20 Classic Hip Hop Album Covers Recreated in LEGO
After 50 years as an industry leader, LEGO has become a staple in any kids toy box. In more recent times the mini-figs and legendary building blocks have been used to recreate famous landmarks, classic photographs and now: 20 Classic Hip Hop Album Covers Recreated in LEGO.
Mos Def — New Danger
The Game — Doctors Advocate
De La Soul — 3 Feet High and Rising
Common — BE
A Tribe Called Quest — Midnight Marauders
Gangstarr — No More Mr. Nice Guy
Ghostface Killah — The Big Doe Rehab
Dr. Dre — The Chronic
EPMD — Back in Business
KRS One and Marley Marl — Hip-Hop Lives
Nas — Stillmatic
Jedi Mind Tricks — Violent By Design
Method Man & Redman — Blackout
Outkast — Stankonia
Wyclef Jean — The Carnival
Run DMC — King of Rock
Slick Rick — aka RickyD
Alkaholiks — Likwidation
Beastie Boys — Hello Nasty
Biz Markie — The Biz Never Sleeps
TI — King
Big Pun — Capital Punishment
Super Lover Cee and Casanova RUD — Girls, I Got ‘em Locked
Old Dirty Bastard — N***a Please
Shot in the Format studio by Nick Hanekom with styling/art direction by Jaici Chen and layout/design work by Glenn Manucdoc.
1
December 11, 2008
these are awesome… i didn’t see any 2 live crew ones though
2
December 11, 2008
Aside from the loose use of the word “classic,” this is one the greatest things I’ve see in a loooong time. Spectacular work.
3
December 11, 2008
My favorite is the old dirty bastard an EPMD
4
December 11, 2008
i guess they don’t make black lego men
5
December 11, 2008
This was a great project! I dig the blackout cover the most. Reposted at: OGhiphop.com!
Thanks
6
December 11, 2008
doctors advocate? classic? LOL!!!!!!!!!!
7
December 11, 2008
Why?
This is crap, why waste your time and energy on something that ends up this bad?
If I were one of the artists I would be upset my work was involved.
8
December 11, 2008
sweeet.
9
December 11, 2008
“Classic” indeed, but this is probably the second best lego-related thing I’ve seen in a while. The first is obviously thebricktestament.
10
December 11, 2008
I’m guessing there’s no brown lego men then :)
Some of the pics look funny. Ghostface Killa looks like George Michael. Outcast look like the BeeGees. Dr. Dre looks like yer man from East 17 or one of the Bros twins.
11
December 11, 2008
The Lego version of “Super Lover Cee and Casanova RUD” looks like two Fred Mercury’s giving each other rub downs.
12
December 11, 2008
Dear Lego.
Make black Lego people.
13
December 11, 2008
dope…reposting this.
14
December 12, 2008
Wow, listen learned: they only make white lego men
15
December 12, 2008
you didn´t even rebuild them precisely and some of them are really bad, like the stankonia-cover.
come on, a anker on big bois-shirt??
16
December 12, 2008
Why?
This is crap, why waste your time and energy on something that ends up this bad?
If I were one of the artists I would be upset my work was involved.
^^^^
Matt’s gayass musta tried this and failed thats why dude is mad. The BIg Pun one was the best.
17
December 12, 2008
all this is junk…i could have done all this in microsoft word. maybe next time use some He-Man figures or some Thundercats
18
December 12, 2008
damn how is this classic without Jay-z Reasonable Doubt and Nas Illmatic ???????????
19
December 12, 2008
stankonia. love the black long sleeve to represent 3000’s body.
20
December 12, 2008
this will be on kanyes blog tomorrow
21
December 12, 2008
doctors advocate a classic? LMFAO you lose all credibilty, sukk a dick and this sh1t was wack. smfh. get a life.
22
December 12, 2008
Matt
Why?
This is crap, why waste your time and energy on something that ends up this bad?
If I were one of the artists I would be upset my work was involved.
Get a life. If it’s crap it only reflects the music!
23
December 12, 2008
there is dont even a white lego man … there all yellow :P
24
December 12, 2008
hey guys, there’s no white or black lego, only asian ones –> lego’s creators r fuckin racists :D
25
December 12, 2008
they aren’t white lego people. they’re ALL ASIAN.
26
December 12, 2008
They don’t always work, but A for effort. Some of these are pretty funny. Surprised no NWA, Ice T or 2 Live Crew tho.
And damn, do you niggas just wake up to hate?? Enjoy the shit for the creative shit that is, y’all aint doin’ any better.
27
December 12, 2008
clearly.
28
December 12, 2008
why white/black lego men
yellow been alway s ok to me
29
December 12, 2008
there are black lego people…
the basketball sets + Mace Windu, etc
30
December 12, 2008
They do have black LEGO men - they have a black Lando in the Star Wars collection of LEGO toys.
31
December 12, 2008
They don’t make black lego men and they don’t make white lego men. Last I heard, no race has the skin of bright yellow.
32
December 12, 2008
The Common one cracks me up for some reason
33
December 12, 2008
# Sara
31
December 12, 2008
“They don’t make black lego men and they don’t make white lego men. Last I heard, no race has the skin of bright yellow.”
Asians
34
December 12, 2008
I love the “make black lego people” comments as if the canary yellow pretzel-can heads represent whites?
35
December 12, 2008
lmao same here but i love the ‘be’ cover
36
December 12, 2008
.. just a note.. they don’t make “black” lego people like they don’t make “white” lego people… LEGO PEOPLE ARE YELLOW ONLY!!
37
December 12, 2008
Black lego men. Good point! Unfortunatly many of the artists on the album covers are black men. Not yellow! LOL!
38
December 12, 2008
I love the Common one. I’m not sure why.
A lot of the hands are backwards though.
Anyways, Super Lover Cee and Casanova RUD had me laughin’.
And for those of you who don’t know, there are black Lego people. I think they’re specific to movies though. Like Lando from Star Wars and such.
39
December 12, 2008
They’re saying the COVERS are classic not the albums.
Awesome
40
December 12, 2008
lol @ white lego men…they look yellow to me
41
December 12, 2008
Where’s Eric B. & Rakim’s “Paid In Full”? Now that I’d like to see…
42
December 13, 2008
I laugh because the legos take way the “rough” image of these covers…I laugh at the Dr. Dre — The Chronic one which is my favourte among all
43
December 13, 2008
ahahah this is funny
good job
the game’s doctor’s advocate’s da best!
44
December 13, 2008
These blow; what a waste of time.
45
December 13, 2008
ohuenno, real classik
46
December 13, 2008
haha!…awesome!
47
December 13, 2008
Yo this is TIGHT!!!
Threw it up on my blog! Check it out!
http://www.thehiphopcorner.com
48
December 13, 2008
Classic refers either to the albums themselves or the covers, but either way, these aren’t the 20 best. Cut in any case.
49
December 13, 2008
WAY COOL!
Common’s Be album turned out real nice!
Got any more for us? Hit us with a b-side!
50
December 13, 2008
It’s funny because Common is actually yellow in the Be cover.
51
December 13, 2008
I love how people think Lego is discriminating because they don’t make black people. Last time I walked around, I didn’t see anybody with bright yellow skin. Lego minifigs don’t have races. They’re simply yellow.
Back on to the topic, some of these are really good, especially Common’s Be. Although, they have the guys from De La Soul in the wrong order.
52
December 13, 2008
Very nice work…I could contribute some Canadian artists! http://www.mandyj.biz
53
December 14, 2008
This is like a good glass of wine, it will only get better with age. Just wait as it’s forwarded at a funny e-mail to you…
54
December 14, 2008
I like this thing you got going on..Keep it up…
55
December 14, 2008
Great work, I love it ;D
56
December 14, 2008
I fail to see how some of these are classic (The Game…are you kidding me?!…KRS ONE AND MARLY MARL…uh…) and secondly, simply adding lego people does not make a cover lego-ized. I thought you were going to use bricks to recreate the covers. This is just lazy…sorry dude.
57
December 14, 2008
wheres reasonable doubt and biggie
58
December 14, 2008
The only similarities in these are the title treatments of the albums. I realize that using legos can’t entirely mimic the person in the original album, but some of the camera angles are just too different. These are poorly executed and the attention to detail is also inconsistent, (see the Biz Markie cover for example). Was this a project for Junior High photoshop class? In other words - “TOTALLY LAME!”
59
December 14, 2008
the Violent by design cover of Jedi Mind Tricks is best!!! I like those trees and stuff :D
60
December 14, 2008
Comical and creative. I’ll give you that.
61
December 14, 2008
HELLO!!!! Lego doesn’t make white or black people. THEY’RE ALL YELLOW!!!!!!!! If one had to be racist they would say “Lego makes only Asian people!” If you want to get technical, white people are more like peach, black people are more like brown. Period. Done. Next…
BTW I thought these would be made of the lego blocks to make up the album cover, not some bad-photoshop job of just lego people. Very lame.
62
December 14, 2008
For all of you who want black and/or white lego man, GET OVER IT!!!
just because lego people are yellow doesn’t mean they’re asians, or elso how would you explain the Simpsons? Aren’t they average white americans?
BTW, all the photo-shopped covers are all (if not mostly) black people, who’s being racist now?! Maybe that’s why it’s SOOOOOOOOOOO LAME
63
December 15, 2008
This is sooooo hot!
64
December 15, 2008
Lol! So hilarious! I <3 it! ;D
65
December 15, 2008
LEGO Star Wars has just about all the colors you could want. Darth has a grey head, Mac Windo is black, Leia is kinda pink, plus there’s blue, green and all other colors in there. The only ‘white’ heads that LEGO makes are reserved for skeletons.
King of Rock (have the album as a picture disk) - love the album, but why couldn’t you use the right colored hat & glasses!? Poor finishing to a good idea.
66
December 15, 2008
Comical and creative. I’ll give you that…
67
December 15, 2008
shitsweak
68
December 15, 2008
ahh.. really funny :)
nice work
69
December 15, 2008
The Cronic is hillarios, simply because it looks so lame.
ps. Im from Denmark, we invented lego back in the 50’s, and all danes were yellow back then. We’re ok now :)
70
December 15, 2008
You’ve wasted 5 minutes of my life and I want them back.
71
December 15, 2008
Shows the ethnic variety of Lego…
72
December 15, 2008
oh maaan…:D:D..
i really like stillmatic..:D:D..
what a parrot..:D:D:D
73
December 15, 2008
Great concept!!
74
December 15, 2008
lmao. that is dope.
lol @ all the angry Jay-Z stans mad because Reasonable Doubt isnt up there. smfh. make your own Reasonable Doubt if you want it up there so bad.
75
December 15, 2008
hey that T.I. King albums cover was a tripp. im lovin the whole idea, taking classic hip-hop albums and turning them into creative artwork
76
December 16, 2008
How the hell can Lego sell Star Wars & Men In Black Lego sets without brown skinned lego men. Where’s Billy Dee Williams, Samuel L Jackson & Will Smith? And while I’m at it how come every one always leaves Jazzy Jeff out? How about a “He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper cover”? Or maybe Fugees “the Score”. That album was way more of a “classic” than any of Wyclef’s solo material. Where’s “Criminal Minded”? That album is one of the pivotal moments in hip hop. “Ready To Die”? “It Takes A Nation of Millions” would of been funny to see.
77
December 16, 2008
Thats Bullshit.
It works only on the covers where type or anything old is left.
Georgeous Bullshit.
78
December 16, 2008
Sorry, again…
Bullshit!
79
December 16, 2008
http://hiphopfrequency.com
Nice drop. Funny as HELL
80
December 16, 2008
There are some really nice pieces by Balakov : Classics in Lego http://www.flickr.com/photos/balakov/sets/72157602602191858/
81
December 16, 2008
While “Hello Nasty” is far from the greatest Beastie Boys record, they’re not on the cover of “Paul’s Boutique.” But “Check Your Head” would’ve been acceptable.
82
December 16, 2008
“Aim
December 15, 2008
You’ve wasted 5 minutes of my life and I want them back.”
it took you FIVE MINUTES to decide you wouldn’t like this? how does a post like this get ANY angry/negative comments?
83
December 16, 2008
Someone really needs to do “Paid in Full”
84
December 17, 2008
that is the hottest thing ever!
what? no love for PE or NWA?
85
December 17, 2008
To the perennial left-wing victimhood cult who are claiming that there should be black lego, and that lego is racist, I have something to say to you:
The lego men are bright yellow. Take a look again: YELLOW.
This is not the white-man-conspiracy-trying-to-keep the-black-folk-down you are looking for.
And for the other idiot progressive above who mentioned the tie between American whites and Lego: Lego was created in Northern Europe, not America. Last I looked Denmark doesn’t owe your country a thing. Stop the worldwide guilt trip and projecting your ideologies onto the rest of the planet (or what I like to call ‘American Privilege’).
86
December 17, 2008
wow this is amazing format is the dopest most inovative website around. keep up the good work.
87
December 17, 2008
While “Hello Nasty” is far from the greatest Beastie Boys record, they’re not on the cover of “Paul’s Boutique.” But “Check Your Head” would’ve been acceptable…
88
December 17, 2008
Good stuff. I especially like the EPMD cover, think it’s the funniest by far..two awkward lego fists bumpin
89
December 17, 2008
LEGO mini-figure faces have always been yellow, which promotes the sense that there are no differences in people.
90
December 17, 2008
ahahah thanks for doing alkaholiks
91
December 17, 2008
‘aside from using the word classic…’ eeeerrr, shut the fuck up poindexter.
92
December 18, 2008
There could have been alot more work done on the post production. Some of the replica’s are terrible, but the idea is great.
Props to you guys for creativity, and originality, you just need a better Photoshop guy to silence the haters.
maybe next time.
93
December 18, 2008
Yooooooooo, this lego shit is hot to death. Thanks for doing us up. Nice
94
December 18, 2008
All these comments….”why the Legos gotta be white” “Lego don’t make any black people” Seriously…..it’s a toy. And the people are YELLOW! Not white, not black, not Indian, not any other natural human shade….they are a completely unnatural shade of YELLOW. They are LEGO people…..geez. A toy can’t even escape this crap anymore. This was a great project. Nice work. And by the way, Legomen are YELLOW.
95
December 18, 2008
Nice. Very creative. De La Soul and Nas are my favourites. Cheers
96
December 18, 2008
im surprised there are so little black legos
97
December 19, 2008
Lol sick
98
December 19, 2008
I’m happy 3 of my cover designs made the cut. EPMD, BLACKOUT, BEASTIE BOYS
99
December 20, 2008
Hey! Lego with attitude!
100
December 20, 2008
How is this funny? I was excited about the concept, but actual results don’t really seem to work. Disappointing.
101
December 21, 2008
nice work!
102
December 21, 2008
Big Pun, Run DMC, & ACTQ = all great lol
103
December 22, 2008
Hahaha Awsome this is like seriously one of the coolest things i have seen around on the net keep it up.
ps they may not look like the real them but cmon its lego and what theyve done to make them seem that good is nothing short of amazingly radical.
104
December 23, 2008
Too funny! The outkast one and the game are crazy!
105
December 25, 2008
Everyone posting bitching about “there are no black/brown lego men” are ignorant motherfuckers.
The Lego’s are fucking yellow. How is that representative of any culture’s skin colour (because let’s face it, asian people’s skin colour isn’t ACTUALLY yellow). Everyone needs to shut up and stop their politically correct bitching. Over half the album posted have the artists talking about “slangin’ dope” or “bitches” but noone’s fucking up in arms about those, but somehow the little miniature YELLOW figurines skin colour matters?
106
December 25, 2008
Shut the fuck up. If you’re gonna allow artists to talk about pedalling drugs and fucking sluts (which I personally don’t give a fuck about…artistic freedom should be completely open)than don’t be stupid enough to whine like a petulant little fucking child about Lego’s.
107
December 27, 2008
you’re all idiots
108
December 28, 2008
this is the stupidest and poorest executed thing i’ve ever seen in my life. the artists shouldnt be ashamed, format mag should for giving this shine….
109
December 29, 2008
these are hot as hell… I love the O.D.B. one, The Nas & Ghost face ones are good too.
110
December 31, 2008
lol. i switched all the covers shown here in my itunes to be legos. favorite has to be the king of rock
111
December 31, 2008
Thats the best ever….!
I love it. Nice job.!
Take care.
112
January 4, 2009
why does outkast look like hall and oates?
113
January 9, 2009
Just to add my two cents.
First, and most importantly, (as if this dead horse hasn’t been beaten enough) there is obviously no racism being portrayed, nor… I assume, is there any one race being intentionally MIS-represented. So to all the people dreaming of white or black Lego men, please seek therapy and get yourself a support group. It’s well past time for a big hug.
Also, fuck all the people who jumped up to say Lego men are Asian. You, too, are just as ignorant. I think it’s funny how (probably) NONE of us ever questioned Lego-man’s race, when we were children.
It took years of practice to become this ignorant and ethnocentric. I truly believe, if it were SUCH a big issue, people would have complained about it a long time ago.
Just a few more comments. Bear with me.
To “Lza.”
Fuck off. How dare you address the other members of this post as “ignorant motherfuckers” when your just as guilty. Hypocrite.Why would you even open the link to look at Lego remakes “classic” hip-hop covers, if your belief is that hip-hop’s main purpose is to serve as an outlet for “to talk about pedalling drugs and fucking sluts?”
You clearly show that you have no concept of hip-hop, other than what you heard from your racist mother and father, or saw on the evening news. I take offense when someone disrespects my culture. You mention that “over half of the albums posted” mention “slangin’ dope” or “bitches”… but, other than Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic” … I don’t see any references to “dope” or “bitches.”
While the content of SOME hip-hop/rap music MAY be geared toward that kind of message. I’ll correct myself. While SOME artists promote those kinds of negative messages, it is NOT the whole of hip-hop, hip-hop-music, or hip-hop culture.
That message doesn’t even encompass MOST of hip-hops now 30 years of music, art, dance, literature, prose, or culture. Since you’ve obviously NOT listened to any hip-hop worth hearing, you are making a generalization. So I’ll make one about you. You are the ignorant motherfucker. Do a little homework. And may God bless you for your ignorance.
To all of the posters, who mentioned the true purpose of this post, I agree with you. Let’s congratulate the artists on THEIR ATTEMPT at doing something unique. I didn’t like most of the covers, either. But I do like to see people USING THEIR BRAINS and being creative.
There are a number of covers I would have liked to see. I wonder why they didn’t do (in no particular order) Enter the 36 Chambers/Wu-Tang Clan, Paid in Full OR Follow the Leader/ Eric B. and Rakim, Straight Outta Compton/ NWA, The Score/The Fugees.
P.S. Fuck Jay-Z and Kanye, too. Just my opinion.
114
January 10, 2009
I had the same thought - why don’t they look black? Please understand, corporate america has taken so much from the hip-hop industry and turned it upside down (for profit mostly, if nothing else). Hip-hop is authentic, so every time it’s presented, those who know about it authentically, want to keep that same spirit. These legos do not…and if the Lego Corp. understood that, they would release these with much more representation. Nice idea, but they look ridiculous.
115
January 14, 2009
When I saw these covers, I din’t expect them to be perfect, yet I still enjoyed it.
But when I scrolled down and read some of these comments, man some of yall take this shit WAY TO SERIOUSLY!!!!
Even when someone wants to create something that’s made to enjoy, people still wanna complain.
Oh well, it is what it is…
COMING SOON: ENOUGH OF THAT/I-O-E-N-O (This is how an Underground MC sees Commercial Rap)
116
January 15, 2009
LOl its amazing post enjoy http://www.hackmaskate.net
117
January 18, 2009
Brilliant idea!! Luv ‘em all :)
118
January 18, 2009
When I was 7 years old i knew Lego was cool. But I could not convince my two older sisters.
Now I can.
Thank you ;)
119
January 20, 2009
The Common cover is brilliant. Lol
120
February 2, 2009
Some were good, some weren’t good. I feel like some were just randomly thrown in. KRS-One & Marley Marl that album came out last year and nobody bought it because nobody still buys new Marley Marl and KRS albums, if you needed a KRS album, do Criminal Minded.
Do more classics that people would recognize.
Jay Z - Reasonable Doubt or Blueprint
Tupac - All Eyez On Me
Camron - Confessions of Fire or Come Home With Me
121
February 5, 2009
DOPE!
122
February 6, 2009
lool, this has made my day
123
February 11, 2009
Neat idea but minimal effort. A lot of them just look like.. Scarface. Well some are nice, and some are huge misses by a mile. Using the waiter head with the pointed moustache.. bah.. Andre 3000 looks worst in my opinion - and Dr. Dre! Sorry, but even if you just use yellow heads, there has really been a lot of different male Lego face expressions over the years. And hairdoes.. and.. don’t you even have one brown torso? Buy some Castle orks and turn them around. And as for really twisted legs or arms goes - you can always build some with smal bricks so they look more “accurate”..
Lego DID make a number of brown skinned basketball players (an old Sports set). There was about 10 of them (or maybe more) with names and distinctive features on each of them, from Shaq to Vince Carter to Kobe. And there is someone dark and angry, with glasses, in the old Spiderman set. You can get them all nice and cheap except for the Star Wars Mace Windu who’s up to 50 dollars on BrickLink. The nice, smiling SW brown Bespin Guard however is cheap too.
124
February 17, 2009
This is great! One of the coolest things I’ve seen in a while.
125
March 4, 2009
da legos are not white people……they YELLOW
dats their colour
126
March 10, 2009
is it just me, or are these really very gay?
especially the Gang Starr, and Super Lover Cee and Casanova Rud one (which looks like two italian waiters bumming each other!)
but then, hip hop IS pretty gay these days, all about clothes and jewellery and muscles…
127
March 10, 2009
hey, the Simpsons are yellow too
I think yellow is the skin colour of cartoon characters that are there to represent ALL people, without all the stupid racist “where are the (your colour choice here) folk” etc comments
I’m a big fan of the Muppets and Sesame Street because they are representative of all creeds and colours without looking like any specific one. a purple monster with a green nose can be anyone, do anything, sing opera, write graffiti, cook pasta - anything!
128
April 11, 2009
very cool. love the big pun and ODB ones.
129
May 27, 2009
That was stupid. Most of them were just the background art plus a LEGO character that looks like the artist.
130
June 7, 2009
I like the ones for THE GAME