Textual Analysis

The text ('Make It Rain') has been created in the form of a music video featuring famous rap/hip hop icons Lil Wayne and Fat Joe as the main stars. It is just one from a range of music videos that I will be analysing in an attempt to explore my hypothesis and gain an in depth understanding about womens roles in Rap/Hip Hop.

From the outset of this text there is a glamourised emphasis being placed on materialistic things such as cash and jewellery, but more so the exploitation of women is amplified in a way which believes that women also fall in to this category of 'material objects', suggesting that they're no more than meaningless posessions or belongings. The use of slow motion shots panning along the 'greased up' bodies of women who have been intentionally made to appear as promiscuous as possible are the most obvious indications of conventional Hip Hop stereotypes. There is deffinately evidence in this video which supports the ideologies of a patriarchal society. For example, the blatant lustful representations of women combined with low-angle shots of the male rappers holding cash carries connotations of power and dominance for the male who is presented as the breadwinner, where as the female is shown to have no real purpose but to please the man.

This unrealistic portrayal of men and women is being forced upon teenagers, a group in society who are targeted by media institutions, fully aware of how easily they can be influenced. It is the power of these institutions and the effect that their texts have on audiences that may support the beliefs of the 'Hypodermic Needle Theory'. This theory implies that the mass media have a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences. This video especially relates to the hypodermic needle theory as it has been created with the intention of attracting young, teenage boys to a fantasy-like lifestyle in which they can gain an identity and power through exploiting cash and women. Universal Records could be criticised for moral and political irresponsibility as a result of the negative ideologies that they impose on their young and passive audiences.

The lyrics 'I make it rain on them hoes' repeated throughout the chorus carry negative and degrading connotations for women. They are being referred to as 'hoes'which suggests that they are promiscuous and offer acts of a secual nature. Women are exposing their bodies and dancing in a sexual way while they hold the rappers money which almost portrays them as the rappers property as they are satisfying the male protagonist in exchange for his money. This portrayal of an unequal relationship between men and women is being forced upon teenagers who are easily influenced by what they see on TV and in music videos.

Women are seen to be holding rappers money and shaking their bodies in a seductive way which encourages young people who watch these music videos to believe that they must exploit women, money and themselves in order to gain an identity. Materialistic values are very strong in this particular video with the amount of emphasis placed on cash, jewellery and flash cars in most shots.