Music Video Analysis: Jay-Z - Young Forever (Ft. Mr.Hudson)

This black and white music video portrays life as a child in various aspects by mixing together videos of children participating in activties across America. This is intercut with scenes of Jay-Z and Mr Hudson performing the song, sometimes in concert. This heartwarming video is effective because it uses slow motion effects and blending techniques to give you a sense of happiness. It is a mild rework of Alphaville's 1984 song "Forever Young": the original melody is used, Mr Hudson sings the original lyrics and Jay-Z raps in place of the verses.

Before the song starts, you see a young boy playing in an empty swimming pool. At this point the song hasn't started yet, so this draws all you attention to him playing. There is a sense of freedom as he runs around the empty swimming pool without a care in the world. This alone represents youth.

Child playing in empty swimming pool

From here a shot blends into young children playing with cards. I think that this represents the working class youth of today in america; the day to day hustle of life and just about having enough to survive. Furthermore, this moves onto a shot of a boy dunking a basketball and this quickly transitions to a crowd screaming. I think this is used to represent how Jay-Z was a teenager; hanging on the streets when he was growing up, to becoming famous and everyone knowing his name.

There are various 'light' references within this intro. These references are quite quick but they are throughout the whole begining. This starts off as this shot here:

First person view of woman bending down and giving someone a flare; camera angle would suggest they are young.

Bright light shining from above into the crowd at the concert.

Skateboarder about to throw flare up in the air.

Jay-Z performing at concert with spot light on him.

I think that the light used in these images symbolises life in a sense; it represents something special. From growing up on the streets to performing for thousands, the light is used to emphasise how special he is; the light shines down on him almost as if he is holy.

The rest of the video represents youth culture; this is displayed through crime, sports and hobbies, and family.

We assume that in this shot, the teenager is running away from the police as you hear the sirens in the background; the youth of today are stereotypically portrayed to commit crimes.

In this shot there are young boys playing american football. This is used to represent and remind the audience what it was like to particpate in team activites; this helps you to reminise.

This shot includes a group of older teenagers breakdancing. This is used to represent the things you learn from the 'streets' when you are growing up, as opposed to being taught them professionally.

 This video slowly blends in the clips to match the tempo and the mood of the song. I think that the black and white effect is effective because it gives the video a 'vintage' feel to it. Overall I think that this music video is very good in terms of getting its message across. As Jay-Z said in his last verse of this song: "Didn't you get the picture yet, i'm painting you a portrait of young" and thats what this video achives in my opinion.