Textual Analysis: Birdman - Money To Blow ft. Lil Wayne, Drake

Song- Birdman - Money To Blow ft. Lil Wayne, Drake
Released- September 25, 2009
Video type- Performance
Directed by- Gil Green

The genre of this song is Hip Hop. This is a concept based video where the rappers are talking about having money to blow. There are also female characters in this video and yet again the females are used as eye-candy in this video. The lyrics in this song is based on living a luxurious lifestyle as the rappers have multiple cars and jewellery and tattoos which is a convention of song from this genre.

The video is concept based where Birdman, Drake and Lil Wayne rap about living the 'high life' where they have money in excess that they can afford to 'blow'. The Mise-en-scene in this video is effective as the female characters are dressed provocatively wearing lingerie and skin tight leather outfits. There is also use of many expensive looking cars and jewellery worn by the artists which is an indication of the lifestyle they live and the money that the artists are throwing around throughout the video and the expensive outfits and champagne that they are spilling. The use of camera is also essential in the construction of representation as the male characters are presented in the foreground where the female characters are presented in the background. The use of low angle shots of the three artists highlight their dominance and importance to the video. And the fact that the female characters are presented in the background and are mostly framed with MCU's and a focus on their appealing assets.

The representation of the characters in this video relies heavily on stereotypes as the three rappers are represented as dominant and superior in this video as they are perceived to be living a luxurious lifestyle this is shown through the Mise-en-scene with their cars and jewellery. Birdman is covered in tattoos and stands next to all white Lamborghini's and Bentley's this indicates that he is very wealthy as these cars are very expensive he also gives the audience an insight into his jewellery where there is a CU which zooms to a BCU of his jewellery and all the diamonds in it which again reinforces his wealth. Drake is represented in a similar way and is perceived to be a ladies man as in one scene he is rapping with two provocatively dressed ladies on either side of him the fact that he positioned in the centre in the foreground and they are in the background again underlines his superiority and dominance in comparison to the female characters. The representation of Lil Wayne is similar to that of the other two rappers. The representation of the female characters contrasts to this as they are represented as sexual objects used only to appeal to the 'male gaze' which comes from the theory produced by Laura Mulvey. The use of women as objects for the pleasure of men is further emphasised by their positioning in some of the frames as they are positioned next to the other objects that appeal to the male nature such as the expensive cars which shows that they are not appreciated on the same level as the male characters but as objects. Furthermore the use of POV shots also invites the male audience to join in.

All of the artists in this video are signed to respectable record labels. They are all signed to Cash Money Records which is the label set up by Birdman and is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. This video was mostly played on MTV Base, Kiss and Flava as they are three mainstream channels that specialise in videos of this genre.

The target audience for this video is also young people aged 16-25. They may watch this video for escapism and diversion purposes where they would watch this for aesthetic appreciation and they may envy the lifestyle of these rappers and attempt to emulate it by aiming to dress similarly and behave in the same manner that they do. Moreover audiences may also watch this video for personal relationship purposes which gives a basis of conversation and social interaction. Yet again the feminist theories could be applied to this video as the female characters are being objectified and remain below the ranking of men in the patriarchal hierarchy.