Textual Analysis of Over - Drake

Released - March 8,2010
Song - Over
Signed to - Young Money
Name - Aubrey Drake Graham

Drakes 'Over' video has no clear narrative which we can draw upon from the music video itself or from the images which it is showing the audience. This is unusual from a rap/Hip-hop music video because there is usually at least on distinctive narrative which we can draw from the video whether it being the rappers showing their success through there mise-en-scene they use in the video eg expensive jewellery. How ever the 'Over' video does not seem to show any of the real stereotypical conventions of a rap video as such although this doesnt mean there are none there are a few but not many and none really of which give us a narrative as to what is going on in the video. We can only really get a picture of what the narrative is through the lyrics which Drake uses.

Although the rap music video does not use a lot of the stereotypical features which you would expect to see eg expensive cars or drinks. There are still a few typical stereotypical conventions used for example one of the stereotypical conventions which is used is the the use of women and how they are dressed in order to catch the 'male gaze'. The video shows a women in very provocative clothing and this is a stereotypical convention of a rap video. Feminists would argue this is another way of showing patriarchy in order to show male domination throughout the video in order to make the women look less important than the man and this would also be supported by the fact that she is dancing in the background. Another way in which this video supports the typical stereotypes is through the mise-en-scene used. For example although there is not a lot of it on show we can still an expensive piece of jewellery around the artists neck which can be used as a sense of the artist trying to show his wealth and success however there is a lot less jewellery on show than you would see in your average rap video.

However this Rap video does not conform to all the stereotypical conventions of a rap music video an example of this being the setting/location. The setting does not conform to the stereotype because in most rap videos you usually have a busy background whether it be the rappers driving around or the background behind them even being busy. However in this video drake is the only person in the video for most of the time and the background is not typical either for example it looks like a bedroom and he stays in there for most of the actual video. This is not stereotypical because most rappers would change location a few times in order to show something whether it be wealth, where they grew up etc. but this video doesn't seem to do that. Another stereotypical factor of this video is to do with the mise-en-scene there is no use of cars and in most rap videos there is usually at least one car in order for the rapper again to show of success or fame. It is arguable that this video itself is post-modern as it goes against most of the stereotypes of the music video and the rapper has tried to do something in order to make his video stand out for example the bedroom scene with all the lights going around on his face this is different to most rap videos and there for defies the conventions and seeks to make new conventions of its own.