Digipak analysis

50 cent“Get Rich Or Die Tryin”

The digipak I will be analysing is that of the artist 50 cent of the Hip Hop genre, this will help my own digipak design as he and my artist are of the same genre.

The front cover of this digipak effectively represents the artist’s star image and the genre in which they preform.

The main focus of the album cover is quite clearly the artist themself and the bullet hole in front of them. This suggests that the album will largely focus on this particular artist as he is standing there looking confident with his body language and facial expression. Furthermore the bullet hole represents the level of violence within this genre of music, a stereotype that this artist conforms to as he has been shot 9 times.

The typography of the front of the digipak has a very specific purpose. The large, compact and bold lettering of “50 CENT” is extremely recognisable and the font used represents the artist’s star image perfectly as he himself is very bold.

The bullet hole surrounds the artist’s cross, suggesting that he is a man a God and more specifically and Catholic or Christian. To put this on the front of the album shows that this plays an important role on the artist and possibly their music too.

The artist’s costume consists of very flashy jewellery and designer clothes. The symbols of wealth are stereotypically how artists within this genre determine how successful themselves and other artists are, by how expensive their material possessions are.

The back cover of this digipak also effectively represents the artist’s star image and the genre in which they preform.

Again the artist is the main focus of the cover, looking back over his shoulder and looking less confident however. He is also placed in what appears to be a rough neighbourhood, perhaps similar to the one that the artist themselves grew up in. This may suggest that the album will be about the artist’s past.

The typography listing the songs on the album contrasts greatly against the dark background as if to show them shining through. This can be taken as the artist using his music to escape his dark past.

The name of the executive producers, “DR. DRE & EMINEM”, are the largest text on the back of the album cover. This signifies their importance as they are two of the biggest artists to have ever performed in the genre of Hip Hop. This gives the artist an opportunity for a wider audience as Dr. Dre and Eminem fans may check out the artist’s music since they produced it and it is of the same genre.

The logo of the artist’s name appears again, this time on the album disk. It is quite clearly the most visible text on the disk further stating the importance of the artist’s name.

The second most noticeable text on the disk is the name of the album which is in the same style of font as it was on the album’s front cover. This font appears similar to that of typography used on tattoos, tattoos are an important convention within the Hip Hop genre. They are used to portray the artist’s past and what is important to them. This may then suggest this album is very important to the artist due to the nature of the album title.

There numerous bullet holes designed over the disk, this represents the violence of the genre and more specifically it could represent the artist’s own experience of being shot. An experience that they are likely to talk about in the album.