Textual Analysis 2.

Day 'n' Night - Kid Cudi

The music video I will be analysing is Day ‘N’ Night, by Kid Cudi, with the music video directed by

French director So-Me. The genre is of the song is alternative hip hop, this genre is not only seen by the song but the way the music video is made, with characteristics of the alternative hip hop genre, with cartoon drawings overlaying the footage portraying something which is isn’t due to the character day dreaming.

There are several points in the music video where Kid Cudi’s actions and movements are determined by the music, one is where the woman is portrayed to have clapped and then has an cartoon owl face, the clap being synced to the beat of the song. Throughout the song, this is the same with the visuals showing Kid Cudi’s imagination misleading him, and how is attracted to madness through his imagination, this is seen when several people are changed into different people, with a woman having an owl’s face, and people on the street turned into pirates.

The video cuts are synchronized to the beat of the song, which has a medium tempo, but not all the time but if the location is changed it is often to a beat in the song. In the music video, there is no solo parts of the song which are illustrated differently from the rest of the music video, all the theme of him being mislead by his imagination is seen throughout. Every time the chorus comes around, Kid Cudi believes he is on a stage or performing in front of a crowd and seen dancing, this is as the pace to the song slightly increases from the rest of the song.

The record company are trying to sell this track by portraying that listening to the song can let this drift away and let your imagination lead you. Kid Cudi in this video is portrayed as how the record company (GOOD Music), are trying to sell it, as someone who is letting there imagination lead him through life, sometimes for the better and sometimes in a bad way. This was Kid Cudi’s debut song and debut music video so it is hard to see if this music video relates to his old music videos. Again as this is Kid Cudi’s debut song, he is making his first impression to everyone who has not seen or heard his music before, but as he has made more music video’s his image hasn’t changed too much and is still portrayed as someone who is out of the norm, and in touch with his child like imagination.

There is no reference to the notion of looking in a sexual manner, apart from one part in the video, where there is a women which a revealing cleavage and cartoon eye balls come around and look at her, suggesting that everyone’s eyes are drawn to her. Even though the music video is very visual there are no real notions of looking to a specific topic.

The music video is narrative-based with the story of him walking around Los Angles carrying out every day activities but his imagination portraying things which aren’t there, sort of like a day dream throughout. There is also an intertextual reference in the music video relating to “The Wizard of Oz” where he is imaging himself walking down the yellow brick path again reiterating his fantasy.

To sum up this essay, Kid Cudi is walking around Los Angeles doing a variety of mundane activities such as getting a slice of pizza, grocery shopping, or visiting a bar, but the overlay of graphic colors on top of the actual video disguises or transforms the daily scene into one of fantasy. These fantasized versions of reality reference the film The Wizard of Oz and later manifest Cudi's desire to perform music; ultimately they play on the song's theme of the "lonely stoner" whose quotidian existence transforms because of his ability to "free his mind." The music video is therefore a narrative video with very good visual cartoon images.