Artist Profile: Fashion Moodboard

I have created a glogster of my artist's style.

Artist Profile

Meet F2 - Grime's first female duo! Aisha and Argisa, both 22, have been best friends since college and although they are still at the early stages of their careers, they are making revolutionary waves as newcomers on the scene... They became popular after their 'Fire in the booth' freestyle sessions went viral on YouTube and twitter, with Londoners in particular complimenting their fresh sound. They have spoken out about issues they are passionate about such as a misrepresentation of women in this specific genre and in the music industry in general, as well as using their newfound platform to present a new interpretation of grime: Influences of more traditional grime as well as trap and R&B have created a space for them to put out new and exciting music. They both switch between roles but Aisha mainly raps whilst Argisa sings (Argisa can also beatbox so they also produce a lot of the background track/sounds in their songs). This mixture of singing and rapping has created hype among a variety of different people, but they are increasingly admired among the younger generation. They also value their cultural identity as important to their musical evolution, as Aisha's mixed race heritage lead to her engage with her Carribean roots and therefore get more interested in Jamaican grime MC'S, whilst Argisa's rural upbringing in Albania forced her to consider a new lifestyle: her parents wished an academic career upon her, whilst she always dreamt of becoming a singer. They met at college and moved to university together in London, exposing them to the underground grime scene. They are working on an official album after the release of their first EP, and are looking forward to performing at Wireless this summer and a tour later this year.

Findings/Analysis of Results

I have translated the results from my music magazine into quantitative data.

Audience Research: Focused

            
           

Audience research: General

Genre Research: The Commercialization of Grime

            

           

Genre Research: An Introduction to Artists

           

Nadia Rose is currently generating masses of hype as a newcomer on the scene. As Stormzy's cousin, she had the burden of living up to a famous family member who dominates her industry, but with a new EP getting lots of attention, one of her hit songs being used for a popular Lucozade advert, and a MOBO award for the best grime music video, she already has lots of successes under her belt.

           

Born in Birmingham and raised in Holland by her Jamaican family, Stefflon Don had an interesting upbringing that influenced her music into a melting pot of different cultures as she still has an accent, speaks Dutch, and heavily identifies with her Caribbean heritage but has immersed herself into the London lifestyle. She became popular after her version of Section Boyz' 'Lock Arff' got over 500,000 YouTube Views, and has since collaborated with grime pioneers Lethal Bizzle, Sneakbo, and  Giggs.

            

Signed to Chipmunk's record label 'Alwayz Recording', Paigey Cakey is a somewhat controversial artist in terms of the relatively equal ratio to those of who enjoy her music and those who dislike her. With her career beginnings as a young actress in 'Waterloo Road' and 'Attack the Block', she is criticized by some MC's who believe she had an easy entryway into the industry, however many are fans of her comical lyrics and fashion style. Due to this, she is quite frequently trending on Twitter! 

           

Ms Banks brings an refreshing perspective as somebody eager to break into a male-dominated industry without conforming to gender roles. She says she "does not view herself as a female artist, she is just an artist." and while she recognizes the importance of female empowernment, she wishes to disentangle herself from the feminine stereotype by choosing to not to look oversexualised in music videos. She recorded a song for critically acclaimed movie 'The Intent', has collaborated with other artists such as Tinie Tempah and JME, and is constantly building her social media profiles.

          

For many, this remix (the original version is by Tinchy Stryder, Giggs, Proffessor Green, Tinie Tempah and Exampe) was their first exposure to an exciting sub-section of the industry. It features an array of talented artists keen to inject their own lyrics and girl power aesthetic into a popular song. This was also the beginnings of most of their careers; Lady Leshur is now a well-known rapper.

Genre Research: The History of Grime

Research Rationale

The popularity of my chosen genre across virtually all social media platforms confirmed that my magazine would be most synonymous with an age range of 16-19 years old. As a sixth form student I have easy access to teenagers, so I will be able to complete primary and secondary research, and I will have enough people to produce quantitive and qualitative data. In terms of real life application, things like statistics and facts about my target market would be crucial, so I aim to gather as much information as possible as it will be important whilst working on other areas of the project... Understanding why they are attracted to the genre and a particular magazine will allow me to consider their opinions whilst creating my own as I can incorporate their ideas and feedback. 

I am going to conduct general observational research by asking my classmates to complete surveys with questions -a combination of 'yes' or 'no' answers as well as allowance for detailed responses will prove beneficial to me in the future- and for my focused research I want to take advantage of the high-tech culture we live in. I have discovered that I share similar  music tastes to those in my year and in the year above through listening to their playlists whilst interacting with them; this will be how I choose who I want in my focus group, and I plan to present the results of my gender-balanced sample (I want a mixture of boys and girls as the genre's typical fans are broad) using screenshots and graphs. These are methods I can do efficiently as they involve resources that are available to me because they are devices I already have such as a mobile phone and a computer.

 To get an insight into the current state of this subsection of the industry I've subscribed to Youtube channels who regularly upload music videos and freestyles of female grime artists ('SBTV', 'LinkUpTV', 'Grime Daily') and I've  followed up and coming names on instagram and twitter (@stefflondon, @msbanks94). These steps will ensure I am updated and constantly getting inspiration. 

Exploration of Typography

I have explored the typography of the covers of four different grime artists from 5 different magazines...

Magazine Deconstructions

I have deconstructed the front covers of one of the biggest female rappers from two different music magazines...

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Key Examples

Fader magazine is fantastic inspiration for my magazine as it represents everything I wish to include in mine. It is well respected as a magazine that gives positive exposure, sometimes to seemingly controversial artists, and is particularly admired in genres like alternative R&B, contemporary hip hop, trap, rap, and grime. Their target audience ranges from 16-22 as they make an effort to modernize each issue with current news, exclusive events, and opinionated articles on heated issues - as well as photo shoots and street style. Their constant reference to music, fashion, and culture is what makes it so engaging to the younger generation as they also have a large social media following.

Clash magazine has earned its place in the magazine hierarchy as an established company that has found the perfect ratio between music and fashion - the combination of the two prove very popular among their target audience, as their fans enjoy reading about the latest in both industries. They quite frequently have recording artists on their front covers; these usually belong to specific genres such as indie, alternative R&B, and grime... But their features always include models of the moment, celebrity gossip, and creative photo shoots.

Brief Outline and Initial Ideas

Here is my first video explaining my plans for this project: