The hip hop music video incorporates genre specific elements and is directed by Hype Williams.

Andrew Goodwin states that music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. Such characteristics of a hip hop music video include: 1. Variety of angles of the artist/band. For instance, a low angle indicates the artists influence over the audience, fully emphasizing the significance of the artist. In a sense it is a strategy for promoting and advertising the artist through their aesthetic appeal. 2. A crowd dancing, which places the audience in the place of those dancers, for they observe others feeling the beat of the music. Thus, it makes it more likely for the audience to connect with these people and also enjoy the song. 3. Typical to wear some form of jewellery. 4. Images associated to wealth. 5. Recurring themes throughout the music video The music video commences with a quote Little is known of Sierra Leone, and how it connects to the diamonds we own- Kanye west, thus opens with an intent to educate the viewer. As the music video progresses, it conveys Wests opposition of child laborers mining conflict diamonds in war zones such as Sierra Leone through a range of practical and technical techniques. The closing line is shown on a moving image of Kanye West walking back, which says Please purchase conflict free diamonds, indicating that Kanye Wests job of raising awareness to the viewer has been done. Unlike many hip hop/rap videos which has a central focus on women, sex and drugs, this specific video has a didactic feel, conveying real life misfortunes. The music video is highly narrative based, mixed with performance too, thus it alternates between scenes of the recording artist and the actors, so Kanye West is linking his lyrics to visuals and adding meaning to bring out his political message; this technique is known as AMPLIFICATION. The music video is in black and white. One interpretation of this could be Kanye Wests way of saying that we are stuck in the past and urging for us to move on from this situation. For example, the need to move on in society and abolish the diamond trade for justice to be achieved. The music kicks off instrumentally, with an emotive piano tune. The images that accompany this melancholy track is also disturbing (amplification), though Kanye heavily captures the bitter truth of society and the desperation for change. The actors get into the roles of the child labourers mining diamonds, alongside hearing an effective voice-over, with subtitles below, such as we are forced to kill our own family for diamonds, subsequently the viewer sees a close-up of a very young, innocent looking child, whose facial expressions display fear. The close-up shot makes it more emotive for the viewer, who understands that innocent children are being killed in the diamond business. We see light flashes in the first few shots, which could symbolize light flashing before their eyes as if their work is equivalent to death. There are various fades, fading between each scene of the labourers. The fades are a significant transition as it elongates the time, thus the viewer gets the feel that the workers really do work from sunrise to sunset as the voice rightly says. This section of the video is like an introduction before the lyrics kick in. The actors playing the labourers are presented before West himself, which is non- typical of hip hop videos. The viewer can interpret this as Kanye West putting more disadvantaged people before himself, intending for

the serious start to persuade the viewer to embark on an educational journey, where they will be taught about the situation in Sierra Leone. The introductory scene then fades in to a scene in Prague, where Williams made use of the famous architecture such as statues, to visually emphasize the subject matter of the song. There is then a fade to Kanye West himself surrounded by such wealth. Hip hop music videos tend to have images of wealth displayed in them, however West uses them for a higher and selfless purpose. The music video now begins to cut from the wealthy location Kanye West is in, to the images of the labourers; this editing is very significant in juxtaposing the two different lifestyles . There are also various silhouettes of the labourers just standing still, which amplifies the sadness of their situation, which juxtaposes Kanye West who is walking continuously throughout the video. This could be interpreted as the labourers not being able to progress in their lives but rather stuck in a monotonous routine, compared to Kanye who can move forward in his life. Additionally, the fact that Kanye West is moving around for the vast majority of his video is a way of taking the audience with him, showing them all the monuments of Prague to make the contrast even greater. A scene that particularly caught my interest was a long shot of two actors acting as a well- off couple in a hotel room. We see bottles of wine in the background, which could be a symbol of wealth and the clothes of the man of the woman can also signify wealth. In particular, the woman is wearing an elegant white shirt and a smart skirt. The scene then progresses to a close up of the man putting a ring on her finger, which is presumably the conflict diamonds that Kanye West is speaking about. We then see a close up of the woman feeling joyful and another close-up of the hand shows blood streaming down from the diamond through the use of editing. Then there is a close-up to a child labourer. In this scene especially, Kanye West is matching the lyrics and the key themes of his songs to his visuals, signifying that our joy from wealth is anothers suffering. As typically done in music videos, there are various shots of the recording artist himself from closeups, especially a range of close-ups to promote Kanye West. We also see a performance side of the song, where Kanye west is shot playing the piano, ranging from close-ups to long shots. Other shots of Kanye West show what he is wearing and representing him as a wealthy man, which juxtaposes the labourers. He wears smart black trousers and a coat, with a white shirt under it. Additionally, he wears sunglasses and a chain around his neck, which is typical of hip hop artists to promote their image, but in this music video the mise en scene also contributes to conveying the truth about the conflict diamonds that we buy. In the video, Kanye West also drives a grand, James bond like type of car, reflecting luxury that many can afford in comparison to labourers who dont even get so much as a decent life. Although the music video portrays the running theme to be about conflict diamonds, the diamonds act as a pun for Roca fella records and Kanyes desperation to save the record label. By saying Diamonds are forever, he also means that he will never give up his career as a rapper and he will try to maintain the record label. However, such thoughts arent really reflected in the music video, rather it takes a back seat. Through the process of SYNAESTHESIA introduced by Saussure, I envisioned that there would be a series of images related to diamonds and wealth. The video did show such images but I didnt imagine the music video would have as much of a strong theme based on the labourers in Sierre Leone. This music video is more focussed on the labourers, rather than the recording artist himself. However, in terms of promoting Kanye West, I believe it is successful. In other typical hip hop videos

or those of pop, an artist is usually promoted through their aesthetic appeal; however, in this video, Kanye West is promoted by the sheer quality of the truth behind his music, which is also largely reflected in his music video.