Deconstruction 1 (Kid Cudi - Just What I Am)

Style:

Post-Modern

I feel the video is post-modern as the video has some seemingly unrelated aspects to it. An example of this is the lights flashing as if they’re broken, during which random images are shown including the Illuminati logo and the number ‘666’.

The all seeing eye is shown a lot in the video, this is why i feel it is post-modern

Performance

I checked the performance box as the artist is shown lip-syncing throughout the video.


Background Information:


“Just What I Am” is an alternative hip hop song by Kid Cudi, who also produced it as well as directed the music video. I chose this song as I felt it was different from generic music videos, as it contains a lot of subliminal messages which could easily be missed. I feel that the song is catchy too, especially the chorus even though the topic of the song is quite depressing on how the two artists are reliant on marijuana.


Purpose:


The purpose of this video is to promote Kid Cudi’s new track as well as his upcoming album and to entertain. It is also to show his fans he is back making the music he used to through the use of his lyrics. The music video itself was directed by Kid Cudi which gave him a chance to direct his own video. Directing the music video as well as producing the instrumental promotes Kid Cudi as a multi-skilled artist.


Lyrics:

The lyrics of the song are quite simple, often referring marijuana and how the artists are just how god made them. The first verse by King Chip is quite generic for a rap song, he refers to women, drugs and alcohol. 
 
The chorus is sung by Kid Cudi which keeps constantly refers to smoking marijuana by repeating “I need smoke” in the background in a haunting manner therefore putting more emphasis on how they need it to get through life.

The last verse is Kid Cudi telling the listener about his “month” in which he shops for therapy. Throughout the verse he mentions: how his therapist doesn’t understand him, self-harm, how scary it is to raise his child in this world and how his some of his friends were fake. 


Meaning:



The literal meaning of the song is Kid Cudi telling his fans he is smoking marijuana again as he needs it. He stresses this during his depressing verse.


Links To Other Artists:


King Chip is featured in this song, he often collaborates with Kid Cudi. King Chip and Kid Cudi have a personal relationship and have been collaborating with each other before they got any major mainstream media attention, this may be why King Chip is featuring in the song. They often both rap about drug use and money. In the music video rapper Mac Miller and DJ Steve Aoki are shown smoking and dancing.



Generic Conventions:

The whole song is quite generic as it refers to women, money, drugs but the video seems to be completely different with subliminal messages throughout that don’t really make sense. I feel it is distinctive to typical hip-hop videos which would show women provocatively which other hip-hop music videos do, it does have women in the background but they aren’t the focus point. One example of a video in which women have been shown provocatively is Kanye West’s Gold Digger in which the women are shown with very little clothing. Normally hip-hop videos have a focus on the clothing of the artists and the brands they are wearing. However in this video most of the clothes don’t look expensive, nor is there any product placement, an example of a hip-hop video with strong product placement is Dr Dre’s ‘I Need A Doctor’ which shows Eminem’s G-Shock watch multiple times and even has a shot with just the watch on his wrist, it also shows Dr Dre drinking an energy drink with the branding clearly showing. Even though the song is clearly about drugs and the artists’ reliance on them, the video contains no visual of any drugs, it doesn’t really show anyone drinking any alcohol, however it does show the artists and extras in the background holding bottles and red cups but throughout the video no one drinks any.


Camera Shots/Movements:

Close-up, extreme close-up, mid-shot, long-shot. The extreme close-up and close-up camera shots are used so that the artists are in the focal point as if it was a long shot the audience would focus more on the party behind them. The mid-shots and long-shots are used to allow the audience to see various things in the background for example while the artists are in the car, it seems like they are driving through space, if it was a close-up the audience might not have noticed it as much. All of the camera angles are at eye-level as, this may be because the artists are in focus during the song and there is no need for any other angle to be shown. The camera moves to allow both artists to be in the shot. Throughout the video there are various tracking/dolly shots while the artists are in the car.


Lighting:


The lighting in the video is artificial for the most part, they use a strobe light for the indoor scene throughout the video. I feel that the lighting in the video is low-key, this may be to show the depressing nature of the song as it’s about being addicted to marijuana.


Editing:


Throughout this video as they have put in subliminal messages throughout whenever the room goes darker. All of the shots in the video were straight cuts however I did see one that faded in as it synced in with a certain part of the instrumental, it also marks when the artists vocals start. The fade effect may also represent being the drugs kicking in for the artists  


Effects: 

All of the effects in this video are CGI. One of which is having rainbows come out around one of the artist giving the music video a trippy feel. Another effect makes it look like the artists are driving through space. Kid Cudi often refers to himself as ‘Moon Man’ since the start of his career, this may be because his style is completely different, and driving through space may be a reference to this. It may also be a reference to being so high that they feel like they are in space as the vocals mention wanting to be high. Kid Cudi has also placed a grainy effect throughout the video, he said that he dislikes “HD look” in which everything looks nice and clean. He also claimed that music videos make the artist seem better than everyone else, like a superstar, which Kid Cudi didn’t want therefore he placed a frame around the video and added a grainy effect.

A screenshot showing the rainbow effect around Kid Cudi as well as the grainy effect.

Miming/Lip-Sync:


For the majority of the song both artists are lip-syncing. This is because not a lot of rappers/hip-hop artists mime in their videos, in this video there is no miming at all. Kid Cudi is known for showing his depressing songs in a happy manner, he is usually shown smiling, in this case he is dancing around even though the lyrics are based on him relying on marijuana, not listening to his therapist, taking anti-depressants and worrying about raising his child.