Update Two

30/09/11: So far on the coursework project Me and my featured artist have been in the music studios at college recording ‘First Time’ and collecting ideas together for the making of the First Time music video. Ive decided to keep the narrative in sync with the lyrics. It is an R n B (Contemporary Rythem and Blues) track talking about the break up and affairs between a young girl Ms sarra (Me) and Tears Carlio (Ryan). I also completed my Star Analysis and my Auteur Theory. Me and My group also went around asking people their opinions on music videos ect and completed our audience research.

Animatic of 'First Time'

Star Analysis: Target Audience

Target Audience

Nicki is trying to open the world up for female rappers, so she is aiming at a female audience.

Primary Ages: 12 – 30

Mainstream Ages: 12 - 45

Regardless to whether you are a fan of her music, or not, you couldn’t help but get a dose of Minaj over her career. She has appeared on various talk shows from Wendy Williams to Jimmy Kimmel. Her documentary, My Time Now, aired on MTV last week. Minaj rapped up all of her alter egos into one package with her album release (which falls in line with the rest of her “Barbie” image). She even partnered with MAC cosmetics to release her “Pink Friday” lipstick; it sold out in two hours. Minaj has heavily penetrated a mass audience and kept all her messages and products in tact with her self-proclaimed Barbie image. By carving a niche as a “femcee,” engaging her public, and through heavy penetration, Minaj has created a brand that is almost synonymous with her name.

She say’s in an interview with The Guardian: they asked her if she still thinks that hip-hop is a man’s world? She replied with -

"I mean, statistically, maybe yes. But realistically, no. I feel that I am doing everything the boys can and have done, plus more. And so if I go ahead and say, 'Yeah, it's man's world', I feel like I would make young girls feel like, 'Oh God, well Nicki even said it's a man's world.' No, no: it's a leader's world. Doesn't matter if you're a man or woman."

Stay Analysis: Performance

Performance

Nicki has a diverse range of features she uses to perform in her music videos. We must remember that Nicki is very famous for being featured on other artists tracks as well as producing her debut album pink Friday.

Nicki’s main feature of performance has to be her facial expressions she does when rapping, she rarely dances to choreographed dances she usually tends to stand around making faces. Here are a few examples…

Star Analysis: Motifs

Motifs

Nicki Minaj tends to use recurring motifs of her alter egos. These include the gruff Roman Polanski and the delicate Barbie.

Roman Polanski is British and Nicki (Roman Zolankski) American tends to use his British accent throughout most of her music videos in certain sentences to bring out the alter ego in her. This is one of her famous and well-known motifs because she is well known for being three different characters and using theatrical voices which are, Nicki Minaj, Roman Zolanski and Barbie.

(Article Below) - http://www.theboombox.com/2010/05/24/nicki-minaj-has-a-new-rap-alias/

‘There's no way that Nicki Minaj would be on the brink of the super-stardom without having a way with words. Over the weekend, she announced that she's adding a new nickname to her arsenal and that referring to her with the correct moniker will be necessary from this point on.

"I've officially changed my name and will only respond ... to Roman," she wrote on Twitter yesterday (May 23). "Roman Zolanski. Out."

We're not sure how long this new moniker will last, but how strange! The name clearly refers to embattled fugitive 'Chinatown' director Roman Polanski -- a man who once had sexual relations with a 13-year old girl named Samantha Geimer and ended up running to France so he wouldn't go to prison. This seems like just about the oddest source to inspire a new nickname and Minaj still hasn't explained how and why she came to the title.’

She even recorded a song featuring Eminem called roman’s revenge. In this song she is really aggressive, uses blasphemy and at the end of the song she plays the role of Romans’ mother. There is yet no music video for this track but here is the song.\

However in Nicki’s Music video ‘Your Love’ She shows the Barbie side in her because she’s delicate, caring, loving and PINK.

Barbie (Barbara Millicent Roberts) is dependant on having an adult role because she is classed as the infant. This makes her vulnerable, sweet, innocent.

Nicki plays the vulnerable, sweet, innocent role in this video…

Star Analysis: Symbolsm

Nicki Also Symbolises Barbie in lots of her photographs to state that she is girly, independent and the perfect girl like her. However she slightly contradicts Barbie’s innocence and symbolises a sense of naughtiness when she introduces her song ‘massive attack’ by saying “It’s Barbie Bitch.” 

Symbolism

Nicki is very well known and good for symbolising feminism through her fashion/ style and representation. Furthermore she symbolises sexuality via her body and body language. For example in the picture below we can see Nicki has had buttocks implants to enhance her figure and give her that curvy ‘feminine’ physique that all girls/ women could die for. She is well known for her big bum.

Star Analysis: Media Representation

Media Representation

The media consists of many things for example, the newspapers, the television, the magazines, the radio, the public (virally) and many more… let’s take a look at how these represent Nicki Minaj.

The Newspapers –

The newspaper brags about Nickis success as the best new artist and best female hip hop artist at the BET awards. Therefore she is being represented as respected, successful and popular within the music domain.

The Television -

The clip above is taken from Nicki's MTV filmed documentary, in this clip Nicki is telling her audience her views on Bossing up. Basically she believes that it is unfair that men rappers are looked at as bosses whereas girl rappers are judged as bitches. She quotes ' negatively connoted as a bitch' this tells us that Nicki is independant, demanding and arguementative. She is also presented as informal (normal) because she swears a few times throughout the clip.

The Magazines -

Elle magazine - Nicki stars as Elle's front cover model which represents her as soft, elegant, feminine and beautiful. She is using strong body language suggesting her flexibility to change her style to suit different targets. This magazine shows Nicki's sweet and innocent personality.

Black Men Magazine - represents Nicki as sexual, provocative and erotically desirable. Her body language contains attitude, challenge and a daring posture. She is also wearing a very tight leotard which is revealing alot of breast cleavage and this is only typically done to provoke a sexual response from the public. Preferably men as it is called black 'men'. Therefore this magazine shows off Nicki's raunchy side.

  

More magazine –This magazine is popular for celebrity gossip, fashion tips and girly advice. Nicki is used as the front cover model, she is fully clothed and laughing/ smiling. She is represented as more calm, bubbly and toned down. Her appearence is neutral and different from no other casual celeb, this is because More magazine targets younger girls and doesnt want to use Nickis wild sense of humour to attract their readership, they have chosen to use Nicki's normal attitude to help advise those girl readers and make them believe that they are just as amazing as world sensation Nicki Minaj. Therefore Nicki is represented as an inspiration to teens in this mag.

The radio -

Many radios have interviewed Nicki Minaj, from this experience as an audience we benefit from this because it allows us to get closer to Nicki herself and hear her personally speak about her life. The radio is good for representing Nicki's real persona as it is not edited or an image, it is her true voice speaking freely. 

 The publics review-

Nicki’s public review will always differ because every individual has different opinions however from watching the clip above I learned that certain men may find it hard to relate to Nicki’s music as she is more interested as representing women. They believe that she draws in a female audience but out of all the female rappers known, she is one of the best. Therefore Nicki is unpredictably spoken about but she has no negative review. Therefore she is successfully attracting her audience.

Star Analysis: Genre

Genre

Nicki Minaj is well known for performing as a Female Hip Hop artist. Firstly she creates her own style of genre by contradicting the typical gender of the genre which is male. Hip Hop is well known for artists like Eminem, B.I.G Notorious and Tupac etc. which are typical stereotypes of this genre.

Hip hop is known for being rhythemic and that rhyming speech is chanted to music accompaniment, whereas Rap contains rhythmatic word play. Hip Hop and Rap are so similar they get confused with alot of the time.

Nicki introduces a fresh approach to Hip Hop by adding colour, femininity and beauty. She also inspires females to chase there dream as hip hop musicians by breaking the stereotype barrier and adding her own trademark as Barbie. She calls her female fans ‘Barbs’.  In her video interview on Ellen she wears her barbie necklace and towards the end of the clip she decribes barbie as her alter ego and that she is like the little innocent girl.

Barbie also dominated young girls and had a big impact on their lifestyles, Nicki wears her Barbie symbol to portray girl power and that she is just a normal girl as well. Therefore Nicki Is a globally known Hip Hop Rap artist, however she represents it in her own personal way through her unique style.

As shown in the screen shot above Nicki uses conventions of hip hop in her videos ( Sports Car - Lambourghini ) However she applies the female/ barbie touch by using a pink one to represent female dominance.

Star Analysis

                                    *Nicki Minaj*

Fashion/ Visual Look

Nicki’s visual representation is very extreme, fearless, out there and Barbie - like. It’s not just about her clothes; it’s about her hair, her nails, her jewellery, the lot. In other words, she doesn’t give a f*** what people think of her appearance and she makes sure her style is noticed. Here are some examples of her crazy snap shots…

Her costumes usually represent bright colours, animals, confidentiality, and mystery. In some comparison, Nicki’s distinctive way of dressing is very similar to lady gaga and her approach to her self representation. Maybe they influence each other? However according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicki_Minaj it has been said that those who influenced Nicki Minaj’s image are Lil Kim, Missy Elliot, Lisa Lopes, Lil Wayne, Madonna, Marilyn Monroe and Cyndi Lauper.

Another main influence on Nicki’s representation was the media before she became famous herself. She quoted in an interview with VIBE that, “When I grew up I saw females doing certain things, and I thought I had to do that exactly. The female rappers of my day spoke about sex a lot… and I thought that to have the success they got; I would have to represent the same thing. When in fact I didn’t have to represent the same thing.”

Nicki’s broad fashion and style is so flamboyant it doesn’t need enhancing through camerawork and mise-en-scene it has the same effect in every visual context.

Here is Nicki’s music video to massive attack - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZCUtnuAXg8 It shows a lot of her crazy outfits, hair styles and non-verbal expressions.

Update One

Weekly update 11/09/11: It’s the first week back at college and we have been given our tasks for this year’s a2 media coursework that will be completed December the 16^th. I aim to complete my Star analysis on Nicki Minaj and begin completing My Auteur Theory on The famous music video director Jonus Akerlund.