This meant looking at 12 albums (as blakroc is a recent group and P.O.S's first album is very hard to get hold of in CD form)
Hip Hop Albums:
Cypress Hill: Skull & Bones
Jay-Z: The Blue Print
Eminem: Marshal Mathers LP
Mos Def: Black on Both Sides
People Under The Stairs: Question In The Form Of An Answer
KRS One: The Sneak Attack
(the albums are all from 2000/2001)
Unlike their recent counterparts most of these CDs use very dull and dark colours like beige, grey, blue and black. There was no sign of red at all!
The lack of bright colour emphasizes that Hip Hop was going for a much more aggressive and darker sound 10 years ago as these are all great covers.
Cypress Hill "Skull and Bones" has a skull and cross bones on the cover and the font they have used makes it look like a banner that pirates would be carrying. Paired up with the shades of brown/beige and faded gold, it looks more like a rock album than a typical Hip Hop album, but this is typical of Cypress Hill. The main reason this album looks more Rock though is because the band split the album into two discs "Skull" which focuses on Hip Hop and "Bones" which is the band mixing their original sound with heavy thrashing guitars and drums, so the artwork shows what the album is about, even if it is re-appropriated imagery from history and another genre of music.
Jay-Z "The Blueprint" is one of his most successful albums and you can tell from the cover that Jay-Z had predicted he had made a classic. The cover shows Jay-Z in the form of a typical godfather with his entourage waiting for him, as if this is his status in Hip Hop and the music industry and his audience and all his contemporary artists are preparing for his next release. The cover is in black and white, but uses a plastic blue case to give it a blue effect which is really cool and helps the album stand out, as this was before MP3 downloads were a major threat to CD sales so the CD has to look as good as the music sounds. The font is very modern and futuristic and shows the album is from the year 2000, even though the inspiration for the imagery could date back to the 1930's.
Eminem "The Marshal Mathers LP" is Eminem's second album, it is his most successful and it has also been released with at least three different front covers, all with a similar theme but the one that I have is the only one with a close up shot and in colour (not that there is much). The cover shows that Eminem is a tortured artist as he looks tired, fed up and depressed, but the look in his eyes almost shows how confident and cocky he is despite his mental state. The minimal use of colour helps the album stand out and the focus on Eminem in his room shows that this album is about him and personal to him, it also brings his darkness and anger to life, even in such a small CD cover.
Mos Def "Black on Both Sides"is his first album and has a large close up full colour illustration of Mos Def looking calm. The black background helps centre in on his face and shows that the album is about him and his experiences and he also doesn't need any other imagery to show that the music he makes is important and is Hip Hop without gimmicks.
People Under The Stairs "Question In The Form Of An Answer" is their second album but is still low budget compared to the other covers. The cover is a simple photograph of the group watching the horizon with the sun either setting or rising. Both members are completely shadowed and it makes them look mysterious. The imagery makes the album look calm and ambiguous to what the music actually is, it is only the faint shape of a hood and a baseball cap that show these guys dress like rappers. The font looks very simple and just looks like it was typed out with a random font, unlike the designed fonts of the other covers. I think the cover is nice to look at, but is not the best piece of design and shows that a bigger budget gets you a better cover.
KRS One "The Sneak Attack" has KRS One dressed up as a soldier and leading troops, but this is just parodying the album name, as it is about leading a Sneak attack on Hip Hop music, not leading soldiers into a battle. This is similar to the design of "Survival Skills" how it is using imagery relating to the title, rather than the re-appropriation of the music. In a way this cover is similar to "The Blueprint", as KRS One is saying his status is the leader of Hip Hop music.
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