Week #40 ('20) Art Appreciation

Welcome to my weekly Art Appreciation post, where I provide a list of some amazing album covers, single art, and random art that have come out within the past week. I’ll give you the artist/photographer/painter/magician’s name, as well as any social media or websites where you can go and check out more of their work. Click here to go back and see some other Art Appreciation posts.

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Don’t underestimate the power of nostalgia. We have two artists today who have both put out album covers that seek to play off of that sense of “before”: Westside Gunn is looking to bring you back to literal childhood, while Metro and 21 are throwing it back to a time in hip-hop that a lot of people out there consider “the good-ol days”. Art has a way of evoking older images to covey newer ideas, but a large part of images like these are evoking older images that are *personal* to the viewer. I can look at this new FLYGOD piece, and what I think of is a dumbass little macaroni art monstrosity I made in preschool, but other people looking at it will bring in their own experiences, which is how pieces like these can be so relatable. Think about that while looking the pieces I have for you today: think about where the images are taking *you* personally, and how it may allow you to relate to the project more musically as a result.

Remember, use this post to follow and subscribe to these artists; they deserve as much recognition as the musicians they are attached to.

Artist(s): Westside Pootie

WHO MADE THE SUNSHINE, by Westside Gunn

Adorable. Terrifying. For anyone looking to shit on this album cover, I’ll let you know that this is drawn by none-other than the FLYGOD’s young daughter Westside Pootie, who has appeared to talk shit on you CLOWNS on several of his albums so far. If you thought her shit-talking game was A-1, take a look at this masterpiece right here, and you can see those talents extend to fine-art as well. The album poses the question “who made the sunshine” (the answer obviously being the FLYGOD, praise be), but Pootie takes the answer a step further. The FLYGOD made the sunshine indeed, but he also has made flowers, clouds, rainbows, chains and hats, and Rolls Royces? It seems like the FLYGOD *also* makes motherfuckers bleed ‘cause it looks like he brought this shit on a ride along during some real shit, what with all the blood. On some real shit, rappers bringing their children into their art like this is heartwarming as fuck, you love to see it. For his Shady debut album, I don’t think there is a better image to portray who Westside Gunn is as an artist: a father to a whole sect of underground hip-hop, yes, but also a father to a very talented illustrator.

The FLYGOD's Instagram/The FLYGOD’s Twitter

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Artist(s): John Cannon

Savage Mode II, by 21 Savage & Metro Boomin

Understanding where this album cover comes from (which I’m seeing a LOT of hate being directed towards by people who aren’t familiar), means understanding a company called Pen and Pixel. Being the faces of southern hip-hop today, 21 Savage and Metro Boomin understand their role in a long-standing culture, one that goes all the way back to the early 90’s in terms of influence. Whenever cats like Master P, Three Six Mafia, Birdman and his whole crew, and Juvenile were DOMINATING the rap sphere, they held the industry both musically and visually captive, bringing super X-rated music to airwaves while making their tape-covers some of the wildest shit you’ve ever seen. These covers all came from one place: Pen and Pixel Graphics, a company based out of Houston whose output over a decade includes over 19,000 different album covers. The formula was simple: artists give a general idea of the concept, the brothers behind Pen and Pixel would go out and photo the shit needed, then use it to make hundreds of different covers. The outlandishness of these covers are what got them the attention that they did, with classic covers like Snoop Dogg’s “Da Game is to be Told, Not Sold” and Lil’ Flip’s “The Leprechaun” being some of the most recognizable images in hip-hop. Unfortunately, the company closed it’s doors in the early 2000’s, but it looks like Metro was able to get them to make one more masterpiece for the culture. The diamonds, the cars, the bling, the goofy-looking knife, it’s all classic material here, and a fantastic throwback to an era of hip-hop that many people have forgotten today.

John's Instagram

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