Hype Williams:

American music video director Hype Williams is most commonly known for his work with black hip hop artists such as Kanye West, Beyonce and LL Cool J. During his career which has spanned 20 years so far, Williams has established several visual styles which feature amongst the majority of his videos.


In the video “Gold Digger” by Kanye West and Jamie Foxx, one of Williams’s typical styles which feature all of the artists performing in the video is reflected immediately. This style continues throughout the video where both Foxx and West are regularly cross cut between each other to present each artist performing. The genre of music is typically associated with women. Women are strongly glorified in many of Williams’s videos, particularly in this one. The interspersing of the footage of the classic pin up girl image and the footage show the viewer how the men see the women. Laura Mulvey’s concept of the ‘Male Gaze’ which puts the viewer in the position of the male as the camera particularly focuses on women’s curves is most definitely expressed in this video. The use of the ‘male gaze’ also aims to give off the idea that the male has power over the female being gazed at. Frequent cutting between different women puts across the idea that the performers of the song can ‘have’ any of these women that they want.


Another video that features this concept is that of Pharrell Williams’s “Angel”. This video once again frequently cuts between images of different women and the artist performing. Hype Williams’s visual style really begins to surface as we recognise the way he expresses his adoration of women through his directing work. Again, it can be mentioned that the use of the ‘male gaze’ theory is featured in the video as the women are wearing provocative or barely little clothing, similarly to West’s “Gold Digger” video. Another similar feature between the two videos is that of the use of the widescreen letterbox around the screen. Both videos are played within a frame which compresses the video, keeping the original quality but giving a different style to the video. This is effective as the audience will recognise part of Hype Williams’s style due to this small feature. The lyrics of both of these songs are contradicting each other however, West’s song criticises women for being ‘gold diggers’ whereas Williams admires women for being ‘angels’, however, the style of video remains the same. Andrew Goodwin’s analysis supports the way that these videos demonstrate genre characteristics, where the stereotypical hip hop video style is exhibited.


A style which again features amongst many of Williams’s video is the continuous close ups of the artist whilst they perform. Goodwin’s music video analysis claims that the demands from the record label will mean that there is a strong requirement for close ups of the artist in order to create a visual style as does Richard Dyer’s ‘Star Theory’. The ‘star theory’ aims to produce a relationship between the audience, industry and the star to produce a unique selling point. By doing this it is also a clever way of advertising and promoting the artist itself. Both of the above videos frequently include close up shots, as does Drakes “Forever” video. This song features other major hip hop artists including Kanye West, Lil Wayne and Eminem. The video comprises of regular close ups of each artist during their verse, however, often the shots are done from a side view to emphasise the surrounding environment (in particular in Lil Wayne’s verse at 4:01 where we see that he is quite clearly in a bar with women, again highlighting the stereotypical black hip hop lifestyle). Relating back to Goodwin’s analysis, at 3:56, the lyrics form a relationship with the visuals, “life is a rollercoaster then it drops” where the video cuts to a basketball player dropping a ball into a hoop.

Williams does not include any type of particular mise-en-scene in his works, instead uses other visual styles to become memorable to the audience. Women are dressed in little clothing in several of his videos and the men are dressed reasonably smartly, however this does not suggest a certain style of costume that Williams uses in his videos, instead it is just due to the type of lyrics used in the song. The lighting varies between each of his videos, some using key lighting and others using backlighting. However, the use of natural lighting during the clips of basketball in Drakes “Forever” video in comparison to the low key lighting used during the clips of the artists contradict each other immensely which could have been done to show reality compared with idealism.


Overall, from analysing several of Williams’s most recent videos we can see a style developing which shows hip hop stars glorify women. This can also be seen in some of his earlier work, such as the video of “No Diggity” by Blackstreet, again a hip hop song which includes the ‘male gaze’ theory at points throughout the video (0:52, 1:11 and 3:50) where the camera rolls upwards, grasping the image of a woman’s body. Another video which supports this is Montell Jordans “This Is How We Do It” where at 0:22, the male gaze theory is once again recognisable.


From looking at some of Williams older work, it is clear to see how his style has developed and changed during his career. His earlier work includes a vaster amount of choreography in both male and female videos in comparison to more recent videos which mainly feature on just the artist and images of women for male videos. This could be because in the 1990’s, videos were becoming more and more popular, and it was more exciting for the viewer to watch a video which featured dancing than just performance of the artist. But, as time has developed, the audience of music videos is getting younger and therefore the teenage population aren’t as interested in this type of video, but more interested in the sexual references made through the videos of more recent work. Another video which features heavy choreography is the TLC video “No Scrubs”. More commonly, a female group are likely to use more structured choreography than males, which is supported by the video of “Videophone” by Beyonce and Lady Gaga where choreography is used, common of Beyonce’s videos.


In conclusion, the videos that have been looked at here show the style that Williams has developed over his career. We can recognise as an audience member that Williams specifically works with black hip hop artists, mostly males in which during the video he focuses around the female body. Also, the ‘male gaze’ is more frequently than not used in his work, typical of black males who idolise women with curves. By using this commonly in his videos, it also stereotypes his work into a particular style which is easy to distinguish by the audience.