Francis Evdokimov

Magazine establish genre semiotics Denotation: Mast head ‘VIBE’ light blue.

Connotation: From the mast head, it is clear the magazine is aimed for both male and female, being the blue colour is neither masculine nor feminine. This colour blue is used as it is associated with someone who doesn't like to make a fuss or draw attention. This is clearly controversial knowing the character Kayne West is therefore making the magazine appealing.

Colours: Denotation: In this magazine cover the main colours used are black, blue, purple and grey. All these colours associate with something.

Connotation: As said before, a lot of text in this magazine cover is in the colour blue. Blue is associated personality wise as not liking to make a fuss or draw attention. This is very questionable as Kayne west is far from this. The blue colour therefore may show a rebellion in character. We would expect red as a colour of dispute but blue being used shows far from a person who doesn’t like fuss. Using this colour goes against the convention of blue and therefore creates ironies and a sarcastic statement. The colour grey is used as clothing as well as the background. The colour gray is an unemotional colour. It is detached, neutral, impartial and indecisive. From this I can infer already that the magazine are trying to make Kayne west look as controversial as possible. They purple colour is used as well. This is associated with people who seek harmony and balance in every aspect of their life. Knowing Kayne west, he wouldn’t really seek ‘harmony’, or even think about seeking peace and balance within himself. The magazine is really trying to create juxtaposition with Kayne west and the colours used around him. They are trying to show him as someone who he completely isn’t or something he thinks he is. The fact his costume match the title and colours around him show his high status and that the main article in the magazine will be based around him.

Text:Denotation: Using persuasive/controversial lines.

Connotation: In this magazine front cover contravserial lines as well as colours have been used to portray Kayne west debatable charachter. ‘I AM RAP’ is a very arrogant quote. He is trying to get the idea across that without him rap wouldnt exsist or be the same. He presents himself as a very high authority musical artist again creating a lot of debate. It aslo shows he is a very vain character. This can be shown as well through his positioning on the page. His head covers the title which presents him inferiority of the whole magazine, and compliments the quote ‘I AM RAP’. Another quote used to show this contraversial character is ‘The truth hurts’. Kayne is trying to infer that it is fact, it is the truth that he really is better then the rest when it comes to rap, there is no question about it. He shows he is not afraid of stating the contravesial. Another quote used in the front page is “ + his 50 greatest songs (and 10 to delete)” the number 50 is used as the biggest font before the mast head. This presents the sheer size of how many great songs he has. The word great is also used instead of good. This illustrates further how many exceptional songs he has. 50 is also a lareg quantity so he really must be ‘Rap’ if 50 sounds are great. “(And 10 to delete)” is very appealing to the audience as they would be looking for the answer of why there are songs to delete if he really is that great. Many questions would be asked by the audience and finding the really answer would be important to them.

Francis Evdokimov

Image: denotation: The image in this magazine is a close up of Kayne West. This has been done so that the audience can get a look at Kayne’s facial expression with portrays his personality to an extent. Kayne looks very confident which presents him to the audience as a vain, arrogant person. He is placed in the centre covering the mast head letters ‘I and B’. This may show how high authority he depicts of himself and thinks he is bigger than the magazine. No neck jewellery or ear rings are used which does challenge the stereotype of a rapper. We would expect bold, standing out, recognisable jewellery which is not seen. This may show he is not materialistic as you would find with many other rappers. The image also shows a clean and pure person. We see Kayne west without any materialistic items or tattoos and so on showing a much more peaceful and calm person than expected. This shows two completely different sides of the artist. Knowing the character, the image is seen as a fake representation of Kayne West and challenges him as a character and as well the stereo type of a rapper.

Colours: The main colours we see in this music magazine cover are red, white and yellow. Red is associated with an optimistic, courageous and confident person. White is associated with a well-balanced, sensible, discreet and

wise personality. Yellow conveys a person who is cheerful and fun to be with, as well as a happy disposition. The colours here seem to juxtapose Rick Ross from his actual self. We can clearly see how the colours challenge or conform the artist Rick Ross. The colour red is used for the mast head. As it is the main text, it maybe portraying the most common feature Rick Ross has to his personality. Red represents a character that is courageous and confident. This is clearly seen in the image as he has his shirt off. As he has his shirt of he clearly doesn’t care the shape he is in. Clearly he hasn’t got a body people would be attracted to so it shows his confidence in having no shirt. Also the fact that his trousers are hanging down lower his waist shows this courage and confidence needed to full something like that off. The white colour in the magazine used most for the background as well as Rick Ross’ main article colour challenges the stereotype of a rapper and the person Rick Ross is. Clearly Rick Ross does not look sensible or discreet. Most sensible people wouldn’t get tattoos knowing they would regret it later in their lives. Therefore that is one reason why the colour white does not fit Rick Ross’ character. The colour white also portrays a sensible person. Evidently he looks far from it. He is seen very energetic; he has his shirt off and looks like trouble. The audience would get the idea of a wild character, something the colour white does no depict. Rick Ross again is not seen very discreet with his costume therefore the colour whites portrays him in a mocking way, as if in sarcasm, portraying him as everything he is not. Yellow is used for Rick Ross’ name as well as ‘Global melting’. The colour yellow does conform Rick Ross’ personality but not one of a typical Rap artist. Rick Ross in the image is seen as a very fun and cheerful person. We would not usually expect this when looking at a main cover image of a rap artist. We would usually see intimidating character with bags of confidence. We see confidence but not the intimidation audiences would usually feel when looking at a rap artist.

Mise-en-scene: The costume in this magazine cover is important to see what kind of character Rick Ross is and how far he conforms the genre of rap. Clearly from the props, it is evident the sheer amount of materialistic products Rick Ross has. These items aren’t discreet, the opposite, very bold and attention grabbing. This conforms the stereotype of a rapper. As seen in many other magazine covers, Materialism is portrayed very boldly and evidently so the audience can have an indication of how wealthy and well off the character is. Jewellery is seen all round his body from head to waist. This really portrays how much the person wants to portray his wealth, as if mocking the audience. The jewellery its self seems ver