Afrika Shox – Leftfield/Bambaataa

Billy Clayton

‘Afrika Shox’ is a single by the British Electronic Hip-Hop band Leftfield released in September 1999. Leftfield were a duo consisting of Paul Daley and Neil Barnes who were considered largely influential to the dance music scene in the 1990s. The track features the south Bronx based DJ Afrika Bombaataa who is popularly known for heavily influencing the Electro-Funk genre during the 80s, thus often being credited as the ‘Godfather’ of this genre. The music video for Afrika Shox was directed by British visual artist Chris Cunningham who has designed album artwork for a number of artists, making his work heavily associated with the Electronic genre.

The music video begins with a low angle Establishing shot of one of New York’s twin towers. This shot not only makes the tall building appear powerful and intimidating, but it also suggests the dominance of the working business life that exists in New York City and furthermore connote America’s power in the world. This building is also famously known for the 2001 terrorist-attack held against it in which both towers were destroyed which supplies a sense of horror for the audience to this music video.

The next shot in the video is of a Police car, with heavy focus made on it’s siren and headlights.The focus on the lights essentially act as a reflection to the atmosphere in which this kind of music is played; at night clubs and raves where it is common to here Electronic-Hip-Hop tracks playing. This clear link of visuals to genre links to Goodwin’s theory that the visuals presented in the music video must or often display conventions of the tracks genre; in this case – Police car lighting is used to act as strobe lighting highly associated with the Electronic genre.

The following shots display a sense of intertextuality; a sense of dystopia is provided in relation to the representation of New York City; it is made to come across as a planned and organised society purposely made to appear dull and characterized by pollution, depression and violence. This sense of dystopia acts as an intertextual reference to films such as The Matrix which display an almost lifeless and unexciting environment overruled by business and wealth. This also links to Goodwin’s theory of visuals linking to genre characteristics as like this environment, Electronic music is very much artificially put together through the use of synthesizers and other modern equipment.

In this part of the video, we are introduced to the video’s main focus; an African male character who emerges from the deserted, dark and dirty corner of the bustling New York street. Because he is introduced in this segregated environment, he is perceived as somewhat alien to the world that surrounds him; he appears to stand from a crouching position between a brick wall and a pile of trash bags whilst clutching onto the wall and glancing confusedly into the distance as if he has never witnessed such a location. This is also supported and emphasised through the characters costume; the actor appears to be wearing tatty ripped clothing and grey, inhumane contact lenses which suggests his separation and lack of understanding to the society in which he is surrounded by.

Following this is a series of point-of-view shots in which the camera looks up at the vast buildings that surround the main focus; as he stands from his crouched position he is confused by the area he is in and is blinded by the sunlight shining down between the buildings that crowd the area. This once again links to Goodwin’s theory that visual elements of a music video should link to the typical genre characteristics; in this case, the sunlight represents a spotlight or strobe light shining in a dark club as music is played. This also supports another part of Goodwin’s theory which discusses the link between visuals and lyrics – in this part of the track the lyrics are ‘Time to clear the floor’ as the man is seen alone in the alleyway looking up at the sunlight, reflecting an empty dance floor.

The following shots, specifically this shot of a traffic light displaying a ‘walk’ sign is typically ironic and humorous in reference to the situation the character is in at this point of the video in which he falls over in the middle of the road whilst crossing it. When focusing on the largely white-dominated society that surrounds the main character, this shot becomes further ironic as it can be linked to his lack of authority in comparison to the white people of the city; this idea can be linked to slavery where African’s were owned and overruled by white people and were tortured to the point that they could not walk. These shots reflect this to an extent as the main focus is seen struggling on the floor whilst the white citizens easily pass by and ignore him.

Not only is this shot of a middle aged white business man reading a newspaper humorous, it also presents a sense of separation between different ethnic groups. The newspaper reads ‘Album Delivery Pressure’, suggesting that issues within the media such as harsh record labels being focused on in the tabloids holds more significance than the issues associated with society in Africa and other struggling countries, overall making the suggestion that the concerns of this white character is too sophisticated or perhaps superior to the issues that the black character may have. These shots also link to Goodwin’s theory of visuals linking to the narrative of the music video.