Website Update

Been real busy lately and just wanted to mention quickly that louismgrafix.com has been gradually receiving a face lift. Check it out. My web skills are ever improving.

Stanley “Air” Kubrick

Reebok’s brand new Omni Lite Pump sneakers inspired by “Full Metal Jacket” and “2001: A Space Odyssey” are a must have for Kubrick fans and/or sneaker fiends. More pics and info after the jump.

Latest Work

I am forcing myself to post something, anything, since it has been so long since my previous entry. So I am going to share some of the work I’ve been doing (professionally & scholastically).

your mac can now be a self-righteous backpacker

I recently setup my workspace at my place of full-time employment with a 30″ Apple Cinema Display and let me tell you… WOW!!! The best $1800 my company has spent, haha. Now if there was only a way I could spend more money on the Cinema Display.

Redesigned Album Covers Part I

Was under the weather this past weekend which lead me to three things. One, watched some movies: Zodiac and A Beautiful Mind. Two, accepted a new freelance project designing a mixtape cover, which I will post here when it’s finished. Three is while working on the mixtape cover I thought how much I love album covers and decided to undertake a little pet project which will be on going (at least until I become bored with it). This project will be redesigning of classic Hip Hop album covers.

best & worst hip-hop covers from great hip-hop albums

Great album covers can be good sources of inspiration and examples of excellent graphic design and/or photography. So here is a selection of the best and the worst of Hip-Hop album covers from only great albums, because if did bad album covers from any crappy rap album out there we could be here forever. So I am going to stick to only the best of rap music.

the worst:

Is there anything that really needs to be said about this? Horrible photoshop work on the tattoos and just an all-around bad concept.

This was Nas’ first album in which he broke away from his series of close-up photos of his face against the Queensbridge housing project where he grew up. It was a bad idea. How ridiculous does he look here? I’ve always thought that Nas did not photograph well in the classic Hip-Hop imagery. Maybe it is because lyrically he is so much better than he could ever be visually.

I don’t think I even need to say anything here. I suppose Ludacris is just taking the title of his album literally, but then why the misogynist placement of the woman’s leg which he is about to cannibalize.

This was 50 Cent’s introduction to the world that catipulted him to superstar status. For someone who has such homophobic lyrics I find this album cover ironic.

This is just bad. I’m sure you can all interpret this in your own ways.

You have to admire De La Soul for being totally original when this came out in 1989, but this cover just does not hold up well against the test of time.

Uninspired, that one word says it all.

For the greatest selling Rap album of all-time this is just not very good.

the best:

The illustration was done by Japanese artist, Takashi Murakami, enough said.

Original and powerful. See “The Carter III” and “Ready to Die” for inspired take-offs.

I know Gnarls Barkley is barely Rap, but both covers are just amazing works of art. The colors, illustration and typography are great.

Simple and clean. The orange square in the upper right corner makes it. If you were someone who didn’t know who Madvillain was wouldn’t you be intrigued by this cover?

Jay-Z has a lot of good album covers, but in my opinion this is the best. It is perfect for his “secondary soundtrack” to the 70′s gangster film, “American Gangster”.

This one could almost be bad and who knows, maybe in a few years it will be. But for now, it’s pretty damn good.

I just think the illustration on this is amazing.

I could of easily stuck Tribe’s “Midnight Marauders” and “The Low End Theory” covers on here as well. I just feel this one is the best.

How do you interpret this cover?

Well done piece of art.

Interesting typography and very cool photo. Keep in mind that at this time Ghostface Killah was still in the habit of hiding his face, notice the conscience placement of the shadow.

coke heist

Here’s a look at what is sure to be one of the most talked about commercials during the Super Bowl. The people at Psyop who were behind the 2007 “Happiness Factory” Coca-Cola commercial bring us “Heist”.

You can see it here or check it out in high quality here.

obama drama

In honor of our new president and one of the greatest characters in the history of television, Louis M. Grafix brings you this 11×17 inch poster. Contact me at info@louismgrafix.com if you would like a printable high quality PDF file of this artwork.

you totally cock blocked me bro

We’ve all been there. At your favorite night spot, with a friend maybe and they commit one of the seven modern deadly sins. Now when it happens you can hit them with this business card sized note oozing with sarcasm.

Or, in these economic hard times, you can print your own and have a few of them ready to go in your wallet or even just write them by hand. Check out some other cool items at Orange32′s shop.