STORMZY - GANG SIGNS & PRAYER - DIGIPAK ANALYSIS.

FRONT.

There is a a picture of Stormzy at the centre of the front cover of the digpak alongside 4 masked thugs (wearing balaclavas) to his left side, and another 4 masked thugs to his right side. The thugs are in an almost symmetrical position, but the main attraction is the main artist... STORMZY, who is standing in between the 2 sets of thugs / middle of the table. We can see that Stormzy is the only one not wearing a balaclava. This means that he is able to stand out to the audience, from the rest of the guys that are besides him. Stormzy has both of his fists clenched in a punch shape, down on the table. This signifies his importance, authority and presence of him being there. This is his way of showing and telling the audience who is boss, and who rules everyone.
 He has a much bigger, larger, and wider frame than everyone else, and is looking directly at the camera - into the eyes of the audience, with a very serious and down to business professional look on his face. The thugs body language is slouchy and slumped across the board, however, the main artist has a more muscular physical shape, even though he is crouching a little. We can see a black table cloth, black table legs, and also black pots, pans, cups, plates and shakers on the table in front of the gang and Stormzy included.
The table and the cutlery is reference to the last supper. The last supper is a story from the bible, where Jesus Christ had shared his food with his Apostles in Jerusalem, before his crucifixion. Stormzy has very clearly related himself and his situation to The Last Supper, as the mighty one, (member of the gang) and has also showed to the audience that his people are part of his gang. (Apostles) At first, the audience may be questioning if the front cover has something to do with violence and crime, but the front cover has a very deep, greater and a rather touching meaning to it. The front cover is basically telling the audience, the story about Jesus's last Supper by visual representations, as well as intertwining gang signs along with prayer. The gang signs aspect relate to the way they are dressed and their body language (mainly stormzy), and the prayer aspect is significant to the food and cutlery on the table, as well as the gang members being around the table to feast on food.

At the very top corner of the right hand side of the digipak, we can see the name of the artist first, in bold white capital letters, and then the name of the album cover in an off white colour, still bold and written in capital letters. The main artist's name is first because he wants the audience to know who he is, and how he works as a grime / rap and hip hop artist. The name of the album comes second, and it is equally important, as it is backed up by the powerful image of stormy and his gang. Also, this was the first album that Stormzy had created, since his first Brit award. The boldness of Stormzy's name, really lets the audience realise about his dominance and character.

The sole purpose of having the artist at the centre of the front of the digipak, is to promote the artist to the maximum. Here, we can see that Stormzy is unique, as he is not wearing a mask. We can easily tell he is the boss, and is the highest in the hierarchy of their gang. Stormzy's level of presence is very different to the rest, and this will make the audience immediately look at him, the first time they pick the digipak up. Also, the audience automatically look at the centre of the digipak, as the main focus id the main artist. The audience will be aware of Stormzy's presence instantaneously.

In terms of the colours, the entire image is only using the colour black, with the exception of white for the font. We, as the audience would relate the colour black to gangs, hell, negativity, danger, solitary confinement, and all sorts of cynical assumptions. However, the colour black, connotes how days were like in the past in Jesus's time for the last supper, just before his crucifixion. It was a very dull and dead atmosphere. The colour black relates back to the name of the album, for gangs and for prayer as well. The prayer aspect could be looked upon as the individual talking to god or jesus in an atmosphere where only 2 are present. However, the colour black signifies mainly for the gang theme, in relation to their all black clothes, the gang, and most importantly, STORMY being the face and boss of the gang.
OVERALL, the front cover carries an extremely heavy religious meaning. The religious meaning is relationship between previous problems during Christ's days, in comparison to the issues that gangs face today in the modern day. The prayer aspect allows there to be a spiritual connection between the artist, audience and religion via STORMZY.

BACK.

The colour scheme is exactly the same as the front of the digipak. The plain black background relates to Stormzy's gang, their prayers to god / Jesus, and also the relationship between gang signs & prayers.

The back consists of the name of the 16 songs that are included in the album. This allows the audience to be in the know of what songs are included on the CD. This also tells the audience what they will receive, should they pay for the product. The song list from 1 to 16 are in the middle of the back of the digipak, as that is the main point of focus for the audience to look at. Also, the "ft" artists are written next to the song name, but in a different colour. The colour is a light grey, which separates those texts from the background and the songs. The grey colour is not appealing to the eye, and the ft artists are not important for the audience, as the digipak and songs album all come through Stormzy. The ft artists are seen as back up artists, and have very little relevance with promoting Stormzy, his album, and his brand. Also, at the very end of the song name, the duration of the song is shown in brackets. It is in a grey font, and is quite useful for the audience to just know about. However, the fact that the song duration is written at the end of the song name, it gives an impression that it looks like a  verse from the bible,  about the last supper. This shows a clear link between the back and the front of the digipak.

Also, we can see the barcode in the middle of the bottom of the digipak. This is scanned for when every time a purchase of the product is made. Ultimately, the stock units may re-stock with the product, as the demand may be quite high. Due to this, the popularity of the product will definitely increase. Right next to the barcode, we can see Stormzy's own record company logo. The logo is a world with a crown on top, and has Hashtag (#) MERKY written across it. The record label is black and white and blends in to the rest of the digipak, as the only colours are black and white, with a hint of grey. On the bottom left hand side of the digipak, we can see the year in which the album was released by Stormzy's record company, and can also see the extra legal copyright information that is needed to protect the album / songs from bad misuse etc. Also, the "PARENTAL ADVISORY" label, at the bottom right hand side of the cover is telling the audience and parents how explicit language is included in the album. Essentially, this is a warning for the parents of the children, informing them about the content beforehand. The label is there to simply alive the parents about the nature of the content before it is played. An expected 18+ age requirement may be needed to listen to explicit songs, but it may also be under the parents decision and ruling if they give permission to OR choose to supervise their kids when listening to the album.
OVERALL, the back of the digipak is quite informative in it's own way, but is also very simple and standard from the expectations of a typical digipak album cover based on grime. I believe it is a good back cover because it keeps the consistency of the theme simple and flowing.

CD (INTERIOR)

First of all, the Stormzy's name and album name is exactly the same font style and colour as on the front of the digipak (The same meaning applies about importance of texts being shown about the artist) The background of the CD is entirely black, which again. is a reference towards the religious beliefs Stormzy looks in to. On the right hand side of the CD, we can see the legal copyright information and the main adequate amount about the production of the album. At the bottom of the CD, Stormzy's own record label is shown. This is just a reminder for the audience, telling them where everything had started from. Also, the silver outlining of the CD, provides a more solid and uniform structure and feel of the CD. Stormzy has deliberately maintained a solid theme throughout all the panels for the digipak. This was a really clever technique, as the audience feel at ease and comfortable in viewing the digipak, knowing that everything is in place and links together.
OVERALL, STORMZY has done a great job by continuing the constant theme of black, along all the digipak panels. It is good to see that each and every panel has it's own special meaning, but ultimately adds up altogether to make a final story about Jess and his people in the past, as well as relating the famous issue with the people of today, in terms of gangs and being righteous and religious.