Analysis of Jay-Z's '99 Problems' Music Video

In lesson we looked Jay - Z's '99 Problems' music video and looked at 7 categories to look at when watching the video:

Textual Analysis: Music Video

• Summarise denotation - use of performance,narrative and other visual elements
• Genre characteristics - Goodwin's theory
• Cinematography
• Mise-en-Scene
• Editing
• Notion of Looking
• Inter-textual referencing

99 Problems - Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter, known by his stage name as Jay-Z, is an American rapper and record producer. He is one of the most financially successful hip-hop artists in America and his smash hit single, '99 Problems' was released in 2004 which really began his career as an artist.

The hip-hop genre that Jay-Z is related is usually seen to be a 'thug life' and this is shown in the music video. The images of graffiti,police,criminals,baseball caps and baggy jeans are all stereotypically items and the way they dressed are all closely associated with rap artists given them their style. In addition, the black and white edit of the video represents a ghetto style like in old New York films, however in this video it is opposing the usual romantic connotation of black and white film because the video is more street based and stereotypically to the Rap genre.

 Moreover the derogatory treatment of women be referred to as, 'bitch' and the close up shots in the video of women dressed in bikinis is typical of a rap video of making women something to be looked at in a sexual way, 'voyeurism'. However the word the 'bitch', can be seen to refer to the dogs in the video, when the dog fighting is taking place.  Also the setting of the video is set in Brooklyn,New York which is known for it to be run down and associated with violence and break/street dancing and this is shown also in the video and in the lyrics Jay - Z raps.

The wide angle and close up shots in the setting of the record shop are repeated throughout the video, it shows the old school music style he might use and his music and the musical integrity in his lyrics and also shows this through the scenes in the video.
In addition the low angle shots of Jay-Z give him power and authority because the viewer is looking up at him to show he has gained this through his music. Also the fast pace editing of music video supports the  beat of the song but also the narrative that he is trying to create of it being a story to tell and a lot has happened for him to be at the position he is now. This can also be seen at the beginning of the video when the camera is from his point of view when he walks up the stairs but never gets there showing his story of how he got to the top.
In the video there is inter-textual referencing to,'Rick Ruben' who is included alongside Jay-Z in the video because he is the founder of Def Jam Records and produced this video. Moreover the recurring use of 'diamonds' seen in jewelery shown in the video is reference to, 'Roc Nation' because he is the found of 'Roc Nation Sports'.