Media Conetxt

• Many R&B videos focus on romantic narratives and often hip-hop videos feature men celebrating their wealth through crime. 'Waterfalls' references these genre conventions by showing the temptations of sex and crime. Its overall message is more cautionary than glamourised in comparison to videos in the genre.
• In the 1990s there was a lot of public concern and media coverage over the song mentioning the issues. The video attempts to explore them through tragic but sympathetic narratives.
• TLC were the second biggest girl band of the 1990s after the Spice Girls who also had a message of female solidarity and empowerment. The video could fall into the sub-genre of 'socially aware' hip-hop that explores real-life issues in a sympathetic way instead of glamourising damaging lifestyles. It uses the expressionistic style rather than social realism