RUN D.M.C | The First Collection
The box is a cross between an adidas shoe and a turn table, relating back to their first hit “My Adidas” and the hip hop nature of their music. The catalogue guides the viewer through the three stages of fame the artists had, their rise with “Raising Hell” and “King of Rock”, their fall due to their drug addicted and rockstar lifestyle, and their come back to clarity with “Down with the King”.
The three albums encompass the journey the rap group has taken through inspiration, success, and loss, three feelings every artist deals with when finding and owning their identity. Run-D.M.C.’s innovative approach to music, bangin beats and hard hitting lyrics set them apart from the music scene, catapulting them into the limelight and inspiring young artists and people of color everywhere.
When I listen to their music I can't help but bop my head to Jam Master Jay's illin' beats. To evoke the motion I felt, I used scanned typography to warp the words in the lyrics where Jay scratches the record. I did this by cutting out the words, listening to the music, and moving the text along a scanner to the beat to create these images which I then collaged with their photographs.
Being the first African American artists on MTV, they inspired young artists of color, like myself, to use their creativity to share their voice. Their approach to rap evokes an idea of innovative passion that I have always found to be the driving force behind my art and design work.
