Rhymesayers, the nearly-twenty year-old independent Minnesota record label, is home to many great talents. Artists such as Atmosphere, MF DOOM, Brother Ali, Evidence and more call it home, and have released plenty of music through the label. That may be, at least in part, because the label shows some passion when it comes to releasing product. It’s important, as an artist, to know your art matters to people, and there’s no better way to show support than by pumping some cold hard dollars into those shiny circle things.

While the rise in digital sales continues, there is still a market for physical editions of albums, and perhaps none understand this market better than Rhymesayers. Throughout the years, the house Atmosphere, Musab and Brent Sayers built has released some extremely inspired pieces of art (that also house some pretty good music). Here are the five coolest album designs Rhymesayers has ever put on the shelf.

P.O.S. – Never Better
P.O.S.’s follow-up to 2006’s Audition found the rapper in pieces — at least in the album packaging. Never Better includes six transparent inserts, ranging from a skull to a snake to the SMPTE color bars. In addition to those, there are 16 solid inserts that come stitched together, and can be pulled apart and laid under the transparent inserts, making for some crazy images (as well as alternate album covers when re-inserted into the case). Think of this as a cooler version of your grade school arts and crafts projects.

Grieves – Together/Apart
Grieves’ Rhymesayers debut comes housed in a folded digipak that, when pulled apart, showcases some pretty great graffiti art. Unfolding the next two panels reveals the “Together” portion, which holds the CD, while the bottom grid (“Apart”) houses a bonus biographical DVD titled “Present/Tense.” While this may not be the most visually-striking album on the list, it gains points on the concept alone. The listener is finally “together” with Grieves on the CD, while being “apart” from him his whole life on the DVD.

Atmosphere – The Family Sign
Think of the packaging for Atmosphere’s sixth studio album as a classier version of Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. You get seven inserts emblazoned with lyrics written in silver foil and the digipak itself doubles as an actual picture frame so you can house each of the panels, giving you the option of seven different covers. Nothing classes up that empty mantel above your fireplace more than some smiling rappers. Also notable is Atmosphere’s previous album, When Life Gives You Lemons…, which includes a children’s story written by Slug.

MF DOOM – MM..FOOD?
MF DOOM has always been one of the most enigmatic figures in hip-hop, so it was only appropriate that the Rhymesayers re-issue of his long-awaited follow-up to Operation Doomsday would come in nothing but a plain foil wrapper. Playing off the “Food” title, the packaging is reminiscent of pop tarts and other food sold in microwave hazardous material. The nutritional information-themed label not only gives buyers a small hint as to the contents — but it is also a scratch and sniff sticker that smells like hamburgers (yes, really). As if that wasn’t enough of a novelty for every Williamsborough-residing hipster to scour eBay for a remaining copy, the inside of the album also includes a vintage diner poster, as well as an MM..FOOD? coaster.

Freeway & Jake One – Stimulus Package
Designed by the legendary Brent Rollins, Freeway and Jake One’s Stimulus Package is a crowning achievement in album design from any label, in any genre. The album features four Freeway dollar bills, along with four Jake One dollar bills, housed in a wallet. The wallet also has a slot for a digital download, in the form of a credit card. The whole thing is wrapped in a currency strap, featuring the album title. This may be the only album to make your wallet heavier.

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Adult Swim is hard to come by in England, but DOOM has his ways. Speaking to us from the London offices of Lex Records, the supervillain excitedly discusses his new album, his legacy and his current home.

DOOM has always been an outcast, but he never expected to be cast out of the country he’s always called home. “Banished,” a track that alludes to this involuntary exile, has connotations of resentment, but when asked about his sojourn in South London, where he currently resides, DOOM excitedly replies, “I feel like Napoleon!” He says this in jest, but there’s a sly undercurrent to the comparison: Napoleon came back from exile. With an army.

DOOM isn’t back in person quite yet, but he’s back on wax. On Key to the Kuffs, he brings new rhymes, references to British television, laughable attempts at Cockney rhyming slang and fellow rapper and producer Jneiro Jarel. The pair recorded the album from different continents, but their chemistry is undeniable.  JJ and DOOM are both emceees and producers, and DOOM sees their collaboration as something unique, fresh.

Though both artists contribute production as well as lyrics, the former comes completely from JJ and the latter primarily comes mostly from DOOM. “I let him shine on the production. I wanted to get his feel,” the supervillain reveals. JJ’s feel certainly permeates the album. Darkly dull sirens, haunting bass riffs and eerie effects coalesce with DOOM’s raspy rhymes to create a soundscape that is both bleak and riveting.

Is that bleakness a product of living in London? “I don’t know,” says DOOM, hesitant to endorse the idea that London is inherently gloomy. He finds the city’s (in)famous rain to be refreshing, “replenishing.” But upon further thought he reconsiders, “I was born here, so maybe it’s just in me like that.” Pushed further he admits, “Most of my shit be gloomy: let’s say that! But shit, I try to keep it happy. You know how you make lemonade out of lemons and shit?”

Lemonade is his metaphor of choice, but strawberry and banana smoothies are his current drink of choice, with an occasional beer. Although his penchant for food, particularly snacks, is well-documented (See: MM.. FOOD), DOOM has been eating healthy lately. He doesn’t go into details about the DOOM diet, but on tracks he sounds as healthy as ever, so the diet is presumably effective.

With that in mind, listening to “GMO” gives the impression that maybe the DOOM diet is less a conscious decision and more of an inadvertent consequence. Backed by a haunting and unintelligible litany from Portishead’s Beth Gibbons, here DOOM lays out a disgusting smorgasbord of disturbing foods: “flounder cheese in your tomatoes, cod in your potatoes.” Explaining the paranoia of the song, DOOM says, “DOOM is extra paranoid. He’s an exasperated kind of cat.” This paranoia is apocalyptic on “GMO,” but on “Wash Your Hands,” the most lighthearted track of the album, it takes a comical turn. “I wash my balls in Dettol,” DOOM raps with hilarious seriousness.

This seriousness is significantly less comical on “Winter Blues,” a melancholy track that features the supervillain longing for love and endorsing the questionable teachings of Dr. Jewel Pookrum, who DOOM upholds as one of his “teachers.” Despite this strange juxtaposition of love and conspiracy, the track succeeds, wonderfully capturing the loneliness of winter and the inevitable pitfalls of seasonal depression.

Considering his plight, one would expect DOOM’s depression to be more than seasonal, but the supervillain is unfazed. Giving a synopsis of the album, he explains, “It’s the story of the guy who could make it through the storm. It’s the plight of the artist. A lot of people can relate to that. There are more people going through hard times than [there are] billionaires that are fucking sitting up somewhere. Most people can relate to a struggle or a challenge, so my lyrics come from that no matter where I am geographically or whatever planet or wherever I’m at. They tend to accentuate the challenge and the conquering of the challenge or the completion of it.”

When asked if his personal challenge– getting back to the U.S.– ever made him worry about the legitimacy of his legacy, DOOM is adamant: “That shit is like concrete. When I laid it down, I laid it down like a foundation: that shit ain’t going nowhere. When you do it like that, it ain’t like built on sand and it will never fucking go away. That shit is permanent. So I don’t worry, even out here. My shit will still be the raw shit.”

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