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Cover art for my homie E-Val Styles’ upcoming mixtape… We sat down and rapped a bit about concepts for the cover a few weeks back. I played around with themes based on those discussions, and could not come up with any art that was ART.

Keep in mind… I’m on a crusade, to distance my work from that of other “designers” so, it’s important for me to maintain a large portion of creative freedom in a project. Some clients just hit me with a quick idea, and allow me to run with it… while others, have brainchildren that need molding. In this case… I kinda seized the wheel! While, I see E-Val Styles as a brilliant New YorCarolian emcee… he makes a lot of music for the streets. I felt that his new art needed to be something totally different than what his fan base is used to seeing me create.

So, how did I come to choose this as the visual representation for a hard street album? While meeting with him at his home studio, Val knew from the jump that he wanted the album covers for this mixtape series to be black and white, and that he wanted black duct tape on it. He had some other ideas that I jotted down, regarding text placement, etc. When I hopped in the car that day on the way to pick up my son, The Professor… I visualized the completed artwork the way he wanted it. Later on, I combed the net for photos of duct tape, and even considered doing a mini-photo shoot to get things the way I wanted them for the composition. A few days later when I sat down ready to execute the project, I was unable to get into it… I just wasn’t feeling any of the things that we discussed. So, I began work on some things for another artist that I had in cue.

I usually have music playing in order to keep the creative juices flowing, and one day as I was working on something that is so past due, [I’m embarrassed to say what it is] Raekwon’s Only Built for Cuban Linx worked it’s way into my iTunes Genius Mix. This album was a street album indeed, but lyrically and production wise… it’s a masterpiece! It was at that time that I began to get back into the Black Duct Tape project. As Rae and Ghost’s poetic tales of drug life played, I began to visualize imagery of censorship, the all seeing eye, big brother, the similarities between traps in the concrete jungle and down south. Eventually, I found an old “Big Brother” propaganda piece, and tried to work it into a 5” x 5” canvas a few different ways. The end result is what you see…

Big Brother, with his mouth taped off, and eyes shielded. Crumpled paper, the New York city skyline (in the distance… symbolic of the artist’s roots), and dark “organic substance” spattered across it all. Then of course, the black duct tape… added to appear as though it’s actually on the poster. Interpretations could include… The Street Cat defeating the feds… Operating Under the Radar… The Underdog taking the Evil Empire hostage… etc. Either way I think it’s perfect for the street artist that spits a few light years ahead of his peers.

Had a great experience at the #CarolinaBlogging luncheon on yesterday… with food and drink provided by The Blue Marlin located in the old train depot on Lincoln street in the heart of The Vista (Columbia, SC).  I’ve eaten there many times but each of the dishes photo’d above was a first for me… and I made happy plates and glasses with each!

I also got to try a new wine made-in-the-Carolina’s called Manifesto… as well as an old Carolina favorite with a new twist: FireFly [PEACH] Sweet Tea Vodka

Carolina Blogging sure does know how to make an old rant and rave fella like myself feel appreciated!  It was a great experience networking with other bloggers with similar interested… and even better getting to know folks that I’ve never heard of but will be reading often from now own!  I anxiously look forward to our next assembly.

For More info on The Blue Marlin Restaurant click here and tell’em SUN sent ya!