Behind the Covers
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“hip-hop”

3 cover stories in our archive

Behind the Covers' archive includes 3 album covers documented under the "hip hop" design theme, spanning the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s. These covers sit within the hip-hop tradition and feature work by Eve, DJ Shadow, Beastie Boys. Each entry below includes the cover artwork, the designers and photographers behind it, and a short story about the visual choices that defined the release.

Scorpion by Eve — album cover art

Scorpion by Eve (2001)

Eve's Scorpion cover refuses to settle on a single portrait. Three views of the rapper — a direct gaze, a side profile and an enlarged eye — overlap in a cool, metallic composition that turns her face into the album's entire visual language. Nitin Vadukul photographed Eve, while Barry Celestine, Charles 'Sleep' Duffy, Denise Trotman and Drew Fitzgerald handled art direction and design for the 2001 release.

Label
Ruff Ryders / Interscope Records
Designer
Barry Celestine, Charles 'Sleep' Duffy, Denise Trotman and Drew Fitzgerald
Photographer
Nitin Vadukul
Genre
Hip-Hop
Decade
2000s
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Endtroducing..... by DJ Shadow — album cover art

Endtroducing..... by DJ Shadow (1996)

DJ Shadow's Endtroducing..... turns record hunting into its central image. Brian "B+" Cross photographed Chief Xcel and Lyrics Born digging through Records in downtown Sacramento in May 1995, with Beni B visible in the wider frame. The famous blur came from a focusing mistake that B+ recognized as perfect once he saw the proofs. Ben Drury and Will Bankhead built the sleeve around a photograph that became an enduring image of sample culture.

Label
Mo' Wax
Designer
Ben Drury and Will Bankhead
Photographer
Brian "B+" Cross
Genre
Hip-Hop
Decade
1990s
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Licensed to Ill by Beastie Boys — album cover art

Licensed to Ill by Beastie Boys (1986)

Licensed to Ill looks like a private jet until you open the sleeve. Rick Rubin conceived the Beastie Boys' exaggerated rock-star aircraft; art director Stephen Byram and artist David Gambale, working as World B. Omés, turned the joke into a gatefold crash scene whose tail number 3MTA3 reads EATME in a mirror.

Label
Def Jam Recordings
Designer
Stephen Byram (art direction) · David Gambale / World B. Omés (cover artwork)
Genre
Hip-Hop
Decade
1980s
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