Waka Flocka - A Serious Lyricologist

For my video, I chose the contemporary literary genius Waka Flocka, the most lyrically gifted artist on the market. The video does highlight some women. Some Questions that we will look at are those presented by Sut Jhally: How are women shown?, What is their role? Whose desires are being fulfilled?, What is their attitude?, Are they a part of the story, members of the band, dancers, or the audience?

Some of the women highlighted in this video are shown in quick cuts back and forth between the girl and the artist. [This implies that, somehow, Waka FLocka is responsible for or has some connection to hardly clothed women who dance and want you (the audience).] The women are hardly clothed, and what IS covering their bodies is skin tight. Wind is blowing in their hair as they dance and have gangster looks on their faces. The gangster looks are interchanged with confident “I know I’m hot” looks, involving eye contact with the camera, and looking off camera, still with the sense that they know they are being viewed.

Another woman highlighted in this video is a woman in the car with the great Waka Flocka. She is seen doing her makeup in the car, and holding the phallic stick shift with Waka Flocka. This girl is shown looking at Waka Flocka in a very admiring and flirtatious way.

There is one shot showing only the hands, phones, and breasts of women. The women all have their phones out texting people, as if that is a gender role. [Ex: stereotype of women always texting on their phones..]

Something very interesting is the exclusion of women in shots of people having fun, dancing, and being a part of the group. There ARE group shots including women, but that is when the shots are of the whole neighborhood. When it is just a select group of 25 or less, the shot usually only contains males. This shows a distinct separateness of women and men. Regardless of the intercutting and the shots of women with men in shots of the whole neighborhood, there is a distinct separation of women and men in most of the shots in this video.

In conclusion, women are shown as a part of a young male fantasy in this video. They are shown dancing in similar settings as the main singer. The highlighted women of the video all seem to want sex from the great Waka Flocka or the audience (when the dancer makes eye contact with the camera, as if piercing an arrow of true love right through audience members’ souls). The role of the women is to be a sexual figure that is unrelated to the video, other than the deeper implied meanings and connotations. The only thing that seems close to a story, including a woman, is when Waka Flocka is in a car with a girl who is all over him.