Music Video Analysis - ScHoolboy Q - Groovy Tony

The video starts with the artist's name and the song title, this is extremely common in rap music videos and also helps people to remember the artist and the song. The video starts with very blurred and disorientating movements, we can make out that the video is set in a scrap yard. A scrap yard itself is not stereotypical for a rap video but it does fit into the common iconography of worn down environments and urban environments.
We see a man crushed under a digger (0:08) this is very strange and intriguing.
We hear the lyric "Blank face" and see a man with no face (0:12), this is showing a very clear relationship between the lyrics and the music video. This fits into Andrew Goodwin's list of codes and conventions of a music video.
We then see an extremely interesting 1st person shot of ScHoolboy Q (Groovy Tony) looking down at his body, I think this is very unique.
We see ScHoolboy Q's reflection in a car window(0:19), this is very voyeuristic (one of Goodwin's conventions), he then kicks the car which shows that he has superhuman strength, this seems very strange and makes the viewer intrigued to find out what happens.
We then hear "Blank face" and see a blank face like we do earlier in the video, this is a recurring thing in the video and links to the title of the album, 'Blank Face LP'.
We cut to a long shot of Q from the side(0:32), the video then zooms out even more and we see Q looking at a giant pile of bodies, this shows that the bodies we see before this (The one under the digger (0:08), the one he drags along the floor and if you look closely there are a few more around) aren't one off bodies and that this is a recurring thing. This pile of bodies would also be very intriguing to the viewer and is very shocking.
The video cuts in time to the music(0:35), this is quite common in this video and fits into Goodwin's conventions because it shows a relationship between the music and the video as well as being common in music videos of the genre.
The video up to this point seems like it is referencing the film Chronicle because in this film we see somebody in a scrap yard experimenting with their powers, just like Q does when he kicks the car(0:20) and when he pulls debris off of the magnetic crane(0:28).
We then cut to a slow-motion mid-shot of Q's waist as he fires an automatic assault rifle(0:35). The camera then moves up and we see that he has a 'blank face'.
At 1:10 we cut to Q walking through a room holding a bag, this is the first time the video looks like a stereotypical rap video, he seems to be 'chilling' with his 'homies'. But Q continues walking and we see that they were in a shipping container, this seems odd for a rap video but the way it was shot is very stereotypical for the genre. This is the most performance heavy portion of the video so far, the performance aspect is extremely common in hip-hop videos and fits into Joan Lynch's video structure theory.
At 1:17 ScHoolboy Q says "The devil in all blue", at this point he is surrounded by blue containers which shows a connection between the lyrics and the visuals, the colour blue fits into the iconography of rap music videos because it is the colour worn by the Crips (A gang) and many rappers are in this gang and represent them in their music videos and lyrics.
Q then raps "I got that white girl for ya" (a reference to cocaine) and then "She's swimming in fire water" (Fire water is slang for high proof alcohol) as he says water we see a puddle, linking the lyrics to the video.
We cut to ScHoolboy Q driving a car (1:29), the shot is in 1st person but we can see Q in the rear-view mirror, this seems voyeuristic even though we are,in a way, looking at our self. While we are in this shot Q says "Civic" (a model of car) which links to the video as he is driving. He also links the visuals to the lyrics as he raps "Hit the curb with shattered mirrors" as he crashes and then "Look around now you're hell-bound" as he sits in the wreckage surrounded by fire. The "Look around now you're hell-bound" (1:38) as he is surrounded by fire, which is commonly associated with hell and he almost died and hell is supposed to be part of the afterlife.
We see that the bag Q was carrying in the scene with the shipping containers was full of money(1:41), large amounts of money is very stereotypical iconography for a rap music video so fits in very well with Goodwin's theories. It is very subtle but if you look closely you can see that there are no faces on the notes which fits well with the recurring 'blank face' theme.
ScHoolboy Q then looks at his arm which is on fire (1:45) but doesn't seem to care and lights his 'blunt' (marijuana) with it. 'Blunts' are very strong iconography when it comes to hip-hop videos, they are in a lot of rap videos and lyrics often refer to them as well.
We then cut to a close-up of Q rapping at the camera(1:54), close up shots of the artist performing directly to the camera are very common in rap videos and fit with the style of the genre. This is shot with a hand-held camera and is very shaky, this is also stereotypical of the genre.
We then see a short clip (1:56-1:59) of Q walking away from us which is very intriguing as the majority of the video is shot from his point of view or with him looking,or walking, toward us.
This then cuts to another P.O.V shot of Q rapping into a reflection (this time a puddle) (1:59) which is a recurring theme of the video and seems very voyeuristic.
We then see another (very) short clip of Q walking towards the building (2:00) before we cut back to Q rapping at the camera (2:01) which is shot in the same way as the scene at 1:54.
We then get a series of shots that cut quickly between Q walking towards the building and rapping in the puddle which builds a lot of tension to find out what is in the building. This also increases the amount of performance in the song (fitting into Joan Lynch's structure) and gives us a lot of close-ups of Q which fits into Goodwin saying that video's have to have a lot of shots of the star.
We then see Q walking casually out of the building (2:11) which makes us wonder what he did in there and if we'll find out what's in there. We then get some fast editing cutting between Q walking out of the building, rapping in the puddle and rapping at the camera, which is shot in a much more stereotypical way for a rap video than the rest of the video is but this is also when the music and ScHoolboy Q's rapping are most intense so it fits well and does not seem out of place.
Then at 2:21 the camera starts moving in one long steady shot towards the open doors of the building, this is made very intense as the musics bass becomes heavier and it starts to become distorted.
There is a bright flashing light coming from within the building, it seems to almost beckon the viewer to come in. The camera slows down just before we reach the door which increases the tension even more. We slowly start to enter the building and we see safes and and ATM which shows Tony is a theif. We then slowly move in towards a pair of legs swinging in mid-air. At this point the lyrics make some references to money which is very fitting as the safes are all around.
Q also says "Groovy Tony no face killah" which fits in with the "Blank face" that we hear throughout the song and links to all the dead bodies at the start.
We then hear "blank face" and cut to a low angle shot of a man who is hung by his neck and has a 'blank face'(2:55). The hanging man is wearing Balmain jeans which are extremely popular in rap and are quite iconic within the genre, for example Kanye West's recent video 'Wolves' doubled as a fashion campaign for Balmain.
The screen then cuts to black which gives a strong effect to what we just saw.
The 'Blank face' line that is repeated throughout the song and is shown visually can also reference the feeling of having no face that some people describe after consuming heavy amounts of drugs.

The video fits into many of Goodwin's conventions, one of the strongest is his voyeurism convention. Voyeurism is extremely predominant in this video, we see ScHoolboy Q in many different reflections, we see him in the car window, the puddle and the car's rear-view mirror.

The title 'Groovy Tony' is a reference to the 1983 Brian De Palma film Scarface, the main character of the film is Tony Montana, this is where the Tony in Groovy Tony comes from. There are inter-textual references to the film in the music video, for example the man hanging in the building (2:56) is a reference to the fact that the character Omar in 'Scarface'.
The film 'Scarface' has a plot centred around cocaine, there are references to cocaine in 'Groovy Tony' for example, "got that white girl for ya" which means he has cocaine, he also says "Sell narcotics and stack my dollars up to Bill Gates" which means that he sells drugs and wants to get rich (he says Bill Gates as his extreme wealth is well known), 'Scarface' is about Tony Montana selling Cocaine and getting rich.
The song is all about the fact that when ScHoolboy Q sold drugs he felt like Tony Montana and the video shows how this made him feel powerful, invincible and like he had super powers, which are also how people describe the effects of these drugs which fits in well because in 'Scarface' Tony starts taking his drugs and feeling their effects, and at one point Q himself was addicted to drugs.
The video also shows that drugs can lead to more severe crime, like murder, and like Groovy Tony does in the music video, Tony Montana is led to other crimes in 'Scarface'.

The video fits into the performance and narrative sections of  Joan Lynch's 3 basic video structures as it has a clear narrative and also has elements of performance. The video could also, arguably, fit into the concept category as it's story could be interpreted in different ways because you would not necessarily make the connection to drugs unless you knew that that is what the music video is about and it is shot in a very unique way.

The video fits into Jon Gow's 'enhanced performance' theory as it contains performance elements but also includes heavy elements of narrative. It could also possibly fit into 'the special effects extravaganza' as it relies a lot on stunning visuals and the performance aspect is secondary to that for the majority of the music video.