Mast Head ‘XXL’: the mast head is related to money as it is in bodied with full of diamonds, which connotes wealth and the fact that ‘bling culture’ is associated with RAP and R&B. This signifies excess wealth and richness. Rap audiences between the age of 16 - 40 would immediately recognise this. This is called a preferred reading, which is used deliberately to appeal to a RAP and R&B target audience. ‘XXL’ is written in big bold letters behind a red background to make the title stand out. Also the fact that it is called ‘XXL’ (big size) suggests that the magazine produces high quality features and big stars.
Puff ‘A decade of dominance’: the puff adds to the gangster image and suggests that they are trying to dominate the music industry. The alliteration of the letters ‘D’ makes the sentence even more stand out towards the audience as it is easy to memorize.
Background: The background gives a picture of the artist’s background/origin, suggesting they had to work hard to obtain this position they are now in (becoming part of the music industry.) They are trying to create a gangster image as it links in with the genre therefore it appeals to the target audience. The fact that the editor has used selective focus to blur the background image suggests that he wants the main attention to be on the two main artists on the front page.
Main image/focal point: Audiences are focussed on the main image, which exist of Baby and Lil Wayne. The fact that Baby has his hands over Lil Wayne shoulders and that both of them do not wear a top suggest that the magazine aimed at females as well as males. We can argue that it therefore is homo-erotic and that the editors have done everything just to attract a main stream audience. Having tattoo’s immediately connotes masculinity and how ‘hard and strong’ they are due the pain in which they would have had to endure in the process of getting them or in the process of to getting into the music industry. By wearing excessive amounts of jewellery they show that they have status/power which is aspiration as audiences might envy and emulate with them. It also adds again to the ’bling culture’. Also the two artists both wear baseball caps which symbolises the music genre R&B and RAP. Baby (Birdman) has been placed in front of the master head as he covers up the letter 'L' with his head, illuminating his dominance and importance in the music industry. This also shows that the magazine is well known as they do not need to reveal their whole name because audiences would immediately recognise the magazine without having to reading the whole name of the music magazine.
Main cover line/lead feature article: the fact that their names are printed in big bold letters shows how famous the artists on the front cover are. However, the letter type is quite simple and straight forward; the editor might have done this as the rest of the magazine is already busy therefore to make the letter type simple it stand more out.
Additional cover line: the additional cover line reads out ‘the survival of the fittest’ which links to the gangster image as the two rappers has been chosen/ have won the battle of telling their story in the magazine making them the winners. The background of the additional cover line is red suggesting blood which links to the phrase ‘survival of the fittest’. Most common colours that have been used in this magazine is red and white which contributes with the clothes the artists are wearing and also links we the music genre. The other additional cover lines states what other big artist the magazine will include such as ‘Eminem, 50 Cent, Kayne’ showing that they want to attract even a bigger audience.
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