This is Kanye Wests album cover for 'Late Registration' featuring the single 'Gold Digger'

Analysis of Gold Digger

Lyrics:

"Gold Digger"
(feat. Jamie Foxx)

[Jamie Foxx]
She take my money when I'm in need
Yeah she's a trifling friend indeed
Oh she's a gold digger way over town
That dig's on me

[Chorus:]
(She gives me money)
Now I ain't sayin' she a gold digger (When I'm in Need)
But she ain't messin' with no broke niggas
(She gives me money)
Now I ain't sayin' she a gold digger (When I'm in need)
But she ain't messin' with no broke niggas
Get down girl go head get down (I gotta leave)
Get down girl go head get down (I gotta leave)
Get down girl go head get down (I gotta leave)
Get down girl gone head

[Verse 1:]
Cutie the bomb
Met her at a beauty salon
With a baby Louis Vuitton
Under her underarm
She said I can tell you ROC
I can tell by your charm
Far as girls you got a flock
I can tell by your charm and your arm
but I'm looking for the one
have you seen her?
My psychic told me she have an ass like Serena
Trina, Jennifer Lopez, four kids
An I gotta take all they bad ass to show-biz
OK get your kids but then they got their friends
I pulled up in the Benz, they all got up in
We all went to Den and then I had to pay
If you fucking with this girl then you better be payed
You know why
It take too much to touch her
From what I heard she got a baby by Busta
My best friend say she use to fuck with Usher
I don't care what none of you all say I still love her

[Chorus]

[Verse 2:]
18 years, 18 years
She got one of your kids got you for 18 years
I know somebody paying child support for one of his kids
His baby mamma's car and crib is bigger than his
You will see him on TV any given Sunday
Win the Superbowl and drive off in a Hyundai
She was suppose to buy you shorty TYCO with your money
She went to the doctor got lypo with your money
She walking around looking like Michael with your money
Should of got that insured got GEICO for your money
If you ant no punk holla we want prenup
WE WANT PRENUP! Yeah
It's something that you need to have
'Cause when she leave yo ass she gone leave with half
18 years, 18 years
And on her 18th birthday he found out it wasn't his

[Chorus]

[Verse 3:]
Now I ain't saying you're a gold digger you got needs
You don't want your dude to smoke but he can't buy weed
You got out to eat and he cant pay you all can't leave
There's dishes in the back, he gotta roll up his sleeves
But why you all washing watch him
He gone make it into a Benz out of that Datson
He got that ambition baby look in his eyes
This week he mopping floors next week it's the fries
So, stick by his side
I know his dude's balling but yeah that's nice
And they gone keep calling and trying
But you stay right girl
But when you get on he leave your ass for a white girl

Get down girl go head get down
Get down girl go head get down
Get down girl go head get down
get down girl go head
(lemme hear that back)

Analysis of Work Out Plan

Lyrics:

"The New Workout Plan"

[Intro]
You just popped in the Kanye West
Get right for the summer workout tape
And ladies if you follow these instructions exactly
You might bear to pull you a rapper, a NBA player
Man, at least a dude wit' a car
So first of all we gon' work on the stomach
Nobody wants a little tight ass!

[Verse 1]
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and get them sit ups right and
Tuck your tummy tight and do your crunches like this
Give head, stop breathe, get up, check your weave
Don't drop the blunt and disrespect the weed
Pick up your son and don't disrespect your seed
It's a party tonight and ooh she's so excited
Tell me who's invited: you, your friends and my dick
What's scary to me is Henny makes girls look like Halle Berry to me
So excuse me miss, I forgot your name
Thank you, God bless you, good night I came..
I came...
I came..

[Chorus:]
It's been a week without me
And she feels weak without me
She wanna talk it out but
Ain't nothin to talk about less
She talks about freakin out so
Maybe we can work it out
Work it out [4x]
Maybe we could work it out

[Verse 2]
Oh girl your silhouette make me wanna light a cigarette
My name Kanye from the Jigga set Twista said get it wet
Ooh, girl your breath is HARSH
Cover your mouth up like you got SARS
Off them tracks yea I bought them cars
Still killa a nigga on 16 bars
We ain't sweatin' to the oldies we jukin to a cold beat
Maybe one day girl we can bone
So you can brag to all your homies now
But I still mess with a big girl if you ain't fit girl I'll hit girl
1 and you brought 2 friends OK 3 more now hop in the Benz
4 door do you know the difference between a 5, 6, 7, 8
All the mocha lattes you gotta do Pilates
You gotta pop this tape in before you start back dating
Hustlers, gangstas, all us, ballas

[Chorus]

[Interlude: Ladies speaking w/ Kanye in the background]
[Jill] Hi, may name is Jill, I just want to say thanks to
Kanye's workout plan. I was able to pull a NBA player
And like now I shop every day on Rodeo drive
I just want to say, thank you Kanye! woooo! woooo! woooo!

[Lasandra] My name is Lasandra, and I just want to say
that ever since listenin' to Kanye's workout tape
I was able to get my phone bill paid, I got sounds and 13's
put up in my Cavalier and I was able to get a free trip to Cancun
And what's most importantly is that I ain't gotta fuck Ray Ray's
broke ass no mo'

(Work it mo' juge it mo' pump it mo, Chi-town mo' let's go mo')

[Alamae] My name is Alamae from Mobille, Alabama
and I just want to say since listenin' to Kanye's workout tape
I been able to date outside the family, I got a double wide
And I rode the plane, rode the plane, rode the plane

[Girl] Thanks to Kanye's workout plan
I'm the envy of all my friends
See I pulled me a baller man (yeah)

And I don't gotta work at the mall again

[Beat changes]

(Lemme break ya wit' a piece of)
My favorite work out plan (oh! oh! oh!)
I wanna see you work out (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
(It's that old Michael Jackson shit)

That's right put in work, move your ass, go wizzerk
Eat your salad, no dessert
Get that man you deserve
It's Kanye's workout plan
I said it's Kanye's workout plan (Ladies and gentlemen)
It's Kanye's workout plan (Allow myself to introduce myself)
His woooorrrrkkoouut plan (This time around I want y'all to clap like this)

That's right, put in work
Move your ass, go wizzerk
Eat your salad, no dessert
Get that man you deserve (Stop!)
It's Kanye's workout plan (Ok bring)
I said it's Kanye's workout plan (I know y'all ain't tired)
It's Kanye's workout plan (But I hope not, 'cuz on this one I need ya)
His woooorrrrkkoouut plan (To give me a soul clap ok? Double time)

That's right, put in work (Woo!)
Move your ass, go wizzerk (Ow!
Eat your salad, no dessert (Ugh!)
Get that man you deserve

That's right, put in work (Put in work)
Move your ass, go wizzerk (Go wizzerk)
Eat your salad, no dessert (No dessert)
Get that man you deserve (You hear, ugh)

That's right, put in work (That's right put in work)
Move your ass, go wizzerk (Go wizzerk)
Eat your salad, no dessert (Eat your salad, no dessert)
Get that man you deserve (Woo!)

(Okay, okay, okay, that's, that'd be good) [Applause and cheering]
(I appreciate your time)
I want to see you work out for me
Woah, yeah

"Hip hop began in the 1970s. The art form, which originated in New York, provided Black and Latino youth with an outlet to express themselves, often speaking out about the poor conditions that exist within their communities. The development of the hip-hop culture created a movement that influenced the way we dress, speak and socialize. The emergence of "gangsta rap" in the 1980s marked the beginning of some disintegration of the positive images in hip-hop culture."

http://www.ehow.com/about_5418679_negative-rap-hip-hop-music.html

"Hip hop videos available in modern days give less importance to expressive movements available in hip hop dancing. Dancing accompanies a single beat without many lyrics. In hip hop videos, women are mostly objectified. They act according to the wish of the other people who are involved in taking videos. Videos are becoming more and more vulgar in recent days. There is no control on the scenes in the videos. This situation with videos may be because of the dominance of macho rappers who are in competition for making more number of videos."

http://ezinearticles.com/?Hip-Hop-Videos&id=407543

In my research investigation, the two texts I will be analyzing are Missy Elliot’s hip/hop videos, titled ‘Work it’, contrasting Kanye west’s music videos ‘Workout Plan’ My aims and objectives of my research are to find out the variety of representations and stereotypes in modern hip/hop videos of gender. I will also be discussing if women are being objectified due to the fact it aids sales. Thirdly, I will be researching if this strategy is successful and gratifies its audience. In this section I will discuss the roles of each gender within the genre, the importance and the power, which surrounds them.

My research will feature information on how Rap has evolved from its origin of being performed on the streets into mainstream hip-hop+ Pop music targeting a wider more diverse audience. In this I will explore the social and political issues that are projected in videos, lyrics and public relations.

Lyrical content will be a section I will focus on gaining an insight into the provocative and sexualized ideology related to the lyrics and how the industry is portrayed through the content used. Including issues relating to women, cars and money, signifying power and authority, questioning weather this is true or false.The response from the audience and how the industry influences gender to act upon the music for example, inspires females to aspire to be video girls and objectify themselves and males aiming to be powerful and surrounded by the 3 guilty pleasures. The theories I will apply are the male gaze and Postmodernism in which will link with all of the sections.

The first text I will discuss is ‘Work it’ features Missy Elliot portrayed within a masculine role, in contrast to ‘Kanye west’ music videos featuring females being sexualized and used provocatively. At the start of the video Missy Elliot is dragged across a park, which is abandoned in an open space. The theme of this scene could be argued isolation, in which is supported by the dark colors used e.g. the dark sky, shadows of the park equipment, along with the crooked trees and natural environment, in which is related to a horror a stereotypical genre. This scenario juxtaposes the innocence of the park in which is associated with children, in reality the actual scene is a complete contrast. Additionally, this atmosphere portrays Missy as a character who is…..

The beginning of the video is not a stereotypical view of representation of females being sexual and revealing their bodies that is often seen in the rap genres promotional music videos to aid the power of the male roles. On the other hand ‘Missy Elliot’ is referring her self as a male figure e.g. powerful and in control of the situation, as well as disrupting the image of females within hip hop e.g. in the scene there is a close up of her face, which is surrounded by flies, this has connotations of dirt and disease. As the lyrical content starts, the audiences see Missy as the main focus of the camera surrounding by male dancers that are all paying attention to her. As she is the focus this symbolizes missy having the most importance even though the ratio of females to males is 1:4. Further on in the video, there is a scene where Missy is in a beautician with 4 identical females having a manicure, this refers back to females being presented as objects and similar to one another in the hip hop industry. However, Missy’s appearance is very different to the females in the scene. She is dressed in a tracksuit with a chain, signifying her individuality as an artist and to the rest of females in the industry. Her actions are very masculine and not lady like, she is direct in the scene and includes hand gestures portraying herself related to the street sub genre of ‘Hip-hop’. Moreover, in this part of the scene she grabs he crouch referencing herself to a influential black musician ‘Michael Jackson’ again this reflects her as being somewhat powerful and of high authority. Furthermore her actions indicate sexual reference with males in sexual activity.

Even though in the video there is female dominance included, there are still elements of objectified and sexualized females. Examples include after the beautician scene, Missy is rapping in a car park amongst 4 female dancers, as she says  “Love the way my a** go bum-bum-bum-bum, Keep your eyes on my bum-bum-bum-bum-bum, and think you can handle this gadong-a-dong-dong

Take my thong off and my *** go vroom” the dancers are facing the floor, and there is a long shot of them bouncing up and down. In this part of the video, it could argue the ‘Male Gaze’ is in play, as the dancers are focused upon. It could be argued that Missy uses the females to sexualize the video on the whole, as she is not the stereotypical image of a video girl, as she small and has a larger more realistic body image. On the other hand she still includes sexual references to herself in a provocative manner e.g. “Take my thong off” As a male audience they would watch the video for the entertainment and sexual arousal. Additionally this supports the fact that females being sexualized to a degree brings a wider audience and leads to the views of the music videos, adding sales.

“Girl, girl, get that cash, If it's 9 to 5 or shakin' your a**,Ain't no shame, ladies do your thang Just make sure you ahead of the game” these lyrics indicate Missy is showing that she doesn’t pass judgment on how a woman provides for herself. The “shakin' your ass” could be in reference to being a stripper and therefore restoring the stereotypical image of females being objectified.  In a sense this supports it could be argued that females accept the stereotype of being objectified.

How do you chosen texts attract their audiences?

'Lost'

This text is a Hybrid text, drawing in a action/fantasy and adventure type of audiences,  meaning that a wider community can be engaged. Additionally, with an ensemble cast, this supports a huge audience. The reason for this type of cast is that each character represents something morally and as a individual. Various members of the audience can relate to specific characters e.g an asian female could relate to 'Sun' as she has a eastern cultural background knowing her role as a women. In the cooking scene between 'Sun' and 'Jin', roles and a hierarchy is present with clear distinction of male importance and females perceived as weak and suppressed. In the short scene, Sun picks up food Jin is cooking, he reacts with a slap to her wrists. Moreover, this shows a difference in cultural acceptance, in most cases a  modern western audience would see this as a negative perception of a eastern world/culture. Props theory is in play within the cast e.g Jack as the hero, being portrayed positive and morally right, another example is Kate being refereed to as a princess. These characters would both appeal to members of the audience as they are two of the positive figures included in the text.

'MadMen'

This texts appeals to its audience using several uses and gratifications. Unlike 'lost' targeting a wider more diverse audience, 'Madmen' target a more precise audience.In the episode there still remains characters in which the audience can relate to and aspire to be. In the scene where Joan meets the business man to convince him seductively to be in support of the jaguar pitch, she is portrayed as using her body/reference to a prostitute to gain more power and work her way up the hierarchy. The business man takes off her lingerie, signifying Joan to being easy access sexually for males, portraying females in a negative manor.On the other hand Joan is been adviced by 'Pete' to do this for the good of the copmany, this signifying and support the idea that males are presented with total power and dominance over women in this era. The contrast to this is Peggy, who is symbolised as a hardworking female, an example of this is in the cafe scene between Peggy and her new boss, talking about her new job prospect. The scene indicates Peggy as a female who has worked hard to get to her position unlike Joan who has had to make sexual sacrifices.

Scene 1:

• There is a introduction to the 1960's era.
• Straight away the audience see's the importance of Don Draper. 
• Members of the audience can relate to the start of this scene, e.g business men due to the presents of a board room, this referring to the importance of males (Male dominated world).
• Women in the audience can relate to Joan as she is asked by Pete to go out with the business man to aid the well being of the company she works for and support the pitch. This illustrates the treatment of women and presents the role of a women in a work place e.g to look good. Social integration is in practise here, as member of the audience may think the workplace in modern times is still the same or familiar, objectifying women.
• Element of escapism may be a factor of the audience watching the programme, escaping to the 1960's, males may gain entertainment as degrading of women is a obvious sign.

Scene 2:

• Don treats Peggy as not an equal/ refers to the male dominance over women and in way women accepting there roles in socitey. However, a contrast can be made as this era was the beginning of women gaining rights and becoming more powerful overall.
• Escapism may be a element to the lower classes of the audience, they have a sense of power (appealing to the males) and a glamorous factor (appealing to the females).

Scene 3:

• Social interaction, may be a result due to in the programme the men being torn between work and home/relationship.
• Stereotypes are present females 'stay at home'/ 'men go to work earn the money'.
• Joan asks for part of the business, signifying female power growing.

Scene 4:

• Black rights are shown at the start of the scene, indicated by Joan's mother who is older and more traditional (white class more rights and more important than the black race etc)
• A hierarchy is in place where the males are at the top, females second and black people being at the bottom.
• Change is a theme of the episode, Joan's mother does not accept change e.g black people gaining more rights slowly. This issue is relevant today e.g increase of immigrations in the UK or USA.
• Women are perceived as trophies/ goals, reference to a younger culture (more open about sex etc)
• Conflicts of morals are included e.g Joan sleeping with the man, Peggy working hard to get where she is.
• Cross cutting of scenes between the pitch and night with joan and the businessman, used for entertainment, showing structure of narrative. This could represent advertising being corrupt and unjust, agin this relates to modern society e.g News of the world, phone hacking scandall.

Scene 5:

• Dons wife goes to audition, contrasting him as important, where she is just an object/ Male gaze is in play.
• Don shows they can have more respect for women in the family scene.
• Hardworking females can identify Peggy as a hard working female with values and inspiration.
• There is a 'Ensomble cast', meaning there is a variety of characters in which appeal to a wide audience, each member of the audience can understand or relate to at least one person in the cast.

Scene 6:

• Don Draper restores his personal values when referencing the jaguar car to a women, illustrating his disagreement morally. He then walks out the room.
• The audience gain a insight into Peggy's character, about her character, thriving to aspire to succeed and work well. This may relate to a single mother in her own occupation.
• Even though roles of male dominance are present in the scene, Peggy contrast the roles as Don is very weak and in tears as Peggy leaves the business.This can be supported when Don is sitting down holding Peggy's hand who is standing, the proximity represents the power.
• Emotional release may be a feeling when the end of the episode concludes. e.g someone who really relates to a character, Peggy for example, being inspired by her.
• The audience receive information of the advertising companies of the 60's being reflected as the celebrities and famous idols e.g Don draper, being the top of the food chain.
• This scene is relevant to someone who wants to pursue a new career, gaining advice on how to literally say goodbye, this is considered the normal ways of everyday life.