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Welcome to the candy shop! Conflicting representations of black masculinity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2014

Marita B. Djupvik
Marita B. Djupvik*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Agder, Post Box 422, No- 4604 Kristiansand, Norway E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Mainstream hip hop videos have long been known for their images of scantily clad women, extreme materialism, and misogynist and homophobic lyrics. In this article I focus on how rapper 50 Cent's masculinity is constructed and expressed through music, lyrics and images in his video ‘Candy Shop’ from 2005. This is a classically modelled hip hop video, replete with markers of hypermasculinity: fancy cars, ‘bling’, and lots of beautiful, sexually available women. Several scholars have discussed how women are exploited in videos like this and reduced to props for the male star. However, few have explored how this macho masculinity is constructed. Through a close reading of this video, using socio-musicology and audiovisual analysis as my approach, I propose that the macho masculinity presented here is threatened when the male body is on display, but 50 Cent reassures himself (and his audience) through selective framing, involving both other performers and the music.

Type
Articles
Information
Popular Music , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , May 2014 , pp. 209 - 224
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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