As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I take a look at my life and realize there's nothin' left 'Cause I've been blasting and laughing so long, That even my mama thinks that my mind is gone But I ain't never crossed a man that didn't deserve it Me be treated like a punk you know that's unheard of You better watch how you're talking and where you're walking Or you and your homies might be lined in chalk I really hate to trip but I gotta loc As they croak, I see myself in the pistol smoke, fool I'm the kinda G the little homies wanna be like On my knees in the night saying prayers in the streetlight
Been spending most their lives, living in the gangsta's paradise Been spending most their lives, living in the gangsta's paradise Keep spending most our lives, living in the gangsta's paradise Keep spending most our lives, living in the gangsta's paradise
Look at the situation they got me facin' I can't live a normal life, I was raised by the streets So I gotta be down with the hood team Too much television watching got me chasing dreams I'm an educated fool with money on my mind Got my 10 in my hand and a gleam in my eye I'm a loc'd out gangsta set trippin' banger And my homies is down so don't arouse my anger, fool Death ain't nothing but a heartbeat away, I'm living life, do or die, what can I say I'm 23 now, but will I live to see 24 The way things are going I don't know
Tell me why are we so blind to see That the ones we hurt are you and me
Been spending most their lives, living in the gangsta's paradise Been spending most their lives, living in the gangsta's paradise Keep spending most our lives, living in the gangsta's paradise Keep spending most our lives, living in the gangsta's paradise
Power and the money, money and the power Minute after minute, hour after hour Everybody's running, but half of them ain't looking What's going on in the kitchen, but I don't know what's cookin' They say I gotta learn, but nobody's here to teach me If they can't understand it, how can they reach me I guess they can't, I guess they won't I guess they front, that's why I know my life is out of luck, fool
Been spending most their lives, living in the gangsta's paradise Been spending most their lives, living in the gangsta's paradise Keep spending most our lives, living in the gangsta's paradise Keep spending most our lives, living in the gangsta's paradise
Tell me why are we so blind to see That the ones we hurt are you and me Tell me why are we so blind to see That the ones we hurt are you and me [Fade out]
This week we were given a task at which we are asked to replicate a music video. I was put into a group with fellow class members Connor and Jack at which we were given the music video of:
Coolio - Gangsters Paradise
In this prelim task we are asked to do a logical cut off point at which is around a minute long in this case we are replicating just over a minute with this song. In this video there are three main characters at which the roles are shown below: We decided early on that we would allocate roles and this worked perfectly as we are in a gorup of three with a video with three people in.
Archie - The women Connor - Coolio Jack - the other male man
In class we heard No Rest without the music video and then in groups we were to discuss the possible ideas for a possible music video. We came up with two ideas, our first idea which was actually very close to the actual video itself was of a man laying in a dry river bed and then for it to start raining to eventually cause a flood with no escape. The second idea which came from the group was a man following a silhouette of a woman in a desert which is never getting closer. We then pitched our idea to the other group in our class and heard their ideas. We then all watched the actual video together and was surprised how close our first idea was to the original video. From looking at different videos from out of the genre I am used to and going through this process it has come very often that the lyrics have no meaning to the actual video itself and is in fact the complete opposite.
As a class we came out with different words that could represent this very unique video.
Mesmerising
Slow-Motion
Random
Invigorating
Soporific
Psychedelic
Strange
Thom Yorke is given the star image affect using one of Goodwin's theories. Him being a very unique individual he can be used to promote the band which is almost what every music video is created for. Especially when MTV and music channels were very popular before YouTube become available on so many platforms. The music video also being clearly filmed in America also shows that this is not a small band, this means just portraying where the music video was filmed can be a big factor on the music video and the band itself.
This video shows the typical representation of a grime video. With the artist succeeding coming from a poor area it is very typical for the artist to go to their roots in the grime and rap genre. This relates to Goodwin's theory of genre related style and iconography. Thought beats are also used throughout the video which is also another part of Goodwin's theory also including many close ups of the main artist in the crowd to represent a star image
This video shows the typical representation for a rap/hip-hop video. Idolising the two main artists at a ridiculous house party they are able to idolise their life to public which is a typical way in which these artists show their life through music. Also using thought beats in cooperation with the video.
Creating a star image is vital in the pop industry. This Justin Bieber video is a typical video for his genre towards creating the star image using multiple close ups of the artist to create a iconic figure which audiences will envy. This video also includes a narrative to include a story into the video.
