Research and case studies of real music magazines : Magazine 1 (Wordplay)

First magazine: Wordplay (Hip hop magazine - independent)

Front cover

The front cover is very minimalistic and has a white background emphasising all the other cover lines and text on the page. The masthead is across the top of the page and very bold with the skyline listing all the main features in that specific issue. The main image "joey bad-ass" takes up the majority

of the bottom two thirds and has been edited with what seems to be intricate patterns coming out of his cranium connoting his thoughts and rap lyrics to be a piece of painted art form . The shot of the artist is a medium close up shot and he appears to look directly at whoever may be reading this making it inclusive and drawing the audience in. Main cover line is on the bottom and states clearly that an exclusive interview is in the magazine with the main artists crew. He isn't from the UK and this shows how this magazine reaches out globally and isn't restricted to only the UK. The front cover has far less going on as the audience is far more familiar and more loyal to this institution.

The actual masthead "wordplay" denotes the direct link between the magazine and hip hop as mostly 

in hip hop today , lyrics are a play of words especially in the more skilled artists featured in this type of sub-cultured magazine. It has a direct link to the main image as Joey Bad-ass and crew are heavily known for their immaculate punchlines, wordplay and metaphor in their rhymes.

Contents

As this publication is quite alternative, its contents section is a editors section just bringing what's up to date with the magazine and a page with all this specific issues contributors. In the first page 

in its introduction it lists all the artists featured in this issue with no page numbering which emphasises that this magazine is thoroughly read by their audience. The house style is very simple echoed by the minimalistic tone of the front cover. but is generally very well layed out. An image of what appears to be a DJ who features in the issue takes up the top half of the page. This connotes a very brief insight into what to expect in the magazine meaning it keeps the reader from not knowing to much before they read the journalism. The actual writing is quite informal and some colloquial language is used which is attributed to this urban demography. 

Double page spread

The double page spread I have chosen to analyse features an upcoming artist "Bishop Nehru"
being interviews by one the contributors. The first page features a graffiti type portrait of the
rapper himself which is very creative and connotes his own "refreshing" approach to the industry
reflected by the journalism. This is further emphasised by the black background that spreads across the DPS and really brings out its raw energy. A caption also states who took the original image and who illustrated the actual image that appears on the magazine.  The house style again is quite minimalistic (white and green text) with one line of text in the colour pink that relays who is charge of the photography and the actual interview. In this way the editor has made it clear who the contributor is. The format of the interview itself is very straight to the point , a short introduction of the artist with columns of accompanying question and answers.