Portraits are often the most personal photographs. The close-ups convey emotion and emphasize details that have the possibility to unveil well kept personality quirks and traits. As opposed to the mundane flashy covers decked out with expensive cars, jewelry and women, some rappers have chosen alternative routes. Often the portraits foreshadow a theme prevalent in the album’s music, other times the cover art represents an element of the artist themselves. Nevertheless, album covers feature portraits have proven themselves to be some of the most revealing.

A Tribe Called Quest – The Anthology
A Tribe Called Quest have long been advocates of afrocentricity and the cover to The Anthology is no exception. The cover is a close up of a painted woman’s face. Her face is painted pitch black but across her face are stripes of green and red. Red, Black and Green are the colors of the African American flag created by Marcus Garvey. Her face exudes Black pride and foreshadows the cultural nationalism that flows throughout the The Anthology.

Chamillionaire – The Sound of Revenge
Sound travels so fast that no human can see it; still many try to imagine its shape and form. On the cover of Chamilionaire’s Sound of Revenge he does just that. The cover depicts Cham squinting in a hoodie and navy fitted in front of a city skyline. The large sweeping blur appears to be a sound wave whose vibrations are so strong they are visible surrounding the album title and chameleon logo.

Mos Def – The New Danger
Mos Def plays the role of “the most beautiful boogie man’” on the cover of his sophomore album The New Danger. The cover is a portrait of Mos in tattered clothes and hat. A bloodied rag covers masks most of his face as he points to his temple while staring straight at the camera. Decades ago it was believed that the Boogie man was a scare tactic used on children based off the irrational fear of Black men. Mos chooses to challenge the fear on both his album cover and album introduction “Boogie man song.”

M1 – Confidential
M1 of Dead Prez is prolific for rapping about what he believes to be the truth behind the world’s conspiracies and propaganda. His debut solo album is appropriately titled, as the facts behind his themes are often confidential and withheld from the public. The cover art conveys the theme of secrecy. A watercolor portrait of M1 is smudged atop a dated document. The document is stamped and marked confidential which leads a listener to believe they are accessing classified information.

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Ever since Melle Mel’s 1983 hit “White Lines,” cocaine has long been a fixture in rap. As the crack epidemic took its course, everyone from De La Soul to N.W.A. had crack-cocaine on the mind with songs like “My Brother’s a Basehead” and “Dopeman.” Hip-hop had made one thing clear, being strung out was by all means unheard of and looked down upon; selling drugs, however, was conversely, the most preferred form of employment next to rhyming and playing basketball. As drug laws became more severe and unequal for cocaine and crack-cocaine, dealers shifted from selling freebase to shoveling snow. As the drug game changed, rappers did not hesitate to lace their rhymes with tales of courting their “white girl” and delivering “the raw uncut.” Alleged drug dealing rappers have used their album covers to portray their drug past

The Clipse – Hell Hath No Fury
The Clipse have long considered themselves the bakers’ men of the industry. Cooking coke to crack has become a staple in their rap persona and the cover of Hell Hath No Fury exhibits this. On the cover, Malice and Pusha T are lounging around an old-fashioned oven affront a money covered wall. The oven represents the process needed to create crack from cocaine and the crowns The Clipse are wearing represent what they believe to be their rule over hip-hop and drug sale alike.

Juelz Santana & JR Writer – Sugar Hill 2
The self proclaimed human crack in the flesh, Juelz Santana, has, for a long time, rapped about the trials and tribulations of the drug game. The cover of Santana and JR Writer’s mixtape Sugar Hill 2, epitomizes his Dope boy image. Juelz sits in a corner office dressed in a black pinstripe suit and signature bandana, blazed with blunt in hand hovering desk piled with cocaine. JR Writer stands behind Juelz in a Diplomats tee proudly boasting a hand full of money. As opposed to former Diplomat Cam’ron’s signature pink, the cover art’s theme is violet, signifying royalty and Dipset’s reign over the rap and coke industry.

Scarface – The Fix
The Geto Boys constituent, Scarface, went the extra mile with the cover art of his album, The Fix. The front cover shows an empty shot glass and a small mirror atop an old card table. Within the reflection of the mirror is Scarface glaring back in a tan suit and fedora. The inside cover features a picture of a rundown kitchen as well as a pocket that holds “the fix,” a mock dime bag filled with booklet album details. This indicates that Scarface delivers the raw uncut both musically and in the coke realm.

Ghostface Killah – Fishscale
As one ninth of the Wu-Tang clan, Ghostface has always been the most open with his drug affiliations and has demonstrated this throughout his music with album themes and cover art dedicated to the drug hustle. The album Fishscale shows Ghost in a worker men’s shirt with fish scale printed across the front and gloves with a fisherman’s knife in one hand skinning the fish in the other on a dock. Fishscale is drug terminology for very potent cocaine named for its shiny and flaky texture. The large net full of fish demonstrates the extent of Ghost’s coke career signifying that his “fishscale will always flood the streets.”

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From painting on the floor of his apartment in Santa Cruz, California to bombing the streets of L.A. and designing album covers, Mear One has come a long way. He started as an art student, winning contests and taking drawing courses. By the time he dropped out, graffiti was a fulltime career for Mear One –gaining him the acceptance of prominent local crews and his big break at Zero One art gallery. Mear’s talent and love of underground hip-hop grew into a design career, working on album covers for some of his favorite artists. What sets Mear One apart is the seriousness in how he carries out his art and the conscious themes he portrays in his work. He wants his audience to not only appreciate his designs, but the underlying message as well.

“To be a real graffiti artist you had to tag, you had to participate in the game that was already created. And if you didn’t, you were looked at [like] you weren’t real”

Format: What made you first decide you wanted to be an artist?
Mear One: Well, I been doin’ it since I was a little kid. It just seemed like the natural process to evolve into, without having to do the regular day-job thing. It was more comfortable to be doing art than anything else because it was what came natural.

Format: Why graffiti?
Mear One: I was a trouble-making teenager, so graffiti art is the most inspiring activity I could get into at that age of burning buildings down and throwing rocks at cars and shit. It was a more creative route to take.

Format: Who put you on to tagging?
Mear One: Some of my best friends that I was down with were into it, and like I said earlier, being a troublesome rambunctious teenager, graffiti art was rather therapeutic – a creative way to express all this frustration I was having and all this behavioral outbreak – causing trouble, stealing and doing all this shit I used to be into.

You know, tagging was the first introductory phase into graffiti art. To be a real graffiti artist you had to tag, you had to participate in the game that was already created. And if you didn’t, you were looked at [like] you weren’t real, you hadn’t put in the actual time or work that the true graffiti artists had. It was an introductory phase and I still tag. I think that it’s a sign of resistance.

Format: Can you tell me more about Skate One, CBS (Can’t Be Stopped) and WCA (West Coast Art)?
Mear One: Well Skate One was a homie of mine who went to my junior high school and lived in my neighborhood and I always kind of idolized him because he was such a magnanimous human. He had a lot of strengths as an individual and he got up a lot of places and did his graffiti art. And it was really inspirational to get down with someone who was willing to teach and who was willing to share the passage into becoming a real graffiti writer. Homeboy would pick us up from nowhere – we were just artists trying to figure out what direction we were going and he would sort of guide us and teach us into becoming a well-developed graffiti artist. It’s kinda like he was a teacher. Can’t Be Stopped was a slogan that we lived by – it’s like nothing can stop us from developing our art and becoming successful in whatever we want to become. Can’t Be Stopped was the slogan that we lived by and we were a crew.

So West Coast Art was another crew that ran the Fairfax neighborhood which I brought myself up in. I grew up in Hollywood, but as soon as I became a graffiti writer I moved over to the Fairfax district. Fairfax district was like a alternative to the rest of the city for people like me. I always sort of idolized that crew [West Coast Art] because they had the dopest murals, they had a whole team of heads who were dedicated to getting up and bombing illegal burners on the freeways and just doing it, you know? Really doing it.

Yeah, so those were the two dominant crews in my neighborhood and as soon as I got down with that crew we like took off. I was sort of like the youngster in the mix and as I came of age and came up, a lot of these people have moved on to do other things and I’ve carried on since then. I mean, I’m still out here doing my graffiti art that I started with back in ‘86, ’87 – I’m still doing it now, so everyone had a really huge influence and effect on me – the whole graffiti scene.

Format: On your website you mention using art jobs to support your graffiti aspirations. Historically, graffiti artists would steal their materials. Were you ever considered a toy or unauthentic for choosing a different route?
Mear One: Naw. I mean, I got my start by traveling all over Southern California stealing my spray paint. I think everyone starts out as a toy in some sense. When you’re fresh in any scene, all of the pioneers are going to look down upon you and feel threatened by anybody new coming into their mix, and as they become familiarized with you and your style, you gain acceptance and you’re not considered a toy anymore – so, “yes” and “no” to all of those questions.

I started off stealing all my supplies and evolved to a state where you mature and get old. You don’t want to be some fool standing in the store stealing stuff when you know you have the skills and ability to get hold of the supplies in other ways. It’s been 30…35 years now, I’d feel really silly going into a store trying to steal spray paint.

So to figure out how to get corporate America to pay me to do what I love doing, and then take the money from that and invest it back into my purpose – which is, I don’t wanna say its anti-corporate or anti-America or anything like that, but my purpose is to wake myself up and become a more conscious artist in the scene and express truth. You know, piercing truth that gets through the rhetoric and the stereotypes. I’ve been a stereotype for many years of my career. Being a graffiti artist, you become a stereotype and I’ve tried to transcend that through finding my own freedom and discovering in myself what graffiti art is to me now.

Format: How did the death of Skate One affect your work?
Mear One: Well, homeboy was killed by a train that night. When I got the phone call from my homies that this had happened, I realized at that moment that for all of us, the art that we’re involved in is much more important to our whole team than we had realized. I had come to a realization that we were willing to die for our art, and homeboy had just died for his art – he was painting trains when he got struck by Amtrak, and it just makes you realize that I was livin’ in a state of being unaware.

Just doing this art and risking my life and not being aware of the fact that I could die for it… once I became aware of that, it made me take it much more seriously. My art became my life completely, one hundred per cent. I wasn’t just some lost teenager vandalizing walls and having fun trying to be the best or this, that or the other, to be a king or all these things that we all strive to be at that young age. I erased all of that from my mind and realized that I was on a life-long journey and I had to become very aware of what I’m doing because I could die at any moment. It was less of a joke, it was less of a fun thing to me, it was less of a lightweight experience – it became my life-long purpose when that happened.

Format: How did tagging on the street transition into creating album covers?
Mear One: A lot of the hip-hop artists have brought me on and had me do their work. I made friends with them as the respect of their music and them having respect for me as a pioneer, a real graffiti writer and not just some art-school student who copied the graffiti style, but an actual pioneer that defined the style.

They also respected that I didn’t just do my name and my crew and a silly character, but my style evolved into a symbolic message, like I was a symbolic messenger bringing a level of everything from metaphysical truth to political awareness to social realities that we exist within, and displaying this in a very metaphorical way, like poetry that would definitely inspire people and flip ‘em out when they weren’t used to seeing truth shoved in their face like that. That’s why a lot of people have respected me as an artist – I don’t just paint a pretty picture, I try to bring relevancy of our time and situation into form and create a discussion out of it, and a lot of the times the hip hop that I worked with represented that.

Format: What process goes into the design of album cover art?
Mear One: Well, I guess I usually ask the artist for some music to listen to and any advice, whatever they want to see. Usually the best situation is they give me the music and ask for my interpretation of it – that’s kind of like what my job as an artist is – listen to that music and describe it through artistic means. Quite often people call me up and they’ll have a specific idea they want to see me do, so it’s a combination a little give and take on both parts.

Format: Your gallery is extensive. What artists have you designed for?
Mear One: Much of the L.A. underground scene is where I got my start. Working with the Freestyle Fellowship, Supernatural MC, I’ve worked in the drum and bass scene with Hives. I’ve done work for the Visionaries, that’s evolved outwards into the world because the L.A. underground hip-hop scene was so extensive and big around the world. I’m doing work for all kinds of people around the country and the world, for that matter, now. I’ve done big majors. As far as working on sets and building sets and backgrounds for Lenny Kravitz to designing the album cover for The Significant Other [for] Limp Bizkit. Quite often some of these people aren’t my favorite choice in music, but as an artist you have to be open to work with all kinds of people to fund your own freedom.

Format: What are your thoughts on the state of cover art design today?
Mear One: I think cover design is a way music can be interpreted without hearing sound; a visual can express the sentiment of the music and connect us to the idea of what’s inside.

Format: What projects are you working on now?
Mear One: My newest work is a body of pieces that has taken me seven years [that] I have been chippin’ away at, and is coming to completion this summer. It focuses on the journey we take into the unknown mystery of life and how we fight through the struggle to come to a new way of looking at life and ourselves. I have striped away all the concoctions of the reality we are used to and posed a complex situation for us to ponder on, also I have a few that deal in riddles. These are my most proud works and I can’t wait to show the world.

Format: Do you have any advice for artists aspiring to follow in your footsteps?
Mear One: As for an up and coming artist, just follow the feelings inside and work to define the images in your minds. No need to waste time getting a piece of validation from the authorities of art, just do the art and don’t let anyone stop you.

There’s no questioning the lyrical genius of the Wu-Tang Clan, however, many fans often overlook their creativity in pioneering many artistic themes and images prominent in hip-hop today. Drawing upon cartoon, fantasy, and supernatural influences, Wu extended their image well beyond their lyrics into everyday aesthetics, videos, and cover art. The Wu-Tang graphic nature is a direct reflection of their lyrical imagery descriptive nature, particularly of RZA and U-God. The ability to use fantasy art, while still maintaining street cred, has set the Wu-Tang Clan apart from other artists and inspired their peers.

RZA – The Formula for the Cure
RZA is immortalized in the classic bust statue illustration, that has been sported by historical greats such as Beethoven and Nelson Mandela, on the cover of The Formula for the Cure mixtape. The mixtape served as a promo for RZA’s album, The Cure.

ODB – A Son Unique
Bringing it back to the days of A Son, the A Son Unique cover brings back an old school theme by displaying ODB sporting the classic b-boy track jacket with a “Dirt Mcgirt” alias graffiti tag atop a cement wall.

RZA – Bobby Digital in Stereo
Bobby Digital in Stereo is the soundtrack to the RZA directed/produced/written film Bobby Digital. In the film RZA smokes a powerful blunt in his laboratory and turns into an intense experiment that births RZA’s alter ego, Bobby Digital. The album cover depicts the heroic Bobby Digital over a back drop of fast cars, girls and enemies emerging from a giant “W” logo.

RZA – Ooh I Love You Rakeem
RZA released his EP, Ooh I Love You Rakeem under one of his many aliases, Prince Rakeem in 1991. The cover art was influenced by the caricature graffiti murals created in the late 80s, early 90s that are still popular today.

GZA – Legend of the Liquid Sword
GZA reveals fantasy-like theme similar to that of his Wu Tang counterpart, RZA, with the cover art of Legend of the Liquid Sword. The cover displays a futuristic GZA station with the legend of the liquid sword book glowing in its splendor.

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Gun culture has long been a part in hip-hop. Everything from hit men to police brutality and gunshot victims has been discussed in rap music. For many, holding heat is a status symbol. It represents power, masculinity, and ultimately what it means to be a “G.” On the flipside, a gun, often an AK-47, was nothing less than revolutionary during the Golden Era. “By any means necessary” implied due force – so for many rap revolutionaries, it meant guns and heavy artillery. Whether positive or negative, revolutionary or straight gangsta, guns have long been a hip-hop staple – and several artists make their interest explicit through their cover art.

Boogie Down Productions – By All Means Necessary
KRS wasn’t always socially conscious. Before the death of his mentor and collaborator, Scott La Rock, KRS was not much different from the average rapper. It was after Scott La Rock’s murder that KRS made it his mission to educate and empower the Black community with the album, By All Means Necessary. The cover is modeled after the infamous picture of Malcolm X peeking through a curtain with an assault rifle in hand. The black-and-white photo displays KRS-One mimicking Malcolm X, but Kris updates Malcolm’s antiquated rifle with the popular Mac-10. KRS was representing a modern-day Black Nationalist, and the cover parallels songs on the album where like Malcolm X, KRS proclaims himself a teacher and discusses issues facing the Black community.

Public Enemy – Beats And Places
During the Black Nationalist and Black Panther regimes several activists were arrested, kidnapped and killed. They were targeted due to their extreme revolutionary tactics and were seen as a threat to America at large. Public Enemy demonstrated their political stance with the cover of Beats And Places. The album cover displays the silhouette of a Black Panther caught within the crosshairs of a sniper’s gun target. This same image is the logo for PE and can be found throughout their LPs. While other PE covers display the logo in several different colors, black was used in accordance with the signature all-black Panther attire.

Boogie Down Productions – Love’s Gonna Getcha
The cover of Boogie Down Production’s “Love’s Gonna Getcha (Material Love)” single is reminiscent of a blueprint. The cover art includes a gun schematic and a photo of KRS in concert. Rather than detail the various parts of a gun, the diagram takes a twist on materialism with the labels pertaining to different wants like fresh gear, kicks and even mobile phones. It represents the different motives many have to use or tote a gun, each bullet representing a different aspect of material lust. It is no mystery that gun violence and materialism go hand and hand in the hood, so in light of KRS’ new teacher persona, “Love’s Gonna Getcha” highlights violence that results from material love.

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The Long Arm of the Law Like rock and roll before it, hip-hop is outlaw music. But while rock n’ rollers merely seek rebellion, rappers seek justice. Of course, justice for the rapper is prevailing against persecution by law enforcement and its judges, courtrooms and prisons. One of the foremost concerns of the hip-hop community, this theme is one of the few presented on rap album covers that denotes a broader message. That is, the artist is speaking about something bigger than themselves, unwittingly or not.

Some artists are trying to make a political point and others just want the police to leave them alone. But rappers all are arguing against the inherent bias of a discriminatory system. And they want everybody to know about it.

Every time an artist shows the relationship that truly exists between the police and the hip-hop community, it means more than the vinyl it was printed on. Depicting a struggle is proving that the struggle exists.

Fuck The Police!

N.W.A. – Elfin4zaggin
MC Shan – Time for Us…
Geto Boys – Geto Boys
Boogie Down Productions – Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of Hip Hop

While plenty of anti-police songs have been released, most album art depicting the boys in blue shows them as the aggressive authority figure, with the artist at the mercy of the po-po. People might think it would be empowering to depict the artist as the one delivering punishment to his oppressor, but curiously, this is seldom the case. In that regard, rap obviously reflects reality more than fantasy. Even those related the demise of the law.

Here Come The Judge!

Biz Markie – All Samples Cleared!
Kaos – Court’s In Session
Even when rappers do not commit heinous crimes on records (and off them) they still have legal problems. Kaos, a forgotten middle school rapper, is happily corrupting a system that isn’t often merciful to rappers. For the Biz, his album marks the end of a lengthy legal battle that saw him being the first rapper sued for sample clearance (by Gilbert O’Sullivan, for “Alone Again”). It appears the law is the only one that could truly beat the Biz.

Incarcerated Scarfaces

Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back
Ras Kass – Institutionalized
Lifer’s Group – Living Proof
Beanie Sigel – The B. Coming

Incarceration is a grim reality for many in the hip-hop community and it is celebrated in countless songs and videos – not to mention the fact that many artists have recorded songs while imprisoned. Hell, Tupac had a number one single while he was locked down. Given its prominent status in rap life, it’s worth noting that few album covers reflect that. When P.E. did it in 1989, it was a defiant political statement. The Lifers Group and Beans, on the other hand, denote prison as shorthand for hardness and respect. And Ras Kass, maybe he’s just gone bonkers due to lack of record sales.

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Recent Rhymesayers signee and the star of album covers such as Death of a Frequent Flier and Bio: Chemistry I and II, special guest writer Psalm One breaks down the album art of ladies that rock the mic.

These days you gotta make a special effort to actually go to the store and get an artist’s artwork and liner notes. At least that apple-shaped powerhouse of digital music downloads and the like provides jpegs of album covers. But this isn’t a rant about technology–naturally, I digress–it is a critical commentary/good old-fashioned clownery of some well-known album covers. Coincidentally, we are dealing with all female rap artists here as well. I’m giggling already…

Lil Kim – Hardcore
I think Lil Kim’s Hardcore album art was discussed more than the actual album. And who could forget the poster? I think I know about a dozen guys who still give it hang-time on their walls. She was dropping down and doing the “eagle” before Nelly asked us to. Ahead of her time, really. Also extremely iconic in the progression of the female image in rap in the late ’90s. I filled garbage cans with vomit considering her as the new Queen of the genre. Excuse me, Queen “Bee,” lest we forget. I can tell you, though, Biggie knew what he was doing. He also wrote some choice lyrics for her, which made the music tolerable, at least when you didn’t think about what she was saying. However… Okay, really. Whose house was that? Was it Big’s? Cuz that’s a bachelor pad nightmare, to say the least. The bear with the bear skin rug? But I guess she’s presenting her goods enough so one tends to overlook the interior decorating. She went platinum with this one, right? I guess the only thing funnier would be the intro to the album.

Lady of Rage – Necessary Roughness
Since I’ve been rocking the afro puff strong for the last little minute, I’m gonna have to go with a gem: Lady of Rage’s Necessary Roughness. Suge put this one out, huh? Badass. All I knows is she had, and still has, fans checking for her and is arguably one of the best female emcees, if you consider loads of top ten lists to that affect. “Afro Puffs” was, of course, the jam. She was lyrical, strong with her voice, not necessarily in a masculine way, and a perfect fit with the Dogg Pound. Although in the cover I cannot tell what she’s holding – maybe some weird dominatrix thing or something? Anyway, I remember Rage having a nice little bit of thickness on her, which is probably why she wasn’t bikini-clad in the cover. But she’s pretty and has that “stay over yonder” stare that would make most think twice before approaching. Very key. Very slept on album.

Salt-N-Pepa – Very Necessary
They were on some shit, weren’t they? “Shoop” as the lead single, “Whatta Man,” which was one of the illest R&B/Rap combos ever (not to mention one of the sexiest videos ever), “None of Your Business” – which I still like to sing to this day – and the whole AIDS awareness motif? This was the one, right here. I had already adored Salt-N-Pepa from the “Push It” days, but they were all over the place with this album, and the cover was simple ’90s flava complete with a flannel grunge nod. Were they at the carnival? The boardwalk? It doesn’t matter. You could tell this group was still growing and really caring about what they were feeding us. And with all the sex talk you’d think they wouldn’t be rocking coats in the cover art. Smart. I also dig the font used in the cover. Very Microsoft Word art. Brilliant.

Missy Elliott – Supa Dupa Fly
I wonder how the cover art photo shoot for Missy’s Supa Dupa Fly went. It’s very much stock-picturesque to me, but I simply love the outfit. Maybe a few phillies beforehand? Naughty, naughty. This was my favorite Missy album for a long time as well – actually, when I think more, it still is. She was a bit heavier in the loins, too, earlier in her career, so she definitely wasn’t showing too much skin, but her steez didn’t dictate doing so. She’s an all-around artist and was coming with much heat that many would say was ahead of her time (thanks in part to Timbaland). Another simple album cover that definitely didn’t give any aspiring female artists the wrong idea about sex in the industry. Plus, I can listen to this album all the way through, which is tough for me. One might say I can be a little critical. Anyway, okay album cover, great album. I listen to it on the road all the time.

Bahamadia – Kollage
I get all warm in the tummy when I see Bahamadia’s Kollage. In high school this album meant a lot to me, and to a lot of hip hop heads. I don’t know about the expression on her face, but the design is pretty good and I like the color, aesthetically. The album is her classic, in my opinion, and I’m still checking for her. I love her voice and her lyrics, and she was my female rap idol when this album was being bumped. Some female emcees might say she was holding it down for us for a long-ass time. Plus, she’s on damn near everyone’s Top Ten Female Rap Artist list. Now, if she could only get on someone’s Top Ten Rap Artist list, but that’s another topic, ain’t it?

Psalm One – Bio: Chemistry
Far be it for me not to mention myself. Psalm One’s Bio:Chemistry 1 was her crappiest artwork. Very dark color which made it a little hard to look at, but the fonts and the overall design were good. The picture was cool because she took it during her actual lunch break at the laboratory she worked at in college, and the photographer was a cutie. Ha. I definitely do dig her name looking like elements, though. That’s just the nerd in me. Pretty damn good album, too. But, truly, what was going on with her hair?

Psalm One’s Album Art Philosophy
Now, I ain’t no graphic designer or photographer or anything like that, but I do know what it is I look for in developing my own artwork. It’s simplicity – good color, good placement, very good photography and some sort of tie-in to the overall album as a musical piece. I also like to, if possible, look as cute as possible. No guns, well, mostly. No bikini. No bullshit. Thank you again for your time. Keep checking for me. Peace.

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Looking back on the brief life of Christopher Wallace—a.k.a. Biggie Smalls, The Notorious B.I.G., Big Poppa, The Black Frank White—it’s difficult not to see a prophecy of doom in his album titles and art. Despite rapping about the good life, and the violent struggles it took to get there, Biggie Smalls also represented a darker side generally unacknowledged by other rappers. He spoke frankly of depression and fatalistic thoughts, far from the common rap braggadocio. Before Kanye admitted to being self-conscious, Biggie was revealing his self-loathing and doubts to the world. And while he made thorough and constant mention of gats, keys, blunts and all the double-crossing therein, Biggie’s legacy of album art is one of an artist resigned to his grim fate.

Studio Albums: Ready to Die, Life After Death

Who else names their debut album Ready to Die? It’s hardly the pronouncement of joy one would expect upon launching a soon-to-be platinum career. Ready to Die isn’t just a bleak title; the moroseness of inner-city life is catalogued throughout the record, most notably in “Suicidal Thoughts” and the title track, despite the levity and high spirits of “Juicy” and “Everyday Struggles.” The album cover also depicts the duality of Biggie’s outlook: the bleak title is juxtaposed by the innocence of an afroed, diaper-clad baby. Is the message that despite the roots of innocence, Biggie, and other inner-city dwellers, are doomed? Or is it a message of hope – that there is still innocence amid the oft-violent everyday struggles of life in Bedford-Stuyvesant?

Biggie’s sophomore, and final studio album, Life After Death, is even more explicit in its relationship to the afterlife. Dipped in formal regalia, Biggie lamps next to a hearse on the album cover. Like its predecessor, Life After Death alternates between familiar violence (“Niggaz Bleed,” “You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Kills You”) and rays of hope (“Miss U,” “Sky’s the Limit”). Unlike his debut, however, Biggie leaves little room for ambiguity here. Someone is dead, and it would be Biggie himself, shot mere days before the release of Life After Death. But the macabre ironies don’t end there. Life After Death also features “Going Back to Cali,” wherein Biggie speaks of his affinity for the West Coast despite all beef – but he never made it back from Cali after being shot fatally on L.A.’s Miracle Mile.

Mixtapes/Post-Humous Releases: Duets…DJ Vlad and Dirty Harry, Unsolved Mysteries…DJ Rukiz and Rob E Rob

In Biggie’s unofficial and post-humous releases, the running theme is the image of Biggie as hip-hop godfather. Those that don’t glorify the black Frank White in fedoras and vines alternately portray Biggie as the King of New York, or the Versace-glassed, Coogi-sweater-clad widebody we all came to know and love. They display a different duality in Biggie: Mafioso-styled Don, or the extra-large Brooklyn stick-up kid — both sides repped equally in Biggie’s tales of rap-fantasy. DJ Rukiz puts Biggie at the forefront of a mixtape entitled Unsolved Mysteries—flanked by a posse of rap’s recently-deceased—in a mob-flick styled cover that Scarface-watchers would certainly approve. Biggie’s followers, it seems, want to remember him as he portrayed himself – an immaculate hustler-Don wise to the ways of the street and the game.

Singles: Big Poppa, Juicy

Unlike his albums, Biggie’s 12” single covers don’t reflect the complexities within. Instead, they portray the vastness of Bed-Stuy’s livest one in the only way possible – through photos. Though his single covers may not reveal much, there was an air of resignation to his fate exhibited in Biggie’s videos and interviews. In the Source cover story just prior to Biggie’s death, writer Bonz Malone caught up with a tense Wallace sitting on his porch with a .357 Magnum, ready for beef. In the “Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems” video, Biggie intimates that success only complicates life, instead of simplifying it. He never knew how poignant his words would be.

Hip-hop was created off the heels of the Black Nationalist regime and the Civil Rights Movement as a lifestyle of self expression. It gave inner city youth a voice that would have otherwise remained unheard. Over the past 30 years, some artists have taken a grassroots approach to their music and paid homage to activists who came before them by continuing to discuss issues of race and class in their honor. The covers of these albums have both raised awareness and caused controversy, but overall, they’ve served their purpose as the conscience of hip-hop.

Little Brother – The Minstrel Show
Depicting a portrait of Little Brother in mid minstrel show performance, the cover of Little Brother’s The Minstrel Show is about as controversial as its name. The dark background accentuates their ecstatic expression, making them appear ridiculous. Minstrel shows date back to the 17th century and were a form of entertainment for many Whites across America. White actors would wear Black painted face and accentuate their mouths with excessive white and red paint to portray the stereotype of a Black male at the time. The stereotype depicted a dumbfounded, clumsy and excessively happy man who would dance and sing. The minstrel shows became an instant success and some Black actors chose to take part due to financial troubles. Today no formal minstrel shows exist however, hip-hop culture, and rap music in particular is often coined “the minstrel show” because many feel that the majority of rappers still portray negative stereotypes.

The Roots – Phrenology
Phrenology is the pseudoscience theory that the brain is divided into several parts, each dictating a specific personality trait, and is dependent on the shape of one’s head. The theory was often used to justify racism against Blacks, so The Roots reinvented the concept. The cover shows the inner workings of a Black man’s brain, each section corresponding to different aspects that influence the Black male psyche. These aspects include images of the Ku Klux Klan, Malcolm X, turntables, a minstrel, and Rosa Parks. When examined, the cover art reveals a powerful history within the Black community.

Common – Like Water For Chocolate
From 1876 to 1965, “Jim Crow” laws were in effect throughout the South creating separate but unequal facilities for Blacks and Whites that ranged from separate schools, to restrooms and seating. The racist laws were the cornerstone of the Civil Rights Movement which led to the Black Nationalism movement and eventually hip-hop. The cover of Like Water For Chocolate is a picture of a Black woman drinking from a “colored only” water fountain during the Jim Crow era. Common uses the cover to pay homage to the activists that came before him and paved the way for minorities today.

Various Artists – No More Prisons
America has the highest imprisonment rate in the world. Within the prison population lies a disproportionate ratio of Blacks to all other races. Much speculation has been made as to whether the court system and prisons are institutionally racist. The cover art of No More Prisons depicts a cleverly rotated American flag where the stars are filled with Black power fists and the stripes serve as prison cell bars. Behind the bars is an antiqued African mask enclosed by cement brick walls. The cover art is very controversial and parallels the content of the album by artists such as Dead Prez, The Emperors, and The Coup.

Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz – Put Yo Hood Up
The Confederate flag has long represented racism and slavery in the south during the civil war and only the bold and old fashioned have dared to sport it today. Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz use the cover of Put Yo Hood Up to mock those who choose to hold onto a racist past by dressing up as stereotypical southern bigots draped in the Confederate flag. In the background are two additional flags set aflame to signify Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz’ opposition. The cover art suggests their takeover of the south.

Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
The concept behind The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is based on the Carter G. Woodson book, The Miseducation of the Negro, which explores the impact of slavery and the quality of education for Black Americans. Lauryn plays off the book’s themes by etching her portrait into an old fashioned wooden desk to represent education. The racial themes resonate past her cover art and throughout her music.

It doesn’t matter how many Casio beats Southern hip-hop throws at us, rap music is, and will always be about sampling. And since sampling is the rap way-of-life, it’s only natural to extend it from another artist’s album to another artist’s album art. Some designers sample album art from the same pool of musicians that producers sample from; others even pay cover-art homage to other rappers. Consider it the album-art version of Premo scratching someone else’s lyrics for a Gangstarr chorus.

Inspired album covers are often more interesting than the typical artist/posse/expensive car photo – mainly because the artist’s choice of inspiration says more about them than any ice-grill full of fronts ever could. Sure, the Beatnuts sample Blue Note records – but from their album covers, you get the sense they wish they could’ve made Blue Note Records, as well. Others choose giants of black music to emulate, thereby linking themselves to a lineage of black artistic genius. Whether the artists doing the emulating are geniuses themselves isn’t for us to say. More interesting still are the bevy of covers inspired by ‘60s-era classic rock – a genre you think would be the polar opposite of rap music.

Sure, inspired covers aren’t original – but are one million and one hard-posing “gangstas” any more creative? Given the choice between the two, I’d prefer some insight into an artist’s musical mind and taste-leanings everyday.

* Interestingly enough, while inspired rap album covers are common, there aren’t very many you’d classify as “parody”. Perhaps because parody is humour – and as we know in hip hop, ain’t a damn thing funny!

Blue Note Records

Rappers often make bad choices, but sampling Blue Note–their records and their sleeves– ain’t one of ‘em. Blue Note sleeves are legendary for their simplicity and cool-ass design aesthetic, and it’s only natural that Blue Note-sampling artists wanted to borrow that vibe. Most are paying homage (J-Live, Guru), while others are a little more meticulous in their outright jacking (Beatnuts, Atmosphere). Either way, at least you’re jacking something with style and class. And if you recognized the inspiration behind these covers, consider that a savvy/coolness point.

JazzyRockinFunkadelicSoulMusic

Often rappers align themselves to the great tradition of black popular music that preceded them. And in many cases, the artist inspiring the cover also provided the rapper’s samples. Redman, and producer Erick Sermon, have made a living off of P-Funk samples, so extending the privilege to album art isn’t a stretch. Bootcamp’s Tek & Steele weren’t content just sampling Roy Ayers’ music, another of rap’s most sampled, they thought his cover concept was dope enough to restage. Camp Lo jacked Marvin for his album cover and also their fashion steez – right from the jam going on in the sleeve. Above all, though, these artists are giving credit where it is due – even if today’s audience doesn’t see the connection.

Rappers

This segment is a little harder to understand. In much the same manner that rappers pay respect to the artists they sample, perhaps this is a way of honoring their rap influences and peers. Or, they didn’t have any ideas. In Consequence’s case, he jacks one of rap’s most famous and recognizable covers – of an album he appeared on, no less! I guess he thought Tribe just had it goin’ on. The X-Ecutioners are acknowledging one of the most important rap groups of all time, if not one of the world’s best album covers. In the RZA/Fingaz case, the original inspiration actually lies in the sleeve of the Cotton Comes to Harlem soundtrack, by Galt MacDermot. The RZA obviously liked the concept so much he commissioned comics god Bill Sienkiewicz, who also did EPMD’s Business as Usual, to emulate it. DJ Fingaz decides to split the difference, using elements of both to acknowledge one of rap’s sources and one of its pioneers.

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