14) XXL Magazne: Case study

XXL remains one of the longest running music magazines in the Rap sector, after its initial publication in August 1997. The magazine predominantly focuses on Rap, and features a famous "Annual Freshman" list per annum. This allows the audience to be aware of new stars, and also give the artists some exposure.

The magazine is based in America, specifically New York City. The magazine has made clear it's musical preference, thereby promoting iconic artists such as Big Sean and Busta Rhymes. Artists like Ice Cube represents the Black power movement that took place in America during the 1980's anti-racism movement. The magazine meant to act as a voice for the lower, mistreated classes of America.

Late 1980s, XXL adopted the "underground" scene with people like G-Unit and The Game. The magazine deliberately set both against each other, starring front pages that read "G-unit claps back at The Game".

In August 2005, Eminem and XXL released a special issue magazine scribes "Shade 45" in order to give the artist and radio station maximum exposure while simultaneously linking the famous rapper to the magazine logo.

The magazine layout conventionally features the logo "XXL", which appears in bold white on  red block. This gives the magazine a masculine image and presents itself as strong. The house colours of this magazine are black, gold, red and the primary colour being white. This gives it a prestigious look, therefore making it fresh, clean and superior. It follows the convention of having a white background, which coincides with its music genre. The use of white and black; monochrome, gives creates an eye-catching effect due to its great contrast. When combined with the traditional rule of three, it intrigues the audience to read on. The barcode it situated in the bottom right corner of the front cover, due to the fact it is likely irrelevant to the consumer, but merchants would know where to look.

The huge institution that publishes this magazine, XXL, is Harris Publications Inc. They are an American consumer-magazine publisher based in New York. They publish over 75 titles, all their publications are different genres although they’re major division are Harris Outdoor Magazines which include titles on hunting, finishing and firearms. Some of their other magazines are Juicy, King, Dog News, 0-60, Guns & Weapons for Law Enforcement, Small business opportunities, Men’s Workout, Exercise & Health and Celebrity Hairstyles

Cross-media platforms can be seen here, as from their website which includes many useful features like. The ‘latest news’ section, and is updated more than once an hour most of the time and gives a headline of the news. At the bottom of the webpage it has a footer which I found different to many other website magazines which included links to their twitter which helps give the artists exposure. Web 2.0 can also be seen here as the magazine has adapted with the rising technological age.