Many of you have followed this popular promotion through some of my past articles that showcased the weekly release of variants inspired by classic hip hop albums, and Marvel Comics continue to deliver inspired pieces of art that even non fans of hip hop can appreciate and enjoy.
This week I have a little something extra, a bonus track of sorts. Andreas Hale over at 2dopeboyz sat down with the brains behind this project Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso to talk hip hop, comics, and more. Here are a few of the highlights
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What inspired this concept of recreating classic hip-hop album covers with Marvel characters?
“We do a lot of theme-based variants – homages to movie posters, fine art, album covers – so I’d been toying with the idea of doing a wave of variants inspired by Hip-Hop album covers. The phenomenal response to the Run the Jewels variants we did a few months ago confirmed something I knew in my gut: a lot of Marvel Comics fans are Hip-Hop fans, and a lot of Hip-Hop fans are Marvel Comics fans.”
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Schoolly D's Saturday Night, Karnak #1 Kaare Andrews |
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The Fugee's The Score, The Ultimates #1 Mike Deodato |
What is the process that goes into recreating these covers? How do you choose which superheroes fit and which album covers to recreate?
“Where to start? Well, there were certain artists – certain covers – that we just had to do, know what I’m saying? Illmatic [Nas], The Chronic [Dr. Dre], Straight Outta Compton [N.W.A.], 3 Feet High and Rising [De La Soul], The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. And you can’t do something like this and not include artists like Wu-Tang Clan, or Meth, or Raekwon, or GZA, who drop references to comics all the time in their lyrics. This is your chance to holler back.”
“So the process kind of started with those covers. There were a few [comic book] artists that I looped in right away because I knew they were Hip-Hop heads – Sanford Greene, Damion Scott, Juan Doe, Mike Del Mundo – and got them rolling on some of the most iconic covers right away, and we built from there. Like I said, some of the covers – the Sam Wilson: Captain America/Love.Live.A$AP homage or the Dr. Strange/The Chronic homage – were no-brainers. Others – the Karnak/Saturday Night: The Album cover, the Squirrel Girl/Wolf cover – took more thought.”
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Wiz Khalifa's Rolling Papers, Vision #1 Vanesa R. Del Rey |
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Wale's Attention Deficit, Deadpool #1 Kaare Andrews |
How has the response been?
"Fantastic. I knew this initiative would excite people, but I had no idea we’d get the crazy support from so many of the rappers themselves. Killer Mike was the first to give us a shout-out on Twitter. Questlove, Posdnuos, Pete Rock, DMC and Lil B all weighed in, too. The one that blew me away was Nas. When Mass Appeal showed him our Illmatic/Miles Morales homage, he said, “This is a dream in real life.” When the artists themselves embrace what you’re doing, that speaks volumes."
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Vince Staples' Summertime 06, Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur #1 Jeffrey Veregge |
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Gravediggaz's 6 Feet Deep, Legion of Monsters # 1 Wilfred Santiago |
Just some of a great interview that can be read over at
2dopeboyz. So what's the verdict? Which covers do you like this week? Leave your picks in the usual place.