Fans could then use the app to interact with the album's cover art, extending their engagement with the project. Massachusetts native Statik Selektah used a computer code that moved and changed colors for the cover of his album "Extended Play." Hip-hop duo Run The Jewels released their 2017 album "RTJ3" in tandem with an augmented reality app. "We see hip-hop artists really leading the wave when it comes to inventiveness," Ball said. But cover art has lived on and grown in the hip-hop industry as another vital avenue for visual self expression. Hip-hop artists in particular have used album art to make a statement and contextualize their legacy, from Method Man channeling Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain” for the cover of his 1994 “Dare Iz A Darkside” to A$AP Rocky’s “Testing” paying homage to N.W.A.’s “Straight Outta Compton.”Īs the music industry catapults into the digital age, album art was at risk of becoming a relic of our more physical past. “It was a secondary part of the album and sometimes, it was a secondary way to identify an album.”
Valentino Ball, a hip-hop journalist and founder of the local music platform, KillerBoomBox. “Part of the record-buying experience was going to the store and having something tactile in your hands,” said G. It was paramount to getting eyes and interest locked in on a project. From the popular gatefold covers that were all the rage in the 1960s to the more sleek and compact images gleaming from underneath the plastic of a CD case, art has historically played a crucial role in both the marketing and the collectible nature of music. But it brings up the discussion of the visual medium's place in a changing musical world. Has the use of cover art by musicians changed over the years?Īlbum covers used to be the first thing you saw when looking at an album in the store.
“Am I the only one who really care about cover art?” That's clearly not the case. Lil Yachty posed a great question during his lines on Chance The Rapper’s “Mixtape” a couple years ago. Twitter facebook Email This article is more than 4 years old.
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