List of music magazine codes & conventions

One thing which is regularly seen in a rap/hip-hop magazine is the use of highly specific terminology. This term refers to the way in which a group of people who follow rap/hip-hop music will speak to each other and the words that they use when doing so. Therefore the magazines of today could be seen as a time reference in future. This is because they show when new slang terms were first used and what these words mean. As a result of this music genre being highly abstract compared to most other music genres, there is a slang language which is only used by listeners of rap/hip-hop music. Another cause of this is that the rap/grime music genre originated from the streets which is where all of the slang also originates.

Another regular aspect of rap/grime magazines is a close-up or a low angle shot of the main featured artist/rapper on the front cover. The reason for this is, the rappers who are producing this music inevitably rap about drugs (consumption and dealing), guns, girls, money and murder. Therefore there image must be in suggestion of that fact that they are related to those things. When you see a close-up or a low angle shot of someone, it makes them look bigger than they would if they were photographed from any other shot or angle.

Another thing which is regularly spotted in a rap magazine is that there is a trend/pattern which persists throughout almost every single rap magazine. This trend is that there is always an image/photo of an artist on the front cover of the magazine (predominantly a solo male). This is not the only pattern, this is because in the image the artist who features will be displaying their individual style and personal identity. But, there are also some similarities. One of these is that the images in the magazine or on the front cover of the magazine are almost always taken from a low angle, close-up shot which allows the artist to look tall, intimidating and in control. The facial expressions used by each of these artists are usually always the same as well. This facial expression is one which suggests to the reader that the artist is not happy, this is because they are usually scowling whilst making eye contact with the camera lens.

A summary of the front cover of a grime/rap/hip-hop magazines:

The front cover is a page which has a masthead in a large and bright (compared to the colour of the background) font. Covering the whole page will be an image of the artist who is the main focus which is a low angle shot or a close-up shot which implies that they are big and powerful which enhances their status (which is precisely what they are aiming to achieve. There’s also a wide variety of side articles which are spread around the front cover to further entice a reader into delving deeper into the magazine, this tactic is smart due to the fact that the reader is able to see the contents of the magazine on the front cover, but the information is brief and written in poor detail which will leave the reader wanting to know what certain headlines were related to.