The year isn’t even half-way done, but we’ve already seen some very memorable artwork for singles, albums, and mix-tapes. Below is a compilation of ten of our favorites.  While music is their primary medium, these artists clearly understand that strong acoustics are only strengthened by strong visuals.  We doubt that any of these artists would willingly say, “Yeezy taught me,” but in terms of the quality of these covers, Kanye‘s go-to artist  George Condo definitely comes to mind.

 10. The cover art for Harry Fraud‘s Adrift is a beautiful picture of a pier that evokes alienation by contrasting the grey sky with the ocean and emphasizing the distance between the pier and the beach.

9. Thelonious Martin’s From Me to You –artwork has many layers to it. In addition to its dark background, if you look closer you can see some writing that resembles newsprint. Somehow, probably with a meticulous attention to detail, the artist was able to give the viewer the sense that light is coming out of the piece itself.

8.  Ghostface Killah and Adrian Younge  know how to go old school with 12 Reasons to Die. This cover is straight out of the blaxploitation thriller playbook.

7. “Creepy” doesn’t even begin to describe Azealia Banks‘ artwork for “Yung Rapunzel “. The cover is brutally nightmarish and the track is just as dark. Notice the similarity between the cover and Rene Magritte’s painting, “The Rape.”

6. Quasimoto – Yessir Whatever – The concept for this art work is innovative and intriguing. Using a sticker that creates an illusion of movement, the art has multiple layers, just like a Madlib beat.

5. Tyler, The creator  artwork for Wolf  shows us a fun portrait of Tyler as a child. This work is admirable due to it’s high attention to details. If you look at the tree you’ll notice a subtle eye; in the bottom right you can see a random doll head on top of a little trunk; and at the bottom left what looks like a chipmunk dressed in a traditional Irish outfit. This art work is fun and a little ridiculous, much like the artist himself.

4. Big K.R.I.T‘s cover for  King Remembered in Time is reminiscent of an ancient Greek vase. The gold color in contrast with the dark-purple galactic background works very well.

3. The art work for ANTHM‘s latest project,  produced by Blu as GODleeBarnes, features a very harmonious fusion of writing and image.

2. Chance The Rapper embraces his weird side , using a combination of psychedelic and galactic imagery to evoke his uniqueness. The intriguing thing is that this uniqueness is contrasted by the trees and the home at the bottom. It’s the perfect combination of being down-to-Earth and out of this world.

1. Finally, the victory goes to Mobb Deep’s Prodigy and The Alchemist artwork for their joint LP, Albert Einstein. This art cover is a piece of art that can stand on its own without the music.The artist’s ability to re-create the well-known portrait of Einstein with originality  and adaptability to contemporary times is beyond admirable.

Let us know who you like best!

The post Best Album and Single Artwork of 2013 (So Far) appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

A few years ago we wrote about George Condo. His tight relationship with Kanye West propelling his rise to fame and two years later, Condo’s still making West’s album covers, and memorable art. This time for “Cold” ( both “Theraflu” and ” Way too Cold” have been dropped).

Condo is one of the most prominent contemporary artist of this time. He works with various techniques from painting to printmaking, and created the genre of Artificial Realism, “The realistic representation of that which is artificial,” he says.

Recently his work has become increasingly more abstract, but in a different way than you might expect. He challenges the definition of abstract by including faces and bodies, but Condo himself does not use that term to describe his work, scared of the negative connotation it often carries.

The post George Condo: Kanye West’s Go-To Artist appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

With Kanye West‘s Support, George Condo has risen to new levels of fame. And with all that fame comes more museum showings. This coming January, the man who created the now iconic images for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, will have his own exhibit called “Mental States” on display at the New Museum in NYC.

Condo is famous for the development of the idea of  “artificial realism,” his unique style and exploration of portraiture and psychological landscape that he created in the early ’80s. The New Museum will be presenting the first conceptual survey of 25 years of Condo’s work.

The exhibition opens from January 26 — May 15.

To learn more about Condo and see more of his work click HERE.

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