Mixtape covers are a very important part of hip-hop culture, and when a cover sucks it can overshadow the entire project (just ask Drake fans). But there are artists and designers out there who consistently create amazing covers that can pique your interest in a rapper even if you've never heard their music. Tobias Hansson and Michael Thorsby have made the first ever coffee table book devoted to the art of mixtape covers, the people who make them, and the rappers that they represent, perfectly titled Damn Son Where Did You Find This.
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The limited-edition book features over 500 US hip-hop mixtape covers, an artform that most people would ignore but that we obviously find very interesting and important to the culture. It addition to great covers by the likes of KidEight, Miami Kaos, Mike Rev, TANSTA & Skrilla, and several others, the book also includes interviews that explore the process of working with rappers and creating clean and memorable imagery for their music.
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"Contemporary, uncensored, unregulated and extreme," publisher La Vida Locash said in a statement sent to us about mixtape cover art discussed in the book. "Freed from major label guidelines, lawyer opinions and moral hinderances. A world where rappers turns to super heroes, Hollywood’s latest blockbuster merges with street hits about selling drugs, and where the US election is used as a metaphor for rap beef. The mixtape culture exists parallel with the traditional music industry and for years it has been a platform where taboos are broken, the genre re-news itself and trends are created."
Damn Son Where Did You Find This is sold exclusively at Colette in Paris, and there will be release parties in Copenhagen, Berlin, Paris, and Stockholm in March.
