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Yes, old school rap has become very much like jazz. Increasingly co-opted by white culture. Great, Logan.

Shudders.

Although I really dug the cover art for RZA as Bobby Digital (hence I personally don't think the existing cover art was *all* horrible), I think this, as a set, looks great together and consistent with the old Blue Note album cover art. Nice concept.

Well... I can say that Wu Tang made a lot of money selling those albums to my white middle school students in the early 90s. The kids used to draw that cheesy Wu Tang symbol all over their papers and notebooks. I'm not sure an artist gets to decide who listens to and loves his music. (Does the article state Logan's race, anyway?)

My question: I often wonder when I see people making "new" art with old images (or in this case, old recording information) how copyright law works in these cases. I do like these covers more than the originals, which always look adolescent to me - but I suspect Logan would have to get permission from the original band to redraft the covers for sale, since the song lists and titles must be copyrighted. Logan might get permission and sell these - and split the profits with the band. I imagine it'd make a band happy to milk a few more dollars off old work.

I'm all for small artists creatively reusing stuff. I occasionally want to scan and print old children's book illustrations for new uses. But copyright law says that if the book was published after 1924, I don't get to just use the pictures any old way I want to. I've seen local artists making and selling graphic collages or "altered art" with PhotoShop, and using clearly-copyrighted images from Disney, etc.. Regardless of the phenomenal wealth of the creator of the source material, I'm not sure it's kosher. (How did Andy Warhol work this?)

Surely this is the ultimate artistic copout?

The original Wu Tang covers may or may not be brilliant pieces of design (I've not seen them). They may even look 'pretty dated these days'.

But surely they are not as dated as 60s Blue Note covers. Surely they are not as horrible as tired pastiche's of 60s Blue Note covers.

Do a Google search for Blue Note parodies.

A real designer would do something original.

This is sophomoric rubbish.

Yes, old school rap has become very much like jazz. Increasingly co-opted by white culture. Great, Logan.

So: white guy re-imagines the Wu-Tang album covers, and it's a disgraceful sign that hip-hop culture has been co-opted by white culture.

The albums in question were notable because, among other things, the unusual and creative use of samples by the artists.

Does anyone else see some irony here?

As a design exercise, I think this is great. I've often wanted to do this with book covers for books that I've read. However, selling them would come with it's own bag of problems. Can't we just design for fun? Maybe Logan just saw this exercise as something to get the creative juices flowing. Does it have to be about making money?

@Mary BC

It all depends on the intent and how the image is used. Parodies are a great example of how something can turn other source material into something original.

A parody uses the content of the original work as a commentary on the original work -- be it a Weird Al song or a Scary Movie -- and generally also a commentary on culture and society.

This adds intended meaning, making it a new and original thought with ideas not found in the original work, not a mere copy. This is part of the legal definition that safeguards satire.

If the artists you mention are using Mickey's image to sell something, it's a copyright violation. If they're using Mickey as part of an artistic commentary or merely a motif within an expressive piece, they are within their rights. If they are using him in a piece that defames Disney on a mass scale, I don't know the legal precedents, but they will probably be taken to court.

Short Rant:

It drives me nuts when people cry "Rip off!" at all overtly referential work.

While there are certainly those devoid of their own ideas, there are valid viewpoints expressed through homage, through spoof, through re-imaginings, through pastiche, through remixing.

As long as referential credit is given where it is due, no harm, no foul.

i've been a fan of wu-tang since their first record came out. it was even my first concert.
while i do like these renditions, I don't think the originals are outdated. Or if they are it's because they're 15 years old! and c'mon, you can't not like GZA's Liquid Swords album cover? that was great!

Kamaraderie, these are definitely not for sale and yes, I believe Logan did these as just a fun personal project. I posted about this because I admire anyone who takes the time to do something creative for the fun of it especially since I am having a difficult time finding the time or energy to tackle any of my own projects. Also, I just think they turned out really great. I wouldn't hesitate to frame them and hang them up in my home.

Since I doubt that he'll ever make prints to sell these due to copyright laws and so forth, this post is for anyone who (like me) needs some motivation to get started on those personal projects that get pushed to the backburner.

MrCranky, I think calling this "sophomoric rubbish" because the designer took inspiration from Blue Note records and didn't create something "original" seems a bit funny, especially since (as sammybaby pointed out), the RZA was inspired not only by Hong Kong kung fu films, but he also sampled soul and jazz for many of the Wu Tang albums. So would you say that 36 Chambers (which sampled various songs including Thelonious Monk's "Black and Tan Fantasy" and Gladys Knight and the Pips' "The Way We Were") was also rubbish and unoriginal?

first off...again, Grace is the sh*t.

second, It's a nice concept as a set

third, Akay, I totally agree with "It drives me nuts when people cry "Rip off!" at all overtly referential work." It's the same deal with people criticizing rap music for using samples...there's a way to do it with artistic merit, and a way to do it without. Anyone can take a popular song from the 70s, speed up the hook and slap some drums on it...but it takes true talent to dig through hundreds of crates of dusty records, have an ear for an obscure 4second snippet that can be chopped, looped or otherwise modified, and turn it into a masterpiece of its own right. It's not just about "stealing" classics.

quick side note about Hip Hop being "co-opted by white culture":

Hip Hop as a whole has unfortunately given into the corporate machine that now has made a commodity of our culture. When you can go to a halloween store and pick up an "instant rapper kit" for $9.99 (usually gold teeth, a large chain with a dollar sign, and a three finger ring) you know something has gone horribly wrong with how our culture and music is perceived by the masses.....(PS. Im not making this stuff up...you can pick up a 'rapper kit' here: http://www.halloweenstore.com/store/fw8576.html )

If you guys are interested in these posters, you should also check out the album Madlib put out a few years ago called "Shades of Blue" in which he tastefully updates Blue Note classics....

@abc123:

My favorite instance of someone crying plagiarism-wolf this came when I first saw Mulan Rouge.

Two friends declared, "Oh my God, they ripped off Nirvana!"

I said, "No no, they're redefining the modern musical."

They replied, "Oh my God, now they're ripping off Elton John!"

I don't think they got it.

Oh pulleeeze people, artists can't/don't work in a vacuum and besides, Reid Miles was a WHITE GUY who created some of the most well known album covers for Blue Note and if I'm not mistaken the guys who began the label were WHITE also.

Jazz has not ALWAYS been just a BLACK genre, It's been a mixed race genre who's roots are here in America but DID have it's underpinnings emerge from the black culture. Some of the biggest names in Jazz, and yes, Big Band Jazz included, the likes of Woody Herman, Glenn Miller to name 2 big band leaders, were both white, Some of the biggest names in Jazz were also white, Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker and even Vince Guaraldi were all white guys who were steeped in the Jazz tradition.

That said, I LIKE this grouping, it really does capture the ESSENCE of what Reid Miles had done and I'm inspired by much of his work myself as I move towards a new career in commercial graphic design (print mostly) and I find much of his work to fit my sensibilities very well.

And for all of yu who may be calling this copying, I don't think it is and there is a law called Creative Commons, where work is set to be used for a variety of things, such as video classes and the like, but also, Hip, Hop artist still have to get permission to use a sample of any given copyrighted material they choose to sample for anything they create and sell and yes, while I don't particularly like Hip, Hop as a genre, I DO appreciate some of what it is as it relates to pop culture.

Not everything will hold up well over time, not even newer works or older works. A lot of what was created over the years has NOT held up, and that goes for the MCM era as well.

ciddyguy, who on this post said Jazz was exclusive to Black artists?

Well, I think these look amazing! If I could do this myself using different artists, I so would!

Goodness ... all the controversy! I think these are hilarious... he did a great job of spoofing the Blue Note look (although I also wouldn't necessarily say the Wu originals were "dated"). And there is a HUGE difference between ripping-off and homage. Last spring I did a collection of fake Blue Note album covers for the Peanuts brand (which I think are going to be on pillows)... stuff like "Live From the Doghouse" and whatnot. (Although Peanuts as a whole were deeply rooted in jazz, so it's not much of a stretch.) It's something you look at and immediately you get the inspiration ... oh, yeah THAT look. Blue Note defined that style just as David Klein did to the travel ad world of the same time period and later.

As a Blue Note/Wu Tang mashup, I think these are absolutely fantastic. (Although you didn't feature my favorite one!)

abc123, if you look at luckypeach's comment below, and she was the first commentor to this thread as well.

Yes, old school rap has become very much like jazz. Increasingly co-opted by white culture. Great, Logan

That's implying Jazz was merely a black based genre, much like Rap and Hip, Hop was, and still largely is to this day but Jazz has always been a mixed race genre for decades.

thanks for posting this, grace-- i had seen this somewhere but forgot to bookmark it.

it's a fun exercise, and i'm going to keep this in mind for something as silly as repurposing personal photos into fun gifts. with all the people in my family... it would be fun to do a "36 chambers" type album (top left in grid) PHOTO album cover.

Oh, don't misread me - I don't have a problem with how this guy used the albums. I think it's very clever and a great thing to display in his home. I completely understand that this is far from "copying" Wu Tang's albums.

My post about copyright was referencing the (apparent) request that the artist should start making these to sell. It's that point where I think copyright kicks in. I don't know all the intricacies of the law, but I do suspect that successful musical artists would have a right to get legally twitchy if something like this ended up as, say, part of Target's home decor line.

I am uncomfortable with how freely people take other people's work and incorporate it into their own "artwork," which a lot of times has no original content, and (I think) would have a hard time calling itself "commentary."

I used to draw Darth Vader on my notebooks in junior high - but I didn't have my drawings silk-screened and sold at the local Spencer Gifts. I'm poor and George Lucas is rich - but it's his Darth Vader, his right to make the cash off it. My right, probably, to draw Darth as much as I like. Thankfully I've outgrown him.

Art. And then a great stir?