million views. 

Another way to watch music videos is through music channels such as MTV, Vault and Viva. Music videos are shown on adverts Tv shows if it is a new video and they are trying to advertise it.

The disadvantage of the audiences having easy access to music videos is that they can download it through the illegal way by piracy and this has caused some controversy with a few artists and their record label companies. The problem for the music industry is that many downloading services offer music/music videos for free which robs artists of their royalties. Some artists argue that free downloads actually help their sales, but record companies say the practice is threatening the industry. They've taken court action against people who download music illegally, and have begun to provide websites that offer legal copies of songs for a small fee. However, failure to agree on licensing means that there are fewer songs available from these sites.

Music Video Budget

How much money is usually spent on the average music video?

On average a music a music video would cost a minimum of £50,000. However this can go anything up to £500.000 or even more.

For example Michael and Janet Jackson music for scream cost £7,00,00 to make and Madonna's express yourself cost £5,000,000 but this is because they're big pop starts so they're likely to make back the money they spent and more. I guess it depends on the popularity of the artist/band and the people behind them. New artists/bands, will not be given a huge budget for crew and video equipment to make their first video, because you can't risk such amounts of money especially with today's economy. However, there are some well known music videos which probably cost nothing at all.

“Lonely Boy” by the Black Keys Perhaps one of the best happy accidents in music video history, “Lonely Boy” is a single take of a man dancing and lip-syncing to the song in a motel. The Black Keys originally had a full script and a cast of over 40 people for the video, but ended up scrapping it. The man who starred in the final cut is an actor and part-time security guard named Derrick T. Tuggle, who was only supposed to have a small dancing clip as an extra. When they were unhappy with the original shoot, they decided to use the clip of Tuggle as the entire music video, calling it “the most expensive single shot ever recorded.” “Lonely Boy” was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video, and Tuggle has since become an icon for his candid grooving.

Music Video directors

Who are some famous music video directors and why are their videos so well known?

Most notable music video directors are:




David Fincher,

David Fincher was born in 1962 in Denver, Colorado, and was raised in Marin County, California. At the age of 18 years old he went to work for John Korty at Korty Films in Mill Valley. Fincher worked at ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) from 1981-1983. He left ILM to direct TV commercials and music videos after signing with N. Lee Lacy in Hollywood.

David Fincher directed the music video of Madonna 'Vogue' and Michael Jackson 'who is it'

Jonas Akerlund

Hans Uno Jonas Akerlund is a swedish director and drummer. He is the best for directing music videos, Which are often mock forms of movies trailers and short films.

He directed the music video of Lady Gaga 'Telephone featuring Beyonce' and Christina Aguilera 'Beautiful'

Anthony Mandler
Anthony Mandler is Rihanna's favourite video director. The Two have reportedly come together for a whopping 16 music videos since she began her career in 2006.


 His notable music videos include JayZ/Justin Timberlake 'Holy Grail', Rihanna 'Diamonds' and Drake 'Find your Love'








Their videos are made so popular by the large budget they are able to put into it. The best directors will not want to do a video for a new artist unless they feel that their debut single will do well in the charts. These directors need to know that they will be getting the money money they spent on the video back. How good the video is will determine the outline of views and sales of the single after video consumption.


Because technology is improving, the amount creativity allowed in a video in unlimited. Artists coming out now are all about being individual and unique so they crate the most alarming videos in terms of dancing, effect etc. This makes the audience to enjoy the video and praise the directors. And other artists, upcoming or established will want to work with that particular director. For instance when i hear a song i really like, i imagine what sort of video will suite the song and if a video does get released for that song i'll be excited to watch it. However if the video doesn't fit the video, I will criticise it for example Nicki Minaj's video for 'Startship'

Purpose Of A Music Promo Video

What is the purpose of a music video for the companies and artists that make them?

The purpose of music video is to make profit, and this profit takes the form of financial gain. The main purpose of a music video to the artist and record company is to promote their music. When a video accompanies a song, the exposure of the single will automatically double. Meaning that it will get lots of views and maybe be on top of the charts. While the song can only be played on radio and audio-only, Internet services such as itunes, having an accompanying video means that the song will also be played on sites such as YouTube and VEVO, as well as music television.

Companies are aware that many consumers are more likely to share a video rather than an audio file, to talk about the video and spread the songs influence by word of mouth. For an artist this could mean more recognition, as a visual medium widens the possible scope of heir creation 'vision' allowing them to get their message or self image with more power.

For a record company, the music video gives them the opportunity to include product placement and earn more revenue.Other reasons include enjoyment, and doing what they love to do. In the case of the Artist it is about showing off their talent for singing and dancing.

The purpose of a music video could also be to change the profile of the band/artists. To show people that they are changing or have changed, and are trying to attract a new kind of audience. A band who have done this are MCFLY. When they were first trying to attract their audiences, they used bright coloured music videos, with bright backgrounds, that were 'cute and fun' such as this one...