Some of your favorite rappers have showered him in praise, dozens of media publications have given him glowing remarks on his work, and a lot of his pieces have probably found their way onto your Ipod or iTunes library. However, if someone were to ask you who Chaz Morgan is, you would probably have no clue. That’s because he has allowed his prestigious work do most of the speaking for him.
Working with such artists like Meek Mill, Maybach Music Group, French Montana, and Red Café, Morgan’s graphic design talents have covered a number of hip hop profile albums. His most famous and salient has to be Dreams and Nightmares, which was hailed as one of the best cover artwork of that year.
While the Chicago artist has been making serious waves in the music industry, he has began to move forward on another aspiration of his: clothing design. Heading the Apparel Reserve, he has translated his unique minimalistic designs to fit all types of fashion. With multiple lines already under his belt he is looking to make some more headway in the future.
We got a chance to speak to Chaz, to further understand his approach to graphic and fashion design. It was enlightening to hear about how of our favorite covers were originally conceived, and how he is planning to move into the clothing business. Check it out below
How did you get your start in graphic design?
I had started my company 147 South in 2007, 2006-2007, but I was always artistic since I was like in the sixth grade; I’m 26 now. I didn’t really take things serious until I was about seventeen or eighteen. That’s when I started really working with photoshop and everything, trying to see how far I could go.
What was your first project that set it off, that made you realize it was the job for me?
I was doing a lot of local work, but I was working with Red Café for a longtime—still am, that’s my brother. He commissioned me to do the Above The Cloudz artwork for him, and I was getting so much notoriety off of it; he was shouting me out and everything. It was a new type of business coming my way, it wasn’t just local no more, and it was all over the place. That’s when I seen how the impactful the internet was.
Is that when you really started to create your own company?
Yeah that’s when I was like I had a creative look, and I wanted to create different factions and services for my company. I ended starting a fashion line called Federal Reserve, which I’ve seen on the Game, Fredo Santana, Travis Scott, all sorts of people. That really made me turn up, but what ultimately changed the paced and speed of everything was when I did Dreams and Nightmares. That turned everything up; it was like a homerun from there.
How did you come up with that Dreams And Nightmares concept?
You know what; it was funny because I got a call from the project manager for MMG, over there at Warner at that time. They were behind the ball, and didn’t have a concept or anything, they just asked me to take a stab at it. I went a lot of other directions, I had thirteen different concepts and the one he picked was the absolute last variation.
When I came up with that I had seen every documentary, every interview, every freestyle, and everything that was needed to know Meek Mill and all his mixtapes. I was joking around with my partner Greg, who was helping me facilitate the interaction with the label. He asked if I thought I had enough, and I was like, ‘you know what, let me get one more’. He asked me what direction I would go in, what other places I could take it. I said ‘Well, from what I see this n*gga is afraid of jail and loves Rolexes,” and I thought oh sh*t that would be a crazy design.
By the time I called him back, I had already laid that concept down three or four ways.
Was that you favorite design you’ve done so far?
Yeah definitely, because of the significance factor in it. I had spent so much time on the local scene battling my way up there. It was his first album and it would’ve been my potential album. These labels have creative departments and they have three or four dudes in them, it’s unheard of for an outside designer to be responsible for the look and feel of an entire project. So, I had over obsessed with the idea of getting it so much that I hadn’t even thought of the possibility of not getting it. The title was perfect for the mood for that period I was in and plus me and Meek are the same age.
One of my personal favorites is the Self-Made 3 cover, how did you come up with that idea?
Oh it was me and my homeboy Hustle, who came up with that. They didn’t want their faces all over it, they just wanted it money inspired “3”, grand and stuff. My homeboy over at MMG was sending us other designers stuff from Atlantic, to see what they were doing. They weren’t really feeling it. So when we were going back and forth, they were just like make a money “3”. I understood what they were going for, but there is no such thing as three dollar bill. So I was just researching the different elements on like the large 5 on the five and the edges.
I literally went to the bank and got one of each bill and I just sat and study all of them. I was able to come up with at least that base of the three and then I added a ton of effects on it. I never got the iconic feel while I was doing it, until I was done with it. It was so infectious and to be able to represent a label, especially Ross’ label, it was going to be big. We took it all the way, it’s on Ferrari’s and chains, it was just unmistakable.
And it only took me four and half hours to do it.
That’s crazy, could you talk about the artwork for “The Devil Is A Lie”? I liked the skull and the horns.
Ironically, a lot of the musicians I work with instead of signing a non-disclosure agreement, I never really hear the song before I design the artwork. I ask for what it is about or what the hook is and then I design it. For that one, I really wanted to hit it right. Jay Z is the type of the guy who doesn’t need any type of introduction, but with this being an official single, with his label pushing it and it going to be on people’s ipods and everything, I really wanted to make it smash.
I made them play me the instrumental and it felt really French Revolutionary and different. So it took me back to the catacombs, where they buried the people from the Black Death and everything. I wanted to make it seem like the Devil was conceited, so I took the skull and had the horns dipped in gold, because they are that powerful.
How do you go from designing albums to clothes? Is there any overlap?
Yeah there is sort of an overlap, because it is still my same style. However, I am the only person that I have to report to for the creative direction. It’s more personal and more exciting. I like clothing better because I have to come up with something different every time I design in order to compensate and reproduce it.
It comes from a different place, but the art industry is pretty much the same, so there are overlaps. There is less competition, because every design I had for music artists there were a slew of people battling for that job. Now it’s just me and I can do different things.
What’s your inspiration when you are making clothing designs?
I try to switch it up, like I put Mona Lisa on a shirt. The line was named “Carpe Diem”, but it was upside down. I’m from Chicago and right now the Gang sh*t is out of control. I feel like people don’t take the time to seize the day, or live for the day; take matters in their own hands to change their day. So, I flipped it upside down.
Then I did a crew neck sweater with Mona Lisa on it. I feel like people don’t really appreciate their own true beauty, so I put an image that people normally associate with flawless beauty on there. It was to create that conversation, it was an art piece. That’s what I like to do with my designs, if I think its dope, I’ll put it out there to create the conversation. There are no wrong or right answers in art.
If you would like to know more about Chaz, you can head over to his website by clicking here. He is also on twitter: @ALLBLCK.
Interview by: Jimi (@Nativejimi)
