Music Magazine Front Cover Analaysis 2

Rap up is a music magazine which is globally recognised. It was founded in 2001 and has featured world renowned artists such as Drake, Rhianna and Beyonce. In 2006 Rap up was nominated for    ‘Best new consumer publication’, and received an award for ‘Best Hip Hop magazine’. Two issues of Rap up are released per year of which target specific themes. For example the Rap Up magazine featured above was issued in Summer 2005 and its key theme was money as shown in the masthead.The theme of money connoted on the mast head and the sell line on the left suggest that the featured artists have a lot of money and audience can get rich like them by reading '18 power hustlers- get that money'. Thus is a means of audience identification.Another view of the money theme could be of how artists got their money. The colloquial word'hustle' perhaps suggests that some artists made money by hustling. The magazines title has connotations of youth culture as ‘rap’ is associated with youth as well as depicting musical elements. From its connotations we are able to tell that the target audience for Rap up magazine is roughly 16 – 24 year olds, both male and female.

In regards to the copy, majority of the text is written in block capitals in Calibri font in the colours white and yellow. This contrasts with the grey/blue background thus making the text stand out and appealing to the audience. Both the white and yellow colours of the text complement each other as they give the magazine a sophisticated but urban look, again appealing to their target audience.

 The main image is long shot of Toni Braxton which is in the centre of the magazine. Although this shot is not a common shot used in music magazine (music magazines usually used medium close ups) it  is a typical feature expected in music magazines in that all music magazines have a famous rapper or singer featured in the middle of the magazine front cover. A long shot of Toni Braxton is used as it complements her womanly figure. A direct form of address is also used which is useful as it draws in audience attention as she looks seductive. Hand in hand the conventions that are used grab and draw audiences thus expanding individual’s music knowledge as well as keeping them updated with information from the music genres the magazine specialises in which expands their musical knowledge. Other typical features like barcodes and dates are seen in music magazines which just inform the audience about how recent the issue is and the price of the music magazine.

The front cover of Rap up is typical in that it has many conventions of music magazines. The mast head and sell lines are both written in white and yellow which are used to attract audience’s attention and to inform them on the content of the magazine. Short catchy phrases like ‘Lil Kim wanna bumble with the Bee?’ grab the audience’s attention and hook them in. Furthermore the catchy phrases give an insight as to what the magazine is about.