by Emma Farrell, staff writer 3 Feet High and Rising was De La Soul’s debut album in 1989. The cover art was designed by a British art collective called the Grey Organization. One of the leaders of the Grey Organization, Toby Mott, discussed the album cover in his essay “Hip Hop in the Daisy Age." “We layered the brightly-coloured hand drawn flower designs made with Posca paint pens on acetate over the black and white photographic portrait print, which is rostrum camera copied...The intent of the design of De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising LP cover was to be new and bright, with the overlaying of the fluorescent flowers and text reflecting a synthetic pop cartoon look.” This cover reflected De La Soul’s conception of the "D.A.I.S.Y. Age," and complemented their lyrics involving peace and harmony. Later in his essay Mott writes,“This is a move away from the prevailing macho hip hop visual codes which dominate to this day.” The bold cartoonish look of this album had lasting, widespread influence. Nike released Dunk SBs featuring artwork from the album, first in 2005 then reissued in 2014. I personally really love the look of bright colors over black and white images. The simple yet visually compelling album cover also seems to have no correct orientation, a choice that makes the composition even more interesting. In the cover art, the black and white images help balance out the more colorful imagery that reflects the lyrics that led to De La Soul being dubbed “hippies." Read more of Mott’s essay here. Check out the kicks! http://www.complex.com/sneakers/2015/02/nike-sb-de-la-soul-dunk-2015-retro-interview Comments are closed.
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