How is marijuana represented in rap/reggae music videos, such as Snoop Lion’s ‘Smoke the Weed’, and what is the effect of this on youth culture?
Despite the controversy for the critically acclaimed Snoop Lion - Smoke The Weed, there is a mega shift in the tone and feel of music artists especially those in the reggae/hip-hop genre nowadays. This is particularly apparent in Snoop Dogg’s highly commended Smoke the Weed where Snoop Dogg is represented as a iconic figure throughout the video. In the Music Video Snoop has seemed to be really professionally presented throughout his entire performance. Snoop Dogg is known for raising awareness from his controversial actions and he has also continued the reggae legacy since Bob Marley and managed to create a fusion with hip hop, and this is very much influenced by the fans reaction. Fans in general were influenced with the portrayal Snoop Dogg they demanded more and more of it until Snoop Dogg net worth increased significantly then raised recognition around the world and received a 4x platinum title by selling more than 1 million copies in just a week ... also the use of marijuana became peoples choice of interest after choosing to listening to his music and also due to his advertisement of his products specially designed for users so they can enlighten their experience with the drug. Numerous moral panics had launched in the media which got people including parents concerned whether this type of portrayals are really suitable for a younger demographic especially teenagers whore are easily influenced. Clearly something about Snoop Dogg appeals to viewers, despite his songs makes him different and unique from all other artists. This is precisely the aim of what the essay is trying to argue.
To begin with, Snoops Dogg’s music videos would mainly appeal more to the youth in today’s society, throughout the music video Snoop Dogg is presented as a cool relaxed character as in the video he is shown to be high this is debatable in one of is famous quotes from his songs The Gourds 1998- "Rollin down the street, smokin indo, sippin on gin and juice / Laid back (with my mind on my money and my money on my mind)," "Gin and Juice" [1]
The scenes in "Smoke The Weed" shows the positive representations of cannabis use. The music video starts off with various medium shots/wide shots in order to capture the full frame action e.g. the smoke from the joints. By analyzing the first couple of seconds of the music video the audience can clearly what the music video is going to be about e.g. the title in the beginning basically explains what the entire video is going to be about. The connotation is obviously cannabis as nearly most of the shots is the music video show the use of cannabis by different people. This video raises a lot of controversy as the chorus is "smoke the weed everyday" The audience is positioned to be part of the overall outcome as Snoop Dogg is directly telling the audience to smoke weed everyday not only that but we can relate it to the hypodermic needle model as Snoop Dogg is injecting youngsters with the idea that smoking cannabis everyday makes you a better person.
Snoop Dogg - Vapors 1996 - "Can you feel it, nothing can save ya," "Vapors" [2]
Snoop Dogg - December 11, 2004 - "When the pimp's in the crib ma drop it like it's hot," "Drop It Like It's Hot" [3]
Snoop Dogg - December 19, 2000 - "Niggaz got the misconception of us / cause we so cold at what we do," "Wrong Idea" [4]
The video shows lots of lip syncing, this is essential for a music video because it shows the artist singing the song as it is being played, making it appear to be live. The video constantly references the lyrics throughout, this makes it earlier to follow along for the audience and makes it more memorable. one of the main iconography in this video is the weed and the plant the plant really symbolizes how the weed is presented in the video and it can really be distinguished and also can be identified by the audience. High-key lighting is used and aims to reduce the lighting ratio present in the scene e.g. making Snoop Dogg look more realistic to the natural light in the scene making it look cinematic. This was originally done partly for technological reasons, since early film and television did not deal well with high contrast ratios, but now is used to suggest an upbeat mood. In this part of the music video is filmed outside so high key lighting is essential to use to reduce the effect of exposure from the daylight and make the main protagonist stand out more. Low-key lighting is used in certain parts of the video e.g. when Snoop Dogg is smoking the use of lighting really illuminates the smoke It is a necessary element in creating a chiaroscuro effect. Traditional photographic lighting, three-point lighting uses a key light, a fill light, and a back light for illumination. This feature also gives the music video a cinematic feature. As you can see in this part of the music video they have used back lighting efficiently making the main protagonist stand out more creating a sort of volumetric lighting as the smoke is submerged well with the light. Throughout the music the use of slow motion is used quite often. This is essential for a reggae genre since everything is meant to be slow paced and dramatic. The slow motion really gives the video more professionalism as it expresses the overall vibe as this song. The camera angles are used effectively the video has good cinematography too e.g. there are a lot of tracking shots and pan-over shots this creates a more cinematic approach rather than just having a still camera focusing on the main protagonist. The idea of camera movement is one of the top key conventions in a music video I believe as it makes the video more interesting and alive.
In addition, the music video contains two main protagonists American/Bermudian reggae artist known as "Collie Buddz" who is also known for his famous song "Come Around" in which he also supports the idea of cannabis in the whole music video narrative. Collie Buddz challenges the stereotypes of reggae music since he is white there has been many comments and views that his verse was better than snoops. Dyer suggested that stereotypes are always about power well in this video its clearly true. The video also represents the effects of cannabis such as getting high. This is mainly the main reason why Snoop Dogg enjoys cannabis and also wants to influence other people to smoke cannabis.
The split of both genders in the video is biased as they portray the main protagonists to be men and the females are portrayed to just be a iconic figure in the video. Snoop Doggs lyrics in the video support nature so this could mean that he do sent only represent bad representation but good ones as cannabis is a natural product and he also mentions global warming. Snoop Dogg tells youngsters to look after the nature e.g. don’t litter we need these plants to grow this is a technique Snoop Dogg uses to backup his controversial ideologies. The audiences are amazed the fact that he is white and he’s got a really good Jamaican accent which makes him unique. In addition, the genre that this texts belongs to is reggae because its a remake of a old reggae song but they got some ideas from it and also made it more modernized. This helps with the idea of bringing back old music in which is a clever technique as many older people who were familiar with the old song could recognize the same rhythm so this might be a really effective solution. "Smoke the weed" helps the audience to relate to the idea of the video and also we can relate it to the hypodermic model as the text is injecting various thoughts into the audience’s brain e.g. smoke the weed will be printed in their brains.
Society has changed rapidly if you compare music now to music back in the early 60's the cultural side of it is fading away e.g. many of the words used in reggae songs are similar US and UK English speakers, as they are taken from traditional Jamaican patois or refer to Rastafarian concepts e.g. “Jah”, meaning God. There is heavy use of Jamaican slang, a common example being Ganja, meaning marijuana. Cannabis is smoked as sacrament in the Rastafarian faith, as Rastafarian's believe that smoking marijuana allows them to experience a closeness to God. This message in the songs has been open to much misinterpretation, particularly by American youth who have used this as an excuse to “get high in many of their music videos whereas Bob Marley used it in a faithful way for cultural reasons. songs such as Buffalo soldier will be a evergreen song meaning that it will last for generations and generation since its unique and also historical.
Keyes, C. L. (2004). Rap music and street consciousness. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. [5]
Berne, E. C. (2007). Snoop Dogg. Broomall, PA: Mason Crest. [6]
Berlatsky, N. (2012). Marijuana. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press. [7]
Nowadays reggae is used as a relaxing/vibe culture mainly listened to by marijuana smokers as an enjoyment for feeling high. music videos nowadays don't respect that smoking is a Rastafarian faith. social media classify it as a drug and also there are many issues whether its good for you or bad for you. going back to the topic of music Bob Marley wanted to express the reggae genre more as there is more than just smoking. songs such as "no women no cry" really caused global recognition and people wanted more demand for reggae songs. the spirit of age is drastically changing people are now becoming more social media influenced e.g. nowadays youngsters are influenced to smoke weed just to get high e.g. getting f***ed. After Bob Marley died the reggae genre is not that famous as the time he was alive but rappers such as Snoop Dogg respect Bob Marley and follow his foot steps to further carry on reggae music to the next generations. The video and song "Buffalo Soldier" is portrayed to be a soothing and emotional as you can tell clearly from the lyrics itself that its made for love and peace. Marley tries to portray a strong message to youngsters as in their music video they always relate things about the relationships or affairs that they have with other women e.g. some rap artist portray women as sexual objects and also insult each other. What Bob Marley tries to do is bring peace. As in the newer society there is no longer peace due to political reasons and because of the media etc. Audiences deemed this to be 'acceptable' and has been like this till now. There has been a great split during the ages where audiences can no longer handle such content which now results in characters and themes to be only suitable for a specific genre. Society has changed very much. Their expectations for films is defined by its genre. They know what to expect to when they watch a comedy, or an action film. However, during the 20th century, there was different aspects of many genres in the music industry.
Snoop Lion. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2016, from https://snooplion.com/ [8]
Snoop Lion - Smoke The Weed ft. Collie Buddz [Music Video ... (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2016, [9]
“As a long-time connoisseur and cannabis expert, I knew it was time to give my people what they wanted — something they can trust,” [10]
“The original Snoop Dogg G Pen was and, still is, the top-selling portable vaporizer pen of all time,” [11]
“We started Merry Jane with an all-female design team, for two reasons,” [12]
Likewise, Reefer Madness is one of the oldest films about marijuana. The films show what smoking marijuana was like back in 1930's since it was still being discovered. The film really symbolizes the public harm and use of marijuana and shows how it became a major addiction. The fact that the drug wasn't that harmful to the body but the movie shows how it can change a person’s behavior. Its still dangerous as people those days would panic extremely if the got really high whereas nowadays people know what to expect. I enjoyed watching the film as it really shows the way society has changed over the years and how marijuana usage has become more controlled and in some cases people don't respond to it as becoming violent. Since its meant to make you relaxed it actually reduces the effects of public violence and crime as marijuana is a mild stimulant/hallucinogen it wont cause anger issues of any sort whereas other drugs such as cocaine, heroin can cause serious mental breakdowns and can make you more aggressive which tends to make you more eager to be violent and commit certain crimes but back in 1930's people used to panic as they were hallucinating and also guns was legal at that time period so it was actually more dangerous e.g. if someone hallucinates they going to start to panic and the access of guns were easier at that time. e.g. in the film the guy was about to rape the women and there was a fight between the two guys and then another guy came with a revolver and accidentally thought fighting shot the women who was Innocent but she was really high too. This shows how drugs can be dangerous if you’re not in the right environment or you take a too higher dosage that your mind is completely separated from you body and you have no control over your actions so these things will tend to happen.
Snoop Dogg Launches Media Platform For All Things Marijuana. - By Parker, Ryan - Hollywood Reporter. 9/22/2015, p18-18. 1p.
"We're providing the industry with something that's void right now," [13]
"We are the information hotline for cannabis. We are what's missing."[14]
SNOOP.- by Halperin Shirly - Hollywood Reporter 10/5/2012, issue 34, p58-63. 6p
"I have no regrets for what I've done. It's just when you know better, you do better. Back in my early days, I didn't know no better. But I was raised right and with a conscience. I know I can't make up for the wrongs that I did, I'm just trying to do more right than wrong." [15]
"Like Bob Marley and Willie Nelson, Snoop is a stoner symbol who has long espoused marijuana's positive uses as they pertain to health, creativity and recreation, Sept. 19." [16]
The text very much reflects the time period it was created in. The use of the props and speech is something that is carried over to the film and not necessarily a significant part of the film. The creation and widespread of marijuana all over America was something that Americans were very excited of, as they have previously been used to seeing such people involved in smoking. The film was essentially mirroring societies fears and also shows how drugs can create a lot of serious issues and can cause a lot of moral panics. Society has changed very much. Their expectations for films is defined by its genre. They know what to expect to when they watch a comedy, or an action film. However, during the 20th century, there was different aspects of many genres in one film. Audiences deemed this to be 'acceptable' and has been like this till now. There has been a great split during the ages where audiences can no longer handle such content which now results in characters and themes to be only suitable for a specific genre.
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Bibliography
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