Public enemy- Harder than you think analysis

Ricardo Da Silva http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPHO5Br sd3E

Questions to answer
What is the relationship between lyrics and

visuals? What is the relationship between music and visuals? Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs? Is there reference to the notion of looking? Are there intertextaul references? Is it performance, concept or narrative based performance?

General Information about the music video

Released-August 13, 2007

Genre-Hip hop
Length-4:10 (album version)

3:10 (UK radio edit) Label-SLAMjamz Records Writer(s)Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Gary G-Wiz Producer Gary G-Wiz There is also a music video including Paralympics clips, produced by HWIC Filmworks.

 This shot at the beginning of the video conforms

to the conventions of violence and danger. The gun is a general convention of many rap videos and lyrics. However the rest of the video at times dispels the belief to this being your normal rap video as the men are conceptually putting across that the American way is broken.

 There are many occasions when the artist is

looking directly at the camera. This happens mainly at the chorus and acts as a way of empathising the phrase Harder than you think. Like in many videos the close-ups are given of the main singer.

 As we can see there is a close-up of the artist

whilst in the truck. There are many of these when the lyrics involve a solo rap. Despite this the old looking truck is again a referral to the poverty that has restricted many young Americans from growing as individuals.

 Spittin riches , b*****s, and this new thing about

snitches System dissed them but barely missed her My soul intention to save my brothers and sisters These lyrics form an intrinsic relationship with the visuals we can see. The men are clearly poor and are trying to make a political statement of the way the lower classes are treated.

 This shot shows that the video appears to be a

conceptually performed narrative. Whilst the men perform together there is a clear political message trying to put across at times. Non of the men are covered in jewellery and appear to be regular men sitting by the roadside.

Stands out from previous inner city shots. This could be a way of showing that the people from where he is from are not all the same. Your pre conceived notions are false.

Sign of where the rapper is from. This is a motorway that connects New York City to the rest of the USA. This could be significant as the artist is trying to make the point that area offers a lot yet is given so little hope Greenery is not very common.

Motorway route

Medium shot of artist shows that the focus remains still on the artist and his words.