Magazine Analysis 2- Jay Z

This advert is promoting Jay Z's album 'Kingdom Come'.  The main colour palette in this advert cover is red, white and black. These are strong colours which represents Jay Z as having an intense personality.  Jay Z has a red cast over his face which suggests danger, as Jay Z is a well known 'bad boy' rapper, this is fitting.  Jay Z is looking directly into the camera.  Using direct address allows the audience to feel personally connected to the artist which is what is needed when trying to sell a product.  The artist is pictured wearing a baseball cap which gives him a cool and trendy look.  Jay Z's facial expression is very relaxed and he appears like he doesn't care that he is having his photo taken. This represents Jay Z as care free and easy going.  There is a slight scowl on Jay Z's face which keeps up the persona he has as being a boy from the streets that made it in the music industry.  The shadow being cast by the baseball cap on Jay Z's head suggests mystery and creates enigma for the audience.

The serif font used for the artists name gives this part of the advert a professional look.  Serif font is used for important writing and is more old fashioned than sans serif font.  The reason serif font is used in this instance is because the name of the artist is the most important element of the cover.  It is also written in the biggest font and is central to draw the most attention to the words 'Jay Z'.  The second largest text displays the name of the album 'Kingdom Come'.  The sizing of this text indicates how this is the next most important piece of writing on the advert.  This, as well as the rest of the writing on the magazine advert, is in sans serif font.

The quote 'The President of Hip Hop Returns' is a large claim to make which suggests that Jay Z isn't afraid to be controversial and daring.  Selling Jay Z in this way promotes himself as a confident and solid individual.  Going as far as saying Jay Z is the 'president of hip hop' puts forward the idea that Jay Z has some kind of power over the hip hop industry and almost controls it in one way or another. This quote also grabs the audience's attention almost instantly as it is positioned centrally, in bold writing, at the top of the page.  

The release date and a single from the album are stated at the bottom of the advert in smaller writing. This gives away little information, but enough to get the audience excited which is what a record company and an artist want.  The fact that only basic information is needed to sell Jay Z as an artist shows his power in the music industry already and proves that maybe the claim to being the 'president of hip hop' isn't so fictional after all.