HISTORY OF DRAKE

2006-2008

Drake

Young to Now

When Drake began his career he didn’t look like an average/normal hip hop artist. His dress sense was quite bland and he looked quite geeky.

As he started to gain more recognition his record label changed up his style so that he looked more like a star and so he could give off sexual magnetism towards a female target audience

Drake’s first video: Best I Ever Had Drake’s video was set in a basketball court/gym where he showed a female team training for a game.

Throughout the video we constantly see voyeurism of women. They’re dressed in tight low cut clothing, so this would attract a male audience as the women are pretty and look appealing.

The video suggests that he is quite a ladies man, he also comes across as a cool and laidback person. Men will admire him because of how many girls are surrounded by him and women will want him because other females are with him.

Also they use a lot of close ups on Drake’s name. This is because they want to familiarise the audience with him as he is a new artist this can be known as an intertexual reference as his prompting himself.

HISTORY OF DRAKE

2008-2009

2008 In 2008 Drake joined Lil-Wayne’s group

Young Money , he then toured with Lil Wayne for a year, Drake recorded a few songs during this time, including ‘Ransom’, the original version of ‘I want this forever’ and the remix to drakes song, ‘Brand New’, After the tour ended Drake was not signed to Young Money till later in his career.

2009

Drake released his third official mix tape So Far Gone, which was so popular it inspired him to create a song called ‘successful, MTV named it the ‘most wanted’ album of 2009 and this led Drake to gain new popularity and have the opportunities to work with Jay-Z, Kanye West, Eminem, Alicia Keys, after these collaborations he was signed to Young Money and worked with Lil Wayne which he continues to do.

‘Forever’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDuRoPIOBjE&ob=av2e

Technology Throughout this music video they have used fast editing, a night club theme, overlapping two shots and close ups, montages and slow motion all this promotes the artist as a solo artist and shows it is in fact his music also it give the artist more time on screen.

No CGI or Green screens have been used, however they have used strobe lighting, controlled expositions and spark machines and flares also spot lights and disco balls appear in this video.

Artist Image

Drake in this video wears baggy jeans, white T-shirt, this is conventional to the R&B/Rap genre of music, if you looked at the artist you would apply him to the rap genre.

Drake 2009- Present Day

Drake has became a international super-star since the start of his music career in 2006 by releasing three mix tapes, an album (Thank me Later), successful collaborations with artists such as Trey Songz, having two top ten Billboard Hot 100 appearances, tours and now a up-coming album called Take Care.

Videos- Over

We as the audience has seen Drake’s dramatic change in the music industry by the content of his music videos, being more detailed and outlined. For example this is shown in his music video ‘Over’.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lTB1pIg1y0&ob=av2e

Over This music video shows the maturity of

Drake, it doesn’t focus on voyeuristic treatment of women as it did in ‘Best I Ever Had’ but more on Drake telling a story of how his life is unfolding by showing him mostly throughout. He chose not to go the focus on the common rap-video direction and fill his whole video with nearly naked women, alcohol, and flashy cars, but only stuck with one leading lady portraying his innocence.

Drake uses many colours and images to express himself in this video, mostly relying on the lyrics to match the visuals. A large amount of CGI is used within the video to do this

Over This video I believe changed Drake’s reception as

a womaniser but as a leading artist who is rebellious and confident. As he is not scared to use reference to other artist and Hollywood stars in the video for example Michael Jackson's Thriller and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Set it Off in his lyrics and visual appearance. Drake presents himself to the audience in this video as confident, but he’s not arrogant, having swagger, boldness and talent.

The messages that a conveyed to the audience about the Drake in the video is that he is still coming to terms of stardom. It shows a struggle between the concept of his past life and what this new life of fame has to offer. For example, in the video you see him looking back and forth between the two women and deciding, as one looks good and pure of heart while the other wild dancing in the background voyeuristically tempting him.

The video often reflects on the demands of the record label making him use many close-ups throughout the video to promote himself, this makes us want to see more of him by buying his album.

Over Many close-ups and medium shots are used

throughout the video so we can stay focused with Drake and not be distracted by his surrounds as often.

Drake is shown wearing urban clothing throughout, for example hoodies and baggie jeans, he also wears a long chain, this reflects back on hip-hops stereo-typical appearance. The ‘good girl’ in his video is wearing a white patterned dress making her look pure and innocent while the ‘bad girl’ wears a revealing black bikini making her look erotic and sinister. The video is set generally in a his bedroom, while he sits on his bed dressed reflecting on his life.

This video I believe has gained back a large target audience for Drake as he lost many before hand as he lost many feminist audiences, although as he has changed his on screen appearance and settings he has gained it back by sticking to the hip-hop normality of telling a story within the video.