Textual Analysis

1. Textual Analysis • Jon Booth

2. Front Cover • This is the front cover of the Hip-Hop magazine RWD. The magazine has gone for the red and blue primary colours with a picture of one of the UK’s top Hip Hop acts Skepta on the front cover. By choosing these colours all of the writing is clearly seen by the reader. The main features of the magazine is first the picture of Skepta on the front cover, any fans of Skepta may see this picture and automatically be tempted to read due to their liking of the artist. This is going with Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze. Men would look at the front cover of this magazine and would look up to Skepta as a role model. Also, according to Branston G and Stafford R’s theory of stereotypes, Skepta gives the image of a typical rapper in the music industry today. His chain and the clothes he is wearing are similar to that of any other rapper of today and he gives the stereotypical impression that this magazine is going to be about rap music. • The magazine also clearly states other Hip Hop artists on the left side of the magazine. The other big feature of the magazine is the NICKI MINAJ EXCLUSIVE on the right side of the magazine in red. This is probably the magazines second biggest feature as Nicki Minaj is a huge artist worldwide and the fact it is on a separate side to all of the other artists means it is a big feature in the magazine. • I think this front cover is a good one as it is clearly visible and the front cover of Skepta is clearly shown and would be appealing to any Hip-Hop fan.

3. Contents Page • This is the contents page of RWD magazine, it is the same issue as that of the front cover in my previous slide. The contents page has gone for basic colours unlike that of the front cover. They have gone for just black and white writing and background. The writing is clearly readable. There is no unclear language in the contents page which would be difficult for readers to understand. It is all in clear English which all readers would be able to read. The contents page is split into the REGULARS part of the magazine which is all the features of the magazine which are there every week. The second part of the contents page is the FEATURES section which consists of interviews e.g. Nicki Minaj 42-45. • The design of the contents page is simple. RWD have gone for 4 pictures above of the more important text below which states the features of the magazine and the pages you will find the features on. There are no silly fonts that are difficult to read, it is just a simple and easily readable contents page. • The images in the magazine in my opinion do not go with the genre of the magazine. The magazine is a hip-hop/ UK grime magazine but i think the pictures seem to be more of an indie nature. In none of the pictures are any of the models wearing clothes which relate to hip-hop. The pose, style, hair and make up do not relate to the genre of the magazine. I think these pictures would suit Kerrang or possibly Q magazine. The pictures on the front cover are mostly mid shots. All of the models look airbrushed well and edited to make the photo look as smooth as possible. • Overall i think this contents page is a very simple and a standard contents page which is easy to read. There is no language or layout features which are confusing for the reader to see.

4. Double Page Spread • This is the double page spread of the Nicki Minaj interview that was shown on the front cover of the RWD magazine. The magazine have kept the colour scheme simple using only grey’s, whites and orange. The colour scheme keeps the page looking bright and attracting to readers. • The design of the page is simple with just a picture of Nicki Minaj on the left side of the page and the interview on the right side. The font of the interview is simple and easily readable. The only thing that is different and unconventional in this magazine is the large drop cap at the very beginning of the interview. The letter M goes through about 15 lines of the interview. • The image on the left of the magazine is a picture of Nicki Minaj who the magazine is interviewing. The picture is not a very revealing picture and does not go along with Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze as she is not posing with few clothes on. Men would still look at the picture but not in the same aspect as that of a model with few clothes on. Nicki Minaj in this picture looks as if she has been airbrushed a lot for the picture to look as professional as possible. Her hair also looks as if it has been done professionally as both sides of her hair look symmetrical. It has been taken as a mid shot and a professional photographer would have probably taken this photo. When first looking at the magazine your eye straight away gets struck to look at the orange triangles on the page. In the article the text states about all of the people who buy the magazine monthly and how they should keep buying the magazine as every next issue will be as good as the one before. This gives the readers a sense of belonging and as if they are in a special club of people who monthly buy the same magazine. This goes by Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs where he created a hierarchy of needs on human behaviour. This reflects on humans range of needs ranked in order of the basic needs to higher aspirations. • The text in the double page spread is an interview with Nicki Minaj. The language of the two people when speaking is very laid back and is just about Nicki Minaj’s debut album and about all the high profile artists she has worked with. The interviewee and Nicki Minaj have a laugh and the interview is very laid back. • Overall i think this double page spread is very successful. This would appeal to a person who is into the Hip-Hop/ RnB music scene and for people who are between the age of 16- late 20s. The magazine is very well laid out and has a great design and colour scheme. The magazine does not speak about different types of music genres e.g Rock or Classic music as it is only looking to appeal to people who are young and like this type of music genre.