Although they're certainly not the be all and end all, a quality album cover can become iconic, and whatever picture or art work is on the cover of the record can become deeply associated with the music. When you hear songs from certain albums, the cover you will think of. The colours of the album cover will float around your head as the lyrics do the same. It's always worth having good one, so here are 10 great ones (in no particular order and with some honourable mentions at the end).
Acid Rap (2013) - Chance the Rapper
For this list, I'm not restricting this to just albums as I understand there are a few mixtapes/EP's on the list. In terms of a cover having a strong connection with the soundscape of the album, Acid Rap is arguably one of the greatest examples in Hip Hop. The psychedelic colours of course marry up nicely with the content but more-so the vibe and environment that the music creates. The sky is really pretty and relaxing, Chance looks a bit concerned, perhaps on his own little trip himself, it's hard to say exactly whether he looks like he's enjoying himself. The original picture of him with another guy that inspired the cover can easily be found on Google - it looks like the colours on his vest are strobey/neon lights on a night out or something. Initially, I thought it might have been paint, like from some sort of paint party, but maybe not. But yeah, great cover with Chance staring right through you with a really cool backdrop of the sky scorched with varying shades of purple.
Macadelic (2012) - Mac Miller
Mac has a few good album covers, but really it was between this and Faces. I really like how the red of "Macadelic" contrasts with the colourless overlapping naked women. This kind of image has been done before in terms of an overhanging shot of naked bodies lying together in no particular order or direction, but I really like this take on it. The pencil illustration is cool and you can see a different character each time you look at it. It looks a bit like it has been drawn with a biro. I think it has the same freshness and experimental air that breathes through the music.
Operation Doomsday (1999) - MF DOOM
Another artist with an array of art work that is all fairly decent at minimum. MM...FOOD is a close-contender here, but I went with Operation Doomsday. I really like the comic book cartoon illustration along with the comic book lettering and the graffiti style of his name. It matches up well with the famous skits from this album as they are also from old cartoons. The image of the supervillain with his iconic mask and his hood up holding the mic is awesome, I just wish he was holding the microphone double-clutch. I know there is another version of this cover which looks like it is taken directly from an original comic, but this one here is my preferred one.
Another album from 1999 and Eminem's debut studio album on Aftermath, and the record that saw his career take off after years of underground grafting. This cover is brilliant and the association with the music is extremely strong. The blue, silver and grey colours capture that grimness and sadness that we here on songs such as "Rock Bottom" and "If I Had". It doesn't hugely reflect the cartoonish lyricism that we get in abundance from the SSLP, with the exception of the classic lettering in the bottom right-hand corner, however, it does show the brutality of the music and it's murderous, psychotic undertones. This is most notably seen in the forefront with Kim's legs hanging out of the boot of the car. The image is a scene from the storytelling track "'97 Bonnie & Clyde", where, with the help of his daughter Hailie, Em takes Kim to dispose of her dead body after killing her - "dadda made a nice bed for mommy at the bottom of the lake". The child-friendly delivery as he is speaking to his young daughter Hailie is chilling. Despite the graphic and violent image, there is a subtle beauty in this album cover. I always thought the giant moon in the background was cool too. Probably not as iconic as some of his other album covers, but certainly the best.
Beats, Rhymes & Life (1996) - A Tribe Called Quest
Another 90's album included for this list. I absolutely could have included a few covers from ATCQ. I love their proud and vibrant colour schemes they use. The graffitied name of the album is nice, the sky looks awesome and the man in the forefront is ill, looking like some kind of Spiderman villain. The cover captures their fun, jazzy and eclectic sound.
ATLiens (1996) - OutKast
Another rap group with a sick album from 1996 and another rap group who have consistently iconic album covers. The huge top and bottom lettering is really good and I love how this cover enjoys the same weirdness and stranger aspects that starts creeping into the music on this LP. There is a great comic book that comes with this album if you buy the CD too! When you hear "ATLiens" or "Wheelz of Steel" you instantly picture this cover. This is really creative and unique cover that includes the essence of the music - this is essentially what I would typically look for in a cover.
KOD (2018) - J.Cole
'KOD' is an acronym for many different phrases, but the most associated one for this album is 'kids on drugs'. This can be seen directly in the colourful, painted art work. It's rich, watery and vibrant cover depicts exactly that, with little children sipping lean and smoking fingers under the watch of king Cole who looks like he's equally enjoying himself. The royal purples and reds always stand out nicely. This album really takes me back to a certain time in my life. When 'KOD' came out I had only been working at my current job for a few months and I started going to the small Thai restaurant round the corner every now and then for my lunch. So wherever I hear the tracks "KOD" or "ATM", I can taste that beautiful Pad Thai in my mouth.
To Pimp a Butterfly (2015) - Kendrick Lamar
Another contemporary artist and also one who always has decent to great covers. This cover captures the essence of the album perfectly. Rebellious but with reason and purpose. The black and white filter gives it a subtle sleekness and classiness that we feel in the instrumentals. This is an important album for Kendrick, Hip Hop, America and society, so this scene in front of the white house is even more impactful. Some of the pictures in the booklet that come with the CD are incredible too.
UNLOCKED (2020) - Denzel Curry
This comic-book, cartoonish, MF DOOM inspired, joint EP with Kenny Beats is absolutely captured in its cover. I love that both their characters are included in this incredibly creative and detailed cover. This album is full of short tracks that are filled with samples, skits, beat switches and Denzel refusing to play by the rules. One of the more recent projects on this list, it was super refreshing to see this cover on its release. The project was not a rushed project, but I believe Kenny and Denzel started and finished it within a week, or maybe less. You can feel this in the music, but rather than it giving off an unfinished feel, it's more the capturing of a moment in time, Kenny and Denzel doing whatever they want to. Some of it feels freestyled but is still hard nonetheless. Awesome mini-project, awesome cover, awesome use of the parental advisory sticker as part of the scene we see.
God Don't Make Mistakes (2022) - Conway the Machine
The most recent project on the list and our last one to discuss today. Coming out earlier this year, Conway released a raw boom-bap, dare I say, classic, album and will no doubt be in contention for album of the year come December. Whether it's a classic or not, the gritty mainstream MC but with underground hunger gave us an album cover for the ages. The colour scheme is a little similar to his previous album "La Maquina". However, this one pictures a scene in which Conway himself may be familiar with in his past - this is the key to the covers success. This cover feels real and authentic to Conway as a person and his music. Just like the stories he tells through his lyricism, this art work hits HARD and reflects his life at some point or another.
As you can probably tell, I am a big fan of illustrated album covers, and undoubtedly there are so many that I could include on this list. However, I only wanted to include albums I actually have listened to. So, I did some research to have a look at some other cool album covers from music I haven't heard. I found this page (below) from XXL, and some of these are insane. Especially some of the older ones (check the ICE-T one tho). I hope you have enjoyed looking at some epic covers with me. I have an honourable mentions list below for some extras that are pretty cool. Please let me know some of your favourite album covers!!! Link below for that XXL article I mentioned.
Honourable Mentions:
- Relapse (2009) - Eminem
- The Low End Theory (1991) - A Tribe Called Quest
- Midnight Marauders (1993) - A Tribe Called Quest
- Doggystyle (1993) - Snoop Dogg
- Aquemini (1998) - OutKast
- TA13OO (2018) - Denzel Curry
- Straight Outta Compton (1988) - N.W.A.
- Faces (2014) - Mac Miller
- Kids See Ghosts (2018) - Kids See Ghosts (Kanye West & Kid Cudi)
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