SVERIGE VET att The botten is nådd : En komparativ studie av prisbelönta svenska hiphopartisters  representation av droger och våld i musikvideos från två olika generationer.

Sammanfattning: Given the controversial history of the music genre hiphop it is important to investigate how the genre is representing violence and drugs. Since the beginning of hiphop the content of the genre has been heavily criticised for its explicit references to drugs and violence. The controversial genre is growing in popularity and in modern Sweden the hiphop genre is topping  music charts.  This study aims to research the change in how acclaimed Swedish hiphop artists represent violence and drugs in their music videos, today versus 20 years ago. The study analyses four different award winning artists' music videos from two different time periods, using Stuart Hall's representation theory (1997) as its theoretical framework. Two of the chosen music videos are from the later half of this decade and the other two are from the early 2000s. The studied artists are Z.E, Einár, Petter and Timbuktu; their videos have been analysed by using the methodological semiotic approach, which utilises the denotative and connotative levels when analysing media content. The result of the study shows that there is a change in how these acclaimed hiphop artist from these two generations represent drugs and violence in their videos. Especially it is shown that the modern era of acclaimed Swedish hiphop artist are connecting heavy drugs with success and social status. Simultaneously they use violence to build a threatening and powerful image of themselves. The older generation only represent lighter drugs which are portrayed in festive contexts and their negative consequences are presented. It should be noted that any violence portrayed in their videos is neutralised by the use of humor and levity.