What are your top three Hip Hop albums, based on music or the album cover?
My personal (not claiming to be all-time) top 3 Hip-Hop albums based on music: Capone-N-Noreaga “The War Report,” The Cool Kids “Gone Fishing,” and TRU “Tru 2 Da Game.” Based on album cover: GZA “Liquid Swords,” Mercedes “Rear End,” and Big Bear “Doin Thangs.”
How do you feel about the current state of album artwork and what artists are coming out with (ie: Mac Miller’s Watching Movies with the Sound Off, Kanye’s Yeezus, Watch The Throne)?
I’m not that well-versed in most of the current Hip-Hop album covers, but overall, I feel that the artwork is in a great state, with high levels of creativity and boundary-pushing. Some recent covers that I dig are Tyler the Creator’s “Wolf” (the 2-pose school picture, hilarious), Action Bronson’s “Rare Chandeliers,” and especially Kendrick Lamar’s “Good Kid, Maad City” (both covers). The new Killa Cam “Ghetto Heaven Vol. 1” mixtape cover is bananas too. I think Mac Miller’s “Watching Movies..” and Kanye’s “Yeezus” are really dope as well. I’ve seen lots of different parodies of those covers (Kendrick’s too). My theory is that if you are parodied, then you made some iconic sh*t; just like Pen&Pixel.
Have any mad parents contacted you that their kids shouldn’t be wearing Master P’s 211 or Mercedes Rear End?
Yes, actually the second or third order we got was from a young kid in Canada who ordered the Master P “Original Ghetto D” shirt. The next day his mom blew up our email and phone and left 3 angry, but mostly confused, voice messages. They went to the tune of: “Hi Mr. Coke, um Magic, my 13-year old son ____ stole my credit card and ordered something from your website, CokeMagic.com. I have no idea what he ordered, I think it’s a shirt maybe, and it’s called ‘Make Crack Like This?’ If this picture is what he ordered, I WILL NOT allow my son to purchase anything that features a homeless man smoking drugs. I am very concerned about how he found a cocaine website, and frankly….” Needless to say, that transaction was promptly cancelled haha.
One thing I always ask Hip-Hop artists is how we can get newer fans of Hip-Hop to do their homework and listen to some of the greats like the Big Tymers or Kool G Rap. This seems like the perfect answer. Do you see people’s awareness going up at all since you started Coke Magic? Or at least any new-found interest in the artists you’re featuring?
Definitely. From the start, we knew that aside from being an online retail store, the site can also serve as a Golden-Era-of-Rap resource page. Creating nostalgia for those who are familiar with the albums and artists, and generating interest to those who are not familiar, but intrigued by the album art on the shirt. In either circumstance, awareness is increased. An example is the Canadian 13-year old mentioned above who tried to buy the Master P shirt. He wasn’t even born until 3 years after that album came out. We believe and hope that our site entices re-listening, or first-time discovery of the music.