The Base: Double Page Spread X2 interview

X2 represent everything that’s right with the youths of London today. Together Ali & Zack have fought the stereotypes that listening to rap music makes you a thug, being young makes you naïve, and not being in college makes you a dropout. However, these two quick-witted young men are fighting all types of obstacles to be where they are now. And they show no signs of slowing down.

So how did you guys start off making music?

Ali: Well I always used to write and had books and books full of lyrics in my bedroom. The problem was I didn't have access to a studio or any sort of musical equipment. Due to this, I naturally assumed my lyrics would always stay like that. However, one day a friend introduced me to a guy called K2 who just happened to have a studio in his house and he lived quite close to me. I couldn't believe it! He invited me to his house and I bought Zack along and we recorded something of the top.

Zack: Yeah I mean we naturally got along with K2 and it ended up with him not only being our producer but also like a brother to us, we wouldn’t of got this far without him.

What or who inspired you to start?

Zack: For me it all started in year 7. I know its kinda young but this was way before I knew anything about the genres of Hip-Hop or Rap. Me and my mates would always be trying to rhyme random sentences together. Instantly I found myself quite good and quick at it.

Ali: I was kinda the same, I used to have rap battles at lunchtimes, get good grades for poetry homework and generally being known as the "rapper" in school. I found myself enjoying this new found talent a lot. So I started writing what I was thinking and expressing my feelings through rap. My thoughts soon turned to words, words turned to sentences and eventually, those sentences got structured into versus and hooks and turned into songs.

Zack:[Laughs] Haa, he makes it sound like a machine!

So you two seem to really connect well together, how did this friendship start?

Zack:[Laughs] Haha yeah…we didn’t really get off to the best of starts…to be honest I was kinda jealous of this kid, like I remember sitting there thinking “Damn! This kid is better than me!” But my jealousy soon turned into inspiration, I really wanted him on a track of mine, and he was down so it went from there.

Ali: Its weird that he says that because like, he’s older than me, and lyrically better than me, so when he asked me to work with him on a track, of course I was down, I mean who wouldn’t be?

So if you two hadn’t met and weren’t making music, what would you be doing with your life?

Ali: I used love making money as a kid. So I would probably channel that interest in some sort of business or something.

Zack: Apart from the whole rap game, I always loved biology, I know it sounds unusual but I was always fascinated by that sort of stuff so I would probably be doing something in that area.

When you’re both writing bars, what’s the process?

Ali: If someone has asks us to jump on a track they would usually have a topic from which all our bars would bleed out of. If I'm writing on my own I usually don't have a concept or beat at all. I just write what I'm thinking and then those bars get made into a song, then Zack adds his verse and that’s how most of our songs are made.

Zack: Yeah I mean when I’m writing, when something inspires me, like something that has occurred that day. I need to write it down that instant otherwise I know I’ll forget it

Ali: Shockingly…

So what inspires you to write?

Zack: Anything and everything in life. That can range from memories to people or experiences to current events. I’d say recently a lot of things have been inspiring us to write, like we’ve had a tough time trying to do what we love and like, you can only imagine the struggle we’ve had to get here. So stuff like that definitely helps.

Ali:  Yeah definitely like every single life experience can be turned into a line, sometimes we surprise ourselves because the most average of days would help us to write a sick verse.

What artists/groups do you have on your iPod?

Zack: Me & Ali have literally exactly the same taste in music, you wouldn’t be able to tell whose iPod was whose but you would find all sorts, from Usher to Chipmunk, Raxstar to Bow Wow and 2pac to Jay Sean!

If you could support ONE artist on tour, who would it be?

Ali: If I could support someone on tour, It would be Jay Sean. He's a guy I really look up to and he inspires me a lot for what he's achieved.

Zack: Ali stole my answer! Its mad how we have the same taste, but yeah its cause Jay Sean has a similar background which is why he inspires us, so yeah, same answer.

Lastly, if you if you could collab with any artist in the world, who would it be?

Zack: Ahhhh that’s hard, If I could collab with anyone on the planet, it would have to be Drake or Eminem. Those guys are two of my favourite rappers and a collaboration with any one of them would be a dream come true.

Ali: Hmmm I would say the same except instead of Drake, although he is insane, I would say Dr. Dre. To have Dre produce a track of ours would blow my mind, he is a genius.

Thanks to X2 for their time, their debut album “Intuition” hits stores 24^th April 2011.

Pictures for Magazine: The Base

For our music magazine, we were asked to take photos for the main focus of our magazine that would appear on the Front page, Contents page and Double page spread. I took a wide range of photos, with some that are not going to be included into the magazine but the ones that have been submitted into the music magazine will be seen here.                   

                                                     Front Cover

                                                   Contents Page

Double Page Spread - Main

Double Page Spread - 1

Double Page Spread - 2

Double Page Spread - 3

Flatplan Evaluation: Double Page Spread.

This is the double page spread I created that will hopefully be the one that I use in my magazine. 

I really like the general layout of this double page spread because it looks quite original and I haven't seen articles that look like this. The colour scheme I am using here still uses the dark blue seen on the front cover and contents page, but also uses white because that is a light colour that isn't too loud but can also be associated with hip-hop. Black is again also used for all the text because using those three colours leaves the double page spread not looking cluttered and also has a nice effect. 

The layout of this double page spread is interesting because of how the images have been placed. The big main image has been placed in the bottom half of the right-hand side of the page. It looks like the artists are creeping out from the side of the page which I think looks good. The arm of the artist is extended across the area where the interview will be placed however because the arm is light-skinned, the black of the text will be layered over it without affecting the look of it. The title of the double page spread 'Introducing X2' takes up most of the top of the page, without looking too empty. I like the clash of fonts with the block style of 'introducing' being layered under the calligraphy style of 'X2'. The three images on the left-hand side of the page create the look of negatives of developing photos which i like. Also in the three boxes, the artist are doing different poses which is easily portrayed without taking up too much space. For my double page spread I didn't use much inspiration from other hip-hop magazines, the most i took from it was the simplistic, ordered layout and that was about it. 

Flatplan Evaluation: Contents Page.

This is my contents page I have created for my hip-hop magazine. Firstly, the background colour is the same as the front page because i wanted there to be a sense of continuity and also this is something that the magazines I researched had. The colour scheme of blue and black is a colour scheme I will carry out throughout all the pages because these are colours related to hip-hop and is something I noticed during my research. However there are two images with a white background because i wanted to bring some light to the contents page because i felt it would of been too dark and grim and white is not too much of a loud colour. The page numbers are red because that is another colour that is used but not as heavily as the black and blue. Red is another colour that is commonly used in hip-hop magazines.

The fonts used is again the same as the front cover to create a sense of continuity. The font used for the word 'contents' is the same as the front cover however it only looks different because it is vertically aligned instead of horizontally. I think that having it horizontal breaks up the page and gives it a different dynamic to what you usually see on contents pages. In my magazine research i noticed that 'Respect' magazine doesn't even have a clear contents page, therefore this is my way of breaking the norm of contents page layouts. The font used for the contents page titles will also be the same as the front cover because it is simple and easy to read. Italics have been used for the captions of the images as this is a common theme for magazines. 

I feel that the layout of the magazine is well laid-out because it does not look too cluttered. Something i noticed during my research was that hip-hop magazine contents pages are all chronologically ordered instead of scattered around like a pop magazine. Therefore i incorporated this in my contents page to create a sense of order and organisation. The contents page is split into two columns which makes it look neat and the images are placed at the bottom left and top right corners so that they are not so near each other and again looks neat. 

Flatplan Evaluation: Front Cover

This is the magazine flatplan for my magazine called "The Base". I created a front cover, contents page and double page spread flatplan so that i know how my magazine will be laid out and the colours etc. for when i make my magazine. I used the hip-hop magazines "Respect" and "Hip-Hop Weekly" to research and help me produce my flatplan.

This is the front cover for my magazine "The Base". The colour scheme was inspired by "Hip-Hop Weekly". I chose to use a dark blue as the background colour because firstly hip-hop music is related to dark monotone colours instead of bright, loud colours associated with pop-music. Also if the background was very bright, it wouldn't attract the target market I am trying to aim because typically hip-hop listeners are not attracted to bright colours. I chose the black for most of the font because black is the main colour associated with hip-hop music and I felt that the colour had to be incorporated somehow because black was used vastly in the magazines I researched. I do feel that in this flatplan, the black is slightly washed out by the dark blue however I feel when I produce it, this won't be the case.  The reddish-orange colour used for "X2" is to attract the readers attention to the cover artists of the magazine. This is the main part I am trying to appeal to my readers and this is why this is the only bright colour used. Also, I layered the reddish-orange colour on top of the light blue t-shirt because it would stand out most against that colour. For the clothes of the artists, I used neutral colours that are not too bright or loud because I didn't want to defer the attention away from the group name "X2" and also because again, bright colours are not associated with hip-hop and also in my research, I noticed that particularly "Respect" had their artists wearing clothes that blended into the background.


The font that i would like to use in my magazine cover is not how it seems on this cover because this is just my usual handwriting, however I plan to use a font similar in the sense that it is very simple yet bold. This is how the fonts are in the magazines that i researched. The font used for the pull quote will be the same as the rest of the cover however it will be in italics, as that is usually how pull quote fonts are in most magazines. I wanted to use a very bold square-type font for the masthead, as this relates to "The Base" and is very bold yet simple. In my magazine research I noticed that mastheads remained simple yet effective, the colour of the font was often black therefore I incorporated that into mine. 


The layout of the cover I think works well because it is not too cramped and not too empty. I did have a slight problem when placing the article titles because of where i had placed the selling line and I didn't want to cover up the top half of the artists body. However I think that it worked well and with a few adjustments like moving "X2" to the right it will open up the page a bit more and look a little less cramped.  I noticed when carrying out my research that 'Respect' had all their article titles placed strategically around the edge of the page so that the focus was not taken away from the cover artist. I tried to incorporate this into my work. Also I have not included a button because no other hip-hop magazine uses a button therefore I did not use one because i feel it gives a slightly less formal look to the magazine. 

Contents Page Analysis - Respect & Hip-Hop Weekly

This is the contents page for "Respect", a hip-hop music magazine. From a first glance you cannot tell that it is a contents page because it does not have the typical layout of a contents page. All the text has been put in the bottom third of the page, with the image of the cover artist taking up the main focus. The only way to tell that it is a contents page is because it is directly after you open the magazine and this is where the contents page usually is.

At the top left-hand corner of the page it says "Order of Operations" which can be related to as the contents page. The text is neatly laid out in neat columns in chronological order instead of all over the place. This makes it easier for the reader to find the articles they are looking for.

The colour scheme of the contents page is very dark and bland. All the text is white, which has been layered on top of the dark colours of the artists clothes. The colours relate to the hip-hop genre because it is not related to bright, loud colours like in a pop magazine. The image used is of the cover artist Woka Flocka Flame, this is continuing from the cover of the magazine to show continuity of the theme of the artist.

This is the contents page for Hip-Hop weekly, and from a first glance this looks more like a contents page in comparison to Respect. The layout instantly gives off the feel of a contents page with two main columns, again chronologically ordered to make it easier to locate articles. There are two images on this contents page, however they are not of the cover artists, but instead of artists that are not the main focus but gives the reader the chance to locate their article. Both images are distanced from each other so that it does not look to cramped.

There is no over-crowding, the layout is extremely neat and organised. The most text is for the summary of the articles for the three main cover artists and after that, there are short sentences to summarise the remaining articles. 
The colours used are mainly red and a washed-out light brown colour, which compliment each other. The red is used for the page numbers which stand out and is easily read against the washed-out brown of the background which is carried out throughout the rest of the magazine.  There is no title saying Contents Page, or anything of that nature therefore it is not 100% clear that this is a contents page. However the general layout makes it obvious that it is.



Both contents pages show two very different styles of laying out a contents page, however there are also many similarities which can be related to the hip-hop genre such as the chronological order, the organised layout and the simple colours. This will help me to know what to include and what not to include in my contents page.

Double Page Spread Analysis - Respect Magazine

Here i am going to analyse two different double-page spreads of Respect music magazine in order to understand how to lay out my own double page spread, and to know what and what not to do.

J.Cole Double Page Spread Analysis 

 

In this double page spread, it features hip-hop artists J.Cole. This can be seen with a big 'J' in white to catch the readers attention and it also ties into the start of the article.  The article itself starts of with the rule of 3 'J.Cole hates telling Jay-Z stories. J.Cole is private. He's protective of his own personal and professional life.' it sounds catchy and hooks the reader to read on so that the three solid facts mentioned can be explained. Aswell as using the rule of 3, alliteration is also used for the same effect as the rule of 3; to hook readers and sound catchy. The article has a chatty flow to the conversation to make the reader feel relaxed. Italics are used throughout the article to represent the thoughts of J.Cole. This creates a one-on-one atmosphere for the reader and as if they are having a conversation with the artists. The writer also used simple, short sentences to create a sense of interest from the reader's perspective 'But you couldn't blame Cole if he was a tad distracted'.

Moving onto the image used, the image of J.Cole ties in over both pages therefore linking the image to the article and making it flow easier. His angle of gaze seems to be away from page instead of looking straight at the camera, this creates quite a reflective image. It gives off the impression that he is quite thoughtful. His body language seems quite comfortable and relaxed as he is crouched over.  The artist is wearing a dark red jacket with a black t-shirt underneath as to not disturb the calm atmosphere with bright, loud colours. The dark red of the jacket complements the dark background well, it is mainly dark brown which is quite calming to look at. There are also faded, blurry lights in the background which has subtle and soft effect on the interview. The dimmed, soft lights and the entire background as a whole creates a relaxed atmosphere for the readers, so that they can enjoy the actual content of the article instead of being distracted by bright colours.

Jay-Z Double Page Spread Analysis 

 

This second double page spread features Jay-Z. On the left hand side, there is a whole page with an image of Jay-Z in the centre. Once the readers turn the page onto this double page spread, their attention would be drawn to the image. This is because the image stands out against the page with the text because of the colours. Even though neutral dark colours and predominantly used instead of bright, loud colours, it still stands out. The neutral colours of the background is very soft and relaxing which appears to be a reoccurring theme throughout the magazine. The artist is wearing black sunglasses which creates a sense of mystery, you cannot see his eyes which means he could be hiding something which encourages the reader to read the article. Also his entire body language is quite mysterious. He is facing away from the camera with his head slightly tilted which shows thought aswell. The image itself does not have an immediate link to the article because it is on a different page, the image does not spread across the two pages, neither does the words therefore instantly you would not think the two are linked.

There is a gold emblem on the page of the article which is the cover art for Jay-Z's new book, the whole purpose of this article. Fans of Jay-Z would recognise the cover, and relate the book to the article which encourages them to read on. The all-white background creates a very simplistic look which again is a theme throughout the magazine, the focus appears to be more on the article instead of the look. The title is a simple black font which stands out against the white background and adds to the simplicity of the article. Also the standfirst uses a contrast 'Book smart and street smart' this hooks the readers by confusing them and encouraging them to read on.