JS: Analysis of a Promotional Campaign

Skepta ft JME - That's Not Me

Key points :

• Skepta's personality is exposed for one of the first times on a commercial stage and whilst being a popular artist underground for several years this is his mainstream breakthrough video and song - and so is paramount in laying the foundations for his meta-narrative construction.
• The fact it is completely stripped back other than a makeshift DJ and MC set up suggests Skepta only cares about the music, and is in it for himself - reinforced by the voyeuristic backdrop. 
• It is a cheap set up, again suggesting Skepta isn't in the business to make extravagant videos with a huge budget but would rather invest his time in performing and creating music. This idea is further backed up with only people integral to the song being present in the video - the two performers and the DJ.
• Costume - this shows Skepta in a trademark cap and jacket combination. He often wears attire of full white or full black - both are which accounted for in this video, this builds his meta-narrative initially as a rule breaker of sorts as a result of the hood-up, head down, cap on style of his costume that is blacked out. This is because the connotations of this are difficulty to be identified - suggesting criminal or delinquent behaviour.
  
  

Skepta - Shutdown

Skepta ft Young Lord - It Ain't Safe 

Devlin ft Skepta - 50 Grand

This is Skepta's album artwork for the single "Shutdown" primarily, although it has also been made the cover for an hour long mixtape CD made in collaboration with Tim Westwood within the last week. The genre is fairly easy to identify as Hip Hop as a loose term, and slightly less easy to identify as the subgenre of Grime - although easy if knowledgeable on this particular subgenre that is a development of UK Garage, Dancehall, and DnB. Grime is known as an almost exclusively British genre, and so with this mixtape Skepta has been carrying out promotional activity that potentially markets him to a much wider commercial market. Activities of this campaign have been his recent visit to America, in which he has been handing out mixtapes and merchandise free of charge and performing - most notably so in New York where he did this in three separate locations on three consecutive days. Whilst receiving no initial funds from this, Skepta exposed himself to an audience to which grime was likely to be a new experience, and the fact he was performing and giving away free merchandise means he is now likely a favourable figure who may have created a devoted following.

The hard cut font first suggests that the music will be hard-hitting, as does Skepta's facial expression and clothing. NVC is key as it portrays Skepta as almost disgruntled, and lays foundations for him to be a rebellious figure that is anti-authority to an extent. This is further reinforced by the costume used in the shot - the big coat that partly covers his face and cap are not only trademarks of Skepta as a performer, but also have connotations of being hard to identify: which in turn brings connotations of law breaking, vandalism, and general unruly behaviour. Editing is kept to a minimum, although it is very effective. The lack of any extreme techniques suggest Skepta is a raw talent - caring more about the performance and actual sound of his music than his appearance in ways and literally is there in black and white to be seen. He is pictured alone and there are no ties to his collective BBK - which suggests this new found fame and mixtape has been achieved by himself solely: this is debatable although the fact he is alone promotes his career as a solo artist further and there are no other artists to detract from his meta-narrative.