Digipak

Analysis of Kanye West – College Dropout

Front CoverThe album cover could be described as unconventional not only for hip hop but for all album covers. Due to the fact it does not have the artists name on the front at all. The fact his identity is concealed as well as not quoting his name on the front says something about the artists character. He is not after fame and his album is all about the music and not the image. This approach was rare in the hip hop scene at this time, and represents his individual approach to genre that was receiving criticism from governments for inciting hatred. This appeals to a target audience who are after an artist who stays true to the music and doesn’t use their image to sell music. There is a sense of enigma surrounding the album cover, due to the lack of information on the front.

There is a colour motif of gold and brown on the front cover. Gold is often associated with royalty and wealth, and brown is often associated with something natural. The motif is used as the colour gold suggests there is something special about the artist, and the colour brown is used to give the audience a more natural side of the artist.

The ironic use of the mascot which is often associated with happiness and excitement is contradicting of the mascots pose which is very lethargic and sluggish.

Back CoverColour motif is continued on the back of the album.

The artists name is written on the back of the album cover. The intricate design of the font in which his name is written suggests the intricate and complex nature of the artists music to the target audience. However the album title is written in large bold letters. This suggests the album will make a bold statement.

The tracks are titled in the middle of a brown circle. This represents a tree cut and the tracks in the middle are the rings to tell how old the tree is. The idea of drawing a connection between a tree and the tracks on the album is to suggest, the tracks are natural, trees are sturdy, strong and long lasting. The likening to a tree suggests experience as trees with lots of rings suggest they are old. This allows the audience to tell an awful lot about the artist before even hearing the songs. The colour motif is continued onto the back.

CD CoverThe album cover drops the colour motif of gold and brown, and adopts the brighter colours of pink and yellow. These colours are often associated with children's colours are girly colours. I believe this has been done in an attempt for the artist the challenge the forms and conventions of typical hip hop albums, which are often associated with ideas of masculinity. This is done in an attempt to represent the artist as one not afraid to challenge the typical conventions of hip hop music, and this is also portrayed in his music.

Juxtaposition. The use of the pink, almost feminine CD is a form of juxtaposition. Making the CD so different from the album cover is an almost ironic, humorous move and allows the audience to draw upon differences between the two.