Music Video Analysis Skepta & JME - Thats Not ME

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‘Thats not me’, a song by Skepta & JME which tell the audience about how they have changed through their careers, and the way that they were was not really them. Two brothers which have made a big name for themselves in the british Grime genre within the past 4 years. The song was released as a single prior to Skepta’s new 2014 album ‘Konichiwa’ which is being released around summer. The video seems to follow a concept narrative as well as at the same time being a performance video. The video begins inside of a basement which Skepta is talking to the camera (audience) about his latest plans as well as thanking them for listening to his music and for being fans of him. I believe that this video is very different to many modern music video’s because of the way it has been filmed and edited together. It feels very ‘home-made’ and grimy looking which connects brilliant to the genre.

The music video for Skepta & JME’s ’Thats not me’ is very non-linear, this is because the video has been edited to give no indication of time. At the start of the video a collection of

different montage shots showing the isolated un-derground urban location that Skepta’s ‘hideout’ is. Close ups of Graffiti and mid shots of Skepta look-ing like a stereotypical ‘thug’ or ‘hood’ perfectly link to the typical conventions of the Grime. After these intro shots of the video, a few shots have been filmed of a one on one with the artist, which then makes the audience feel more involved. This

also happens after the actual song has finished in the middle of the video, I believe that this interaction with the artists isn't a typical convention of any video, which makes the video one that is breaking conventions of not only grime genre videos but those of any genre. Because the video does not really fol-low any structured narrative it neither has any stages of equilibrium to it, but instead an intro of the main artist talking, then a very raw feeling performance of the song, and then an outro talking to both artists. When looking at the characters within the video we get to see a large group of people but are only introduced to two of them, Skepta and JME. During the performance we then see their

‘gang’ in the background, this is an extremely good example of a Grime genre convention. This is because the grime genre industry surrounds a lot around freestyle videos where rap-pers perform directly into the camera in large groups. One person raps, he finishes and steps away and one then takes his place. I believe the way the characters are represented to the au-dience is modern and stylish in terms of british fashion. Skepta and JME are dressed how most Grime artists do but wearing high end expensive clothes. This runs parallel to one of the lyrics in the song; “Yeah, I used to wear Gucci, put it all in the bin cause thats not me”. This is Skepta outlining the fact that even though he cares about the way he looks, he’s not going to wear clothes just to make him something that he is not. This connotes rebellion and a free life he lives, which is also a stereotype of the Grime genre.

!When looking at the miss en scene of the music video there is a lot to analyse. A grainy filter has been used to create a retro look to the video. I believe this is a reason why the video is ex-tremely different to any other modern music video’s today. The dimensions of the video are

also smaller and do not fully fit the screen while watching the video, contributing again to make the video feel older . A grimy look to the video has been created by everything inside of the video being very urban throughout the video. As I have already men-tioned the video starts off by showing graffiti inside of a house; during the performance of the song that camera cuts to an exterior shot on an estate corner recording the artists rap. The housing estate has been purposely used to represent that the artists aren't forgetting where they come from and also re-lates to the way before they were famous they used to perform by making home rap videos on street cor-ners.

!Throughout the video we see many characters smoking drugs, this is a typical convention of this type of music, as drugs are an everyday occurrence. This visual of drugs in the video al-lows the audience into the life of the artist, making the video more interesting and real to watch. While analysing the mis en scene in the video, the characters clothes is an interesting topic to look at. It seems that everyone shown in the video is wearing black, the black colours help the characters look more connected and like a gang while at the same time making them look dark minded and quite menacing. Skepta, the main artist in the video is wearing a clean white top, this makes him stand out which is a typical convention of any music video. The

artist of the song should be in the main spot light. !When looking at the cinematography of the music video there isn't really a large variety of camera angles and techniques. This is because the video has been shot hand held to make it look home made. The performance within the video has been shot in one take, this shows the skill and talent of the artists which is also a very impor-tant convention of the Grime genre, because typically the artists love to showcase their skills. At the end of the video a short shot of Skepta’s gang watching a video on a computer has

been edited in. This creates a very true sense of reality while running parallel to the underground dark isolated feeling of the video, allowing the au-dience to again feel more engaged with the artists.

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Overall the music video of ‘Thats not me’ does break a lot of typical music video conventions but at the same time is an interesting to watch product. Even though that the video includes only a small amount of scenes it has been clearly planned out. In comparison to Skepta’s oth-er video this one is extremely different. In his others, ‘beautiful’ women as well as money are in prime view, whereas in this video an extremely raw take on grime has been used to give an insight on where Skepta’s career really started.