lil yachty wiki

How Lil Yachty Got His Second Act

By Jeff Ihaza

Until the pandemic, Lil Yachty never stopped to think about how quickly he became famous. “It was a full year from walking across the stage in high school to then I’m in this penthouse in midtown Atlanta , I got this G-wagon, put my mother in a house,” Yachty explains. “It’s a fast life. You not ever getting the chance to think about a lot of shit.”

Yachty’s 2016 hit “Minnesota,” which had the treacly energy of a nursery rhyme, earned the then-17-year-old the title “King of the Teens.” But since then, he’s become an elder statesman of a certain brand of young superstar — and something like the Gen Z answer to Diddy. He collaborated with brands like Nautica and Target; he appeared in the movie How High 2 ; he signed an endorsement deal with Sprite. Signees to his new label imprint, Concrete Boys, even get an iced-out chain.

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Born Miles Parks McCollum, Yachty embodies many of the ways the music industry has changed in the past decade. He rose to fame on the internet and commands attention with or without new music. Over Zoom in March, he’s calm and reserved, pausing intently before he responds to questions. The youthful exuberance is still there, though. At one point, his mom, who lives nearby, calls to ask what he wants from the grocery store. “I need Pop-Tarts,” he says sweetly. “I really want them cinnamon-bun Pop-Tarts.”

He can afford lots of Pop-Tarts. Yachty reportedly made $13 million on endorsements in 2016 and 2017. (“Work hard, play hard,” he responds when asked about the number.) He spends more than $50,000 a month on various expenses, according to one recent headline. (“If anything I pay a little more. I have many assets and insurance, plus an elaborate payroll.”) He’s working on a Reese’s Puffs cereal collaboration, a film based on the card game Uno, and he was one of the first rappers to hop on the crypto craze, selling something called a “YachtyCoin” last December in an auction on the platform Nifty Gateway. According to a report from Coinbase, the token sold for $16,050. Yachty explains that when he was first discovered by Quality Control records founder Kevin “Coach K” Lee, “one of the biggest things he talked about was being a brand. Being bigger than just an artist — being a mogul.” 

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In fact, collaboration has come to be a useful tool for Yachty as he sheds the King of the Teens title for something more akin to a rap mogul. “I only work with people I have friendships with, who I really admire,” Yachty says. “And I love working with newer artists, up-and-coming artists.”  Within the world of hip-hop, Yachty has found for himself somewhere between a megastar and internet hero, and it would appear that he’s just settling in. “I just fuck with new talent. Not even like, ‘let me sign you, get under my wing,’ ” he explains. “Just ‘hey, I’ve been in this spot before. I know what that’s like, bada bing, bada boom.’ ”

Yachty started Concrete Boys last year. One of the first signees was his childhood friend Draft Day, who offers one of the more exciting features on Lil Boat 3, on the cut “Demon Time.” “I feel old sometimes,” Yachty admits. “I feel old as fuck when someone’s popping and I don’t know who they are. Which is rare, because I be on my shit.”

Yachty is also at the forefront of a new realm of social platforms, namely Twitch and Discord, that engender more direct communication within communities. Yachty frequently talks directly to fans on both platforms, and in April he collaborated with Discord on “sound packs,” which allowed users to replace the app’s normal notifications with sounds he created. 

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I ask Yachty where he sees himself in five years. “Hopefully, a really successful actor,” he responds. “And with a bangin’ eight pack. I’ll probably cut my hair up, maybe a little beard. Real sex-symbol shit, you know what I’m saying?” For Yachty, who opened the door to a new brand of celebrity rapper, it doesn’t register as wishful thinking. His enduring celebrity is proof of what’s possible with a solid flow and internet savvy. “I just want to do everything. Because I’ve realized I can,” Yachty explains. “I’ve learned the power I have. The only thing stopping me is me, for real.”

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• Rappers from Mableton, Georgia
• Rappers from Atlanta, Georgia
• Rappers from Georgia
• Southern hip hop musicians
• Mumble rappers
• Article stubs
• XXL Freshmen
• Edit source

Miles Parks McCollum  (born August 23, 1997), better known by his stage name  Lil Yachty , is an American rapper and singer from Atlanta, Georgia. McCollum first gained recognition in August 2015 for his singles " One Night " and "Minnesota" from his debut EP Summer Songs . He released his debut mixtape  Lil Boat  in March 2016. In June 2016, Yachty signed a joint venture deal with Quality Control Music, Capitol Records and Motown Records. His debut studio album,  T lbum,  Nuthin' 2 Prove , was released in October 2018.

McCollum has described his style as "bubblegum trap ". He frequently uses auto-tune in his music, and his songs are classed as  mumble rap .

In October 2022, Lyrical Lemonade made a music video of a song of his called "Poland", which received a lot of popularity and became memed mainly because he says in the hook "I took the Wock to Poland", with a lot of emphasis on the word "Wock", which as a result, became an exploitable catchphrase. Speaking of which, he did actually take some Wock to Poland in real life.

Discography [ ]

Studio albums [ ].

• 2017: Teenage Emotions
• 2018: Lil Boat 2
• 2018: Nuthin' 2 Prove
• 2020: Lil Boat 3
• 2020: Lil Boat 3.5 (Deluxe of Lil Boat 3)
• 2023: Let's Start Here
• 2023: Voodoo Child
• 2024: DrizzyBoat (Collab album with Drake)
• 1 L'A Capone
• 2 Black Kray
• 3 East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry

Let’s Start Here.

“something ether”.

Flex Up (with Future and Playboi Carti)

Strike (Holster)

sAy sOMETHINg

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Lil Yatchty

• Edit source

Miles Parks McCollum (born August 23, 1997), known professionally as Lil Yachty, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He first gained recognition on the internet in 2015 for his singles "One Night" and "Minnesota" (featuring Quavo, Skippa Da Flippa and Young Thug) from his debut EP Summer Songs . He released his debut mixtape Lil Boat in March 2016. In June 2016, Yachty announced that he had signed a joint venture record deal with Motown, Capitol Records, and Quality Control Music.

Yachty has released five studio albums, beginning with Teenage Emotions in 2017. His second and third studio albums, Lil Boat 2 and Nuthin' 2 Prove , were released in 2018, followed by Lil Boat 3 , in 2020. Yachty's fifth studio album, entitled Let's Start Here , was released in 2023, and was inspired by psychedelic rock. Four of his albums have charted within the top 20 of the Billboard 200, with Lil Boat 2 peaking at number 2. Yachty has also released several mixtapes and EPs throughout his career, with his most recent Michigan Boy Boat being released in 2021. Lil Yachty is also notable for his features on the 2016 multi-platinum songs "Broccoli" by DRAM and "ISpy" by Kyle, his eccentric hairstyle, and his optimistic image. Yachty was nominated for a Grammy Award for his work on "Broccoli".

Early Life [ ]

Miles McCollum was born in Mableton, Georgia. He attended Alabama State University in fall 2015 but soon dropped out to pursue his musical career. He adopted the name "Yachty" and moved from his hometown of Atlanta to New York City to launch his career. In New York, he lived with a friend and networked with online street fashion personalities, while he built up his own Instagram following. He worked at McDonald's to supplement his income early in his career.

• 1 MC Hammer
• 2 LL Cool J

Miles Parks McCollum (August 23, 1997), known professionally as Lil Yachty, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter.

• 1 Early life
• 2.1 2014–2017: "One Night", Lil Boat , and Teenage Emotions
• 2.2 2018–present: Lil Boat 2 , Nuthin' 2 Prove , and A-Team
• 3 Musical style
• 4 Personal life
• 5 Legal issues
• 6 Filmography
• 7 Discography
• 8.1 Billboard Music Awards
• 8.2 MTV Video Music Awards
• 8.3 Other awards

Early life [ ]

Miles Parks McCollum was born on August 23, 1997 in Mableton, Georgia. In 2014, he adopted the stage name Lil Yachty and moved from his hometown of Atlanta to New York City to launch his career. He stayed with a friend and networked with online street fashion personalities, while he built up his own Instagram following. He worked at McDonald's.

2014–2017: "One Night", Lil Boat , and Teenage Emotions [ ]

McCollum first came to prominence in December 2015 when the SoundCloud version of his song "One Night" was used in a viral comedy video.

In February 2016, McCollum debuted as a model in Kanye West's Yeezy Season 3 fashion line at Madison Square Garden. McCollum’s debut mixtape Lil Boat was released in March 2016.

In April 2016, McCollum collaborated with DRAM on the hit song "Broccoli", which peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. He featured on Chance the Rapper's Coloring Book mixtape, released in May 2016. On June 10, 2016 he announced he had signed a joint venture record deal with Quality Control Music, Capitol Records, and Motown Records. McCollum released his second mixtape Summer Songs 2 in July 2016.

In December 2016, he was featured on the hip hop single "iSpy" by Kyle. He was featured in Tee Grizzley's single "From the D to the A", released in March 2017.

On May 26, 2017, Lil Yachty released his debut studio album, Teenage Emotions . It features guest appearances from Migos, Diplo, Evander Griiim, Grace, Stefflon Don and YG, among others. Three promotional singles were released to coincide with the album. The first promotional single, "Harley", produced by K Swisha, was released on April 14, 2017. The second promotional single, "Bring It Back", produced by Free School, was released on May 4, 2017. The third promotional single, "X Men", produced by 30 Roc and Tillie and featuring a guest appearance from American rapper Evander Griiim, was released on May 18, 2017. He featured in a remix of "With My Team" by Creek Boyz, released December 15, 2017.

2018–present: Lil Boat 2 , Nuthin' 2 Prove , and A-Team [ ]

Lil Yachty announced on February 20, 2018, that his album Lil Boat 2 would be released on March 9, 2018. It was confirmed earlier, on January 21, 2018, that Lil Yachty and Takeoff have collaborated on an album that is yet to be released.

He was featured on the Ocean Park Standoff single "If You Were Mine", released on April 27, 2018. He joined FaZe Clan in December 2018 as "FaZe Boat".

On February 28, 2020, Lil Yachty released a collaborative project named A-Team with rappers Lil Keed and Lil Gotit as well as producer Zaytoven. The album featured 10 tracks and was preceded by the singles "Accomplishments" (with Lil Yachty, Lil Keed, and Zaytoven), "A-Team (You Ain't Safe)" (with Lil Yachty, Lil Keed, and Zaytoven), "Drip Jacker" (with Lil Yachty, Lil Keed, and Zaytoven), and "Hightop Shoes" (with Lil Yachty, Lil Keed, and Zaytoven). Following this, on March 9, 2020, Lil Yachty released the lead single from Lil Boat 3 , titled "Oprah's Bank Account" with features by Drake and DaBaby. Lil Boat 3 was released on May 29, 2020. On October 19, 2020, Lil Yachty announced that he intends to release a mixtape titled Michigan Boy Boat , before the end of 2020.

McCollum first gained recognition in August 2014 for his singles "One Night" and "Minnesota" from his debut EP Summer Songs . He released his debut mixtape Lil Boat in March 2016. On June 10, 2016, Yachty announced that he had signed a joint venture record deal with Quality Control Music, Capitol Records, and Motown Records. His mixtapes Lil Boat and Summer Songs 2 were released in 2016 and his debut studio album, Teenage Emotions in 2017. His second studio album, Lil Boat 2 , was released on March 9, 2018. His third studio album, Nuthin' 2 Prove , was released on October 19, 2018. His fourth studio album, Lil Boat 3 , was released on May 29, 2020.

Musical style [ ]

Lil Yachty has called his style "bubblegum trap." His songs have sampled sounds from Mario Bros. , Charlie Brown, the theme from Rugrats , the startup sound of a GameCube console, as well as J-pop singer Daoko. Other themes in his works include clouds, cotton candy, the Super Nintendo, and scenes from Pixar films. His friend TheGoodPerry is heavily involved in the production of his songs. McCollum’s style has also been described as mumble rap.

Rolling Stone described his music as "catchy, intentionally dinky-sounding tunes packed with off-color boasts delivered in a proudly amateurish singsong." The Guardian called his music "fun, hook-first pop rap oblivious to songcraft and structure that doesn't take itself too seriously, with very little interest in legacy and even less in rap canon."

McCollum grew up listening to Canadian rapper Drake.

Personal life [ ]

McCollum attended Alabama State University in fall 2015 but dropped out to pursue his musical career.

In a 2016 interview for CNN, McCollum expressed support for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential election, and praised Sanders in his work during the civil rights movement.

Yachty made a guest appearance in a Sprite commercial with LeBron James, where he is seen in an ice cave playing the piano. Lil Yachty was picked to be the face of the new Nautica and Urban Outfitters collection. McCollum also appeared in the "It Takes Two" video with Carly Rae Jepsen for Target.

In 2018, McCollum worked with Donny Osmond to create a theme song for Chef Boyardee titled "Start the Par-dee".

Legal issues [ ]

2015 mugshot of McCollum On August 27, 2015, McCollum and one other man were arrested at a mall in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida for credit card fraud, Yachty was released after posting a bail bond of $11,000. According to McCollum, his records were expunged.

Filmography [ ]

Discography [ ]

Main article: Lil Yachty discography

• Teenage Emotions (2017)
• Lil Boat 2 (2018)
• Nuthin' 2 Prove (2018)
• Lil Boat 3 (2020)

Awards and nominations [ ]

Billboard music awards [ ].

MTV Video Music Awards [ ]

Other awards [ ]

• 2 Playboi Carti

• Edit source

Miles Parks McCollum  (born in August 23 1997) known professionally as Lil Yachty is an American Rapper and singer from Georgia

There is a problem with parsing the infobox Albums

Lil boat (2016)

Teenage emotions (2017)

Lil boat 2 (2018)

Nuthin' 2 prove (2018)

Lil boat 3 (2020)

Michigan boy boat (2021)

Let's Start Here (2023)

• Edit source

Miles Parks McCollum (born August 23, 1997), known professionally as Lil Yachty , is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He first gained recognition in August 2015 for his viral hit "One Night" from his debut EP Summer Songs . He then released his debut mixtape Lil Boat in March 2016, and signed a joint venture record deal with Motown, Capitol Records, and Quality Control Music in June of that year.

Yachty has released five studio albums, beginning with Teenage Emotions in 2017. His second and third studio albums Lil Boat 2 and Nuthin' 2 Prove were released in 2018, followed by Lil Boat 3 in 2020. Yachty's fifth album, Let's Start Here (2023) marked a departure from his previous style, experimenting with psychedelic rock. The album was released to generally positive reception. Four of his albums have charted within the top 20 of the Billboard 200, with Lil Boat 2 peaking at number 2. Lil Yachty is also notable for his features on the 2016 multi-platinum songs "Broccoli" by DRAM and "ISpy" by Kyle; as well as his cherry-red hairstyle, lighthearted tone, and optimistic image. Yachty was nominated for a Grammy Award for his work on the song "Broccoli".

Yachty made his musical guest debut on Saturday Night Live on April 1, 2023 , the sixteenth episode of Season 48 , and the second SNL episode to have premiered on April Fools' Day, hosted by actress, writer, producer and comedian Quinta Brunson , the creating, executive producing, co-writing, and star of the ABC's hit comedy series Abbott Elementary . He performed his two songs "the BLACK seminole." and "drive ME crazy!", both with Diana Gordon from his new fifth studio album Let's Start Here .

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Lil Yachty Biography, Age, Wiki, Height, Weight, Girlfriend, Family & More

Biography / Wiki

As the rapping world is at the top of its popularity, some rappers established themselves in the music industry and one of them is proficient rapper ‘Miles Parks McCollum’ professionally known as ‘Lil Yachty’ who is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter.

He is well recognized for his singles “One Night” and “Minnesota” as well as for his mixtapes “Summer Songs 2” and “Lil Boat”.

For his tremendous music and rapping, he received two MTV Video Music Awards nominations for ‘Broccoli’ and a Grammy nomination for ‘Broccoli’ under the category of Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. After that, there is no looking back after Lil Yachty.

Height / Weight / Age

Born on 23 August 1997. He seems enough tall with his height which is 180 centimeters and 5’9” feet. He maintains himself very fit and healthy with a weight of 70 kilograms and 154 lbs in pounds.

Moreover, he is very conscious about his physique and follows a regular and healthy diet in order to keep himself fit as a fiddle with body measurements of 40 inches chest, 32 inches waist, and 14 inches biceps approximately.

He has earned a good amount of money from his singing and rapping as well as from his endorsement deals with several brands such as Puma, Adidas, EA Sports, Icebox Jewelry, Nautica, Sprite, and many more. His estimated net worth is to be $8 million.

Education / Family

Lil was born and raised in Mableton, Georgia, USA, and belongs to the Afro-American ethnicity. He is born to his father Shannon McCollum who is a professional photographer and his mother Lily McCollum.

He also has a lovely sister named Nina McCollum. As for his education, he completed his schooling at his local high school and further went to Alabama State University but he dropped out of college just after two months.

Career / Fashion and Style

As of his career, he used to work at a McDonald’s restaurant. He adopted the stage name “Yachty” in 2015. In 2015, he moved to New York City to pursue his music career. In December 2015, rose to prominence after his song ‘One Night’. He made his debut as a model in Yeezy Season 3 fashion line at Madison Square Garden in 2016.

He released his debut mixtape, ‘Lil Boat’ on March 9, 2016. He collaborated with DRAM on the hit song “Broccoli” in April 2016 and the song peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. He featured on Chance the Rapper ‘s Coloring Book mixtape in May 2016.

He announced he had signed a record deal with Quality Control Music, Motown Records, and Capitol Records in June 2016. In July 2016, he released his second mixtape, ‘Summer Songs 2’. He was featured on the hip hop single “iSpy” by Kyle in December 2016.

He released his debut studio album, ‘Teenage Emotions’ on May 26, 2017which featured guest appearances from Grace, Stefflon Don, Migos, Diplo, Evander Griiim, and YG. In December 2017, he featured in a remix of “With My Team” by Creek Boyz. He released his second studio album, ‘Lil Boat 2′ in March 2018.

In April 2018, he featured on the Ocean Park Standoff single “If You Were Mine”. He released his third studio album, Nuthin’ 2 Prove in October 2018. He released a collaborative project, ‘A-Team’ in February 2020 with rappers Lil Keed and Lil Gotit. He released the lead single from Lil Boat 3, titled “Oprah’s Bank Account” in March 2020.

In May 2020, he released his fourth studio album, ‘Lil Boat 3’. He also lent his voice in the American animated superhero film, ‘Teen Titans Go! To The Movies’ for the character of Green Lantern. He appeared in the romantic comedy film, ‘Long Shot’ and the TV film, ‘How High 2″ in March 2019.

Girlfriend, Affairs, Wife, and More

As of his personal life, he is not married yet and focusing on his career. In 2017, he was romantically linked with Megan Denise.

Favorite Things

Here we are providing the list of favorites of Lil Yachty:

Some Interesting Facts About Lil Yachty

• He was arrested in connection with credit card fraud at a mall along with a man in 2015.
• He endorsed many famous brands such as EA Sports, Icebox Jewelry, Nautica, Adidas, Christian Dior, and many more.
• He has inked several tattoos all over his body.
• He earned a Grammy nomination in 2017 under the category of Best Rap/Sung.
• He was teased, bullied, and harassed during high school.
• He is quite popular on Instagram with having over 9.8m followers.
• He is fondly known for the names Lil Boat, Nautica Boat Boy, and King Boat.
• He got some crazy jewelry such as a diamond Bart Simpson with braids.

Social Media Profile(s)

• Instagram  – @lilyachty
• Twitter – @lilyachty
• Facebook  – @lilyachtysailingteam

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Lil Yachty Wiki, Girlfriend, Age, Height, Family, Biography & More

Lil Yachty was born on August 23, 1997 (age 25 years; as in 2022) in Mableton, Georgia, United States. His real name is Miles Parks McCollum . He attended Alabama State University in 2015 but soon dropped out to pursue his musical career. His Father’s name is Shannon McCollum and his Mother’s name is Venita McCollum . He has a sister named Kodie Shane.

Lil Yachty Wiki / Biography

• Name – Lil Yachty
• Real Name – Miles Parks McCollum
• Nick Name – Lil Boat, Darnell Boat, FaZe Boat, C.V. Thomas
• Birthday – August 23, 1997
• Age – 25 Years (as in 2022)
• Gender – Male
• Nationality –  American
• Zodiac/Sun Sign – Virgo
• Religion – Christianity
• Born In – Mableton, Georgia, United States
• Hometown – Mableton, Georgia, United States
• Famous As – Rapper
• Profession – Rapper , Singer , Songwriter
• Years active – 2014 – present
• Debut Album – Teenage Emotions (2017)
• Debut Single – One Night (2016)
• Debut Music videos – One Night (2016)
• Genres – Hip hop, trap, pop rap
• Father – Shannon McCollum
• Mother – Venita McCollum
• Brother – N/A
• Sister – Kodie Shane

Lil Yachty Wife, Girlfriends, Affairs and More

• Affairs/Girlfriends – Megan Denise
• Marital Status – Unmarried
• Wife Name – Not known
• Children – 1
• Daughter Name – Name not known
• Son Name – N/A

Educational Qualifications

• School – Pebblebrook High School
• College – Alabama State University
• Qualifications – Dropped out

Physical Stats & More

• Height – 178 cm (in feet inches- 5′ 10″)
• Weight – 75 kg (in pounds- 165 lbs)
• Body Measurements – Not known
• Eye Colour – Black
• Hair Colour – Black

Lil Yachty Wikipedia

Lil Yachty is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is from Mableton, Georgia, United States. He is famous for his single “ One Night ” in 2015.

He has released four studio albums Teenage Emotions in 2017. His second and third studio albums Lil Boat 2 and Nuthin’ 2 Prove released in 2018 and Lil Boat 3, was released in 2020.

He is very active and famous on social media. He has more than 10 million followers on Instagram and more than 2.6 million followers on his Facebook account as of October 2022.

Lil Yachty Net Worth is $11 million.

Favorite things

• Favorite Actor – Not known
• Favorite Actress – Not known
• Favorite Food – Burger
• Favorite Holiday Destination – Miami
• Favorite Sports – Cricket
• Favorite Color – Black
• Hobbies – Playing Music, Traveling

Lil Yachty is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter.

Shannon McCollum

Venita McCollum

178 cm (in feet inches- 5′ 10″)

August 23, 1997 (age 25 years; as in 2022)

Megan Denise

Yes, one daughter

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The 100 Best Album Covers of All Time

From biggie to beyoncé to bad bunny, from nirvana to nas to neil young, this is the album art that changed the way we see music.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MATTHEW COOLEY

The album is the best invention of the past century, hands down — but the music isn’t the whole story. The album cover has been a cultural obsession as long as albums have. Ever since 12-inch vinyl records took off in the 1950s, packaged in cardboard sleeves, musicians have been fascinated by the art that goes on those covers, and so have fans. When the Beatles revolutionized the game with the cover of Sgt. Pepper , in 1967, it became a way to make a visual statement about where the music comes from and why it matters. But the art of the album cover just keeps evolving.

So this is our massive celebration of that art: the 100 best album covers ever, from Biggie to Beyoncé to Bad Bunny, from Nirvana to Nas to Neil Young, from SZA to Sabbath to the Sex Pistols. We’ve got rap, country, jazz, prog, metal, reggae, flamenco, funk, goth, hippie psychedelia, hardcore punk. But all these albums have a unique look to go with the sound. The most unforgettable covers become part of the music — how many Pink Floyd fans have gotten their minds blown staring at the prism on the cover of Dark Side of the Moon , after using it to roll up their smoking materials?

What makes an album cover a classic? Sometimes it’s a portrait of the artist — think of the Beatles crossing the street, or Carole King in Laurel Canyon with her cat. Others go for iconic, semi-abstract images, like Led Zeppelin, Miles Davis, or My Bloody Valentine. Some artists make a statement about where they’re from, whether it’s R.E.M. repping the South with kudzu or Ol’ Dirty Bastard flashing his food-stamps card to salute the Brooklyn Zoo.

Many of these covers come from legendary photographers, designers, and artists, like Andy Warhol, Annie Leibovitz, Storm Thorgerson, Raymond Pettibon, and Peter Saville. Some have cosmic symbolism for fans to decode; others go for star power. But they’re all classic images that have become a crucial part of music history. And they all show why there’s no end to the world’s long-running love affair with albums.

CONTRIBUTORS: David Browne , Jon Dolan , Suzy Exposito , Andy Greene , Kory Grow , Maya Georgi , Maura Johnston , Gabrielle Macafee , Angie Martoccio , Mosi Reeves , Rob Sheffield , Hank Shteamer , Simon Vozick-Levinson , Alison Weinflash , Christopher Weingarten

From Rolling Stone US

Spinal Tap, ‘Smell the Glove’

There was no easy way to discuss “the issue with the cover” of (totally fictitious heavy-metal band) Spinal Tap’s (nonexistent) 1982 album, Smell the Glove, as recounted in a scene from the mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap: “You put a greased, naked woman on all fours, with a dog collar around her neck and a leash, and a man’s arm extended out up to here holding onto the leash, and pushing a black glove in her face to sniff it,” artist-relations rep Bobbi Flekman (Fran Drescher) says. “You don’t find that offensive?” Well, somebody did, so Spinal Tap ended up with an all-black cover. The band members equivocated it by saying it looked like black leather, a black mirror, death, and mourning. Then Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) got it: “There’s something about this that’s so black, it’s like, ‘How much more black could this be?’ And the answer is, ‘None. None more black.’” The joke manifested itself in real life with Spinal Tap’s soundtrack album, a punk band called None More Black, and “Black Albums” from Metallica, Jay-Z, Prince, the Damned, and many others. Plus, Spinal Tap eventually released their original album cover, albeit toned down a little, years later on the sleeve of their single “Bitch School.” —K.G.

Grateful Dead, ‘Europe 72’

Together or separately, the San Francisco artists Alton Kelley and Stanley Mouse made sure that album art for the Grateful Dead was as trippy (1971’s Grateful Dead) or earthy (Workingman’s Dead) as the music inside. Their visuals for the band’s live triple album are among the simplest in Dead album history. The big, clumsy foot about to stomp on Europe is a witty metaphor for the Dead’s wild-eyed series of shows on that continent, and the “fool” smashing an ice-cream cone into his forehead on the back cover is just goofy Dead fun. (It may also be connected to a tale in drummer Bill Kreutzmann’s memoir about the band dumping some ice cream onto an annoying fan.) Even in the land of the Dead, where visual and musical indulgence could rule, Kelley and Mouse realized that sometimes, less is more. —D.B.

Lil Yachty, ‘Lil Boat’

The cover of Lil Yachty’s debut mixtape, Lil Boat, finds the rapper clad in overalls, standing in a small boat in the middle of the ocean. The collage is framed by a red border printed with the numbers 33.7750° N 84.3900° W — coordinates for the Five Points neighborhood in downtown Atlanta — marking the then-18-year-old rap vocalist as the latest manifestation of the city’s fast-moving and highly influential scene. Mihailo Andic, who designed Lil Boat using a photograph provided by Yachty’s management, drew inspiration from Tumblr. “I thought it’d be a great idea to pitch a cover to his management team: Yachty, on a boat, in the middle of nowhere,” he told Green Label in 2016. “My whole style uses retouching and superimposing photos to make them look as one.” —M.R.

Public Image Ltd, ‘Metal Box’

“We were turned on by the idea that it would be difficult to open the can and get the records out,” Public Image Ltd guitarist Keith Levene told author Simon Reynolds in Rip It Up and Start Again. The post-punk pioneers were already blowing apart rock music with their long, repetitive, often improvisatory songs, and Metal Box rethought the album format itself — three 45 rpm LPs to be treated like 12-inch disco singles, all annoyingly crammed into an unwieldy canister. “With Metal Box, the cover came first, both mentally and physically,” frontman John Lydon told Classic Rock. “We spent most of the advance on it, so making Metal Box presented us with a real challenge because we didn’t have any money left for recording sessions.” —C.W.

Phoebe Bridgers, ‘Punisher’

Phoebe Bridgers’ excellent pandemic-era album has a cover that represents everything we were feeling at the time: fear, loneliness, heartbreak, and the secret wish for extraterrestrials to scoop you up into the sky and get you the hell out of here. Bridgers and photographer Olof Grind took a 24-hour road trip through the California desert, scouting for a location. “I always love a good adventure while shooting, and driving out in a pitch-black desert at 3 a.m. on dirt roads definitely added to my excitement,” Grind said. Bridgers made the skeleton suit her signature look, wearing it on the entire Punisher album cycle and tour. And it’s still impossible not to think of Grind’s image when you listen to songs like the gorgeously devastating “Moon Song” and the strangely romantic “Garden Song.” —A.M.

Offset, ‘Set It Off’

Designed and art-directed by Amber Park, the cover image for Offset’s Set It Off shows the Atlanta rapper tumbling through the sky as the world explodes around him. The image represents modern rap’s shift toward Wagnerian-size drama, with Offset as another kind of heroic survivor, outlasting and overcoming his many controversies. He wears sequined socks and gold gloves, which nod toward his fascination with Thriller-era Michael Jackson. And the image is constructed upside down, making it appear like he’s falling into the sky, not out of it. “I wanted it to be an art piece,” he told Our Generation Music. “It’s like I’m falling down but I’m going up.” —M.R.

Slayer, ‘Reign in Blood’

Just how do you illustrate lyrics like “Raining blood from a lacerated sky/Bleeding its horror, creating my structure/Now, I shall reign in blood”? Slayer producer and label head Rick Rubin turned to political cartoonist Larry Carroll, who tapped into his inner Hieronymus Bosch to create a mixed-media representation of hell with a goatlike deity, decapitated heads, and murderous black angels. “If I remember correctly, [Slayer] didn’t like the cover I did for Reign in Blood at first,” Carroll told Revolver in 2010. “But then someone in the band showed it to their mother, and their mother thought it was disgusting, so they knew they were onto something.” Carroll subsequently created similar hellscapes for Slayer’s South of Heaven, Seasons in the Abyss, and Christ Illusion albums, producing some of the scariest covers in music. —K.G.

Slint, ‘Spiderland’

The members of Slint were just teenagers when they came together in drummer Britt Walford’s Louisville,Kentucky, basement to make the eerily expansive indie rock they’d capture on their epochal 1991 sophomore album, Spiderland. That mix of youthful exuberance and youthful aloneness comes through in the album’s black-and-white cover, which shows them smilingly treading water in a local quarry. The photo was taken by their friend Will Oldham, who’d soon be making his own name with Palace Brothers and Bonnie “Prince” Billy. “We’re just all being youthful and happy,” guitarist Dave Pajo told Rolling Stone’s Hank Shteamer years later, describing the band’s attitude at the time. “When you’re younger, everything is so life-and-death and huge.” —J.D.

Lauryn Hill, ‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’

The wood carving at the center of Lauryn Hill’s only official studio album to date is both inspired by artwork for the Wailers’ 1973 album Burnin’ and by the album title itself. “She already had some great ideas that were inspired by the album title,” Columbia art director Erwin Gorostiza told Okayplayer in 2021. The two developed a plan to arrange a photo shoot at Hill’s alma mater, Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey. After photographer Eric Johnson snapped images of her, they decided to select one of them as source material for an illustration that resembles something made by a wayward, “miseducated” student on a school desk. The result vividly reflects Hill’s rustic melding of hip-hop, R&B, and reggae sounds, and her journey to find clarity in a world riven by relationships and desire. —M.R.

Big Brother and the Holding Company, ‘Cheap Thrills’

Counterculture cartoonist Robert “R.” Crumb drew the cover for the 1967 debut by Big Brother and the Holding Company, a psychedelic comic strip that tells the album’s story in each of its songs. The artist laid down the cover after watching the band from backstage at San Francisco’s Carousel Ballroom: “He really wasn’t into our music, but it didn’t matter,” drummer Dave Getz recalled. It really didn’t: Crumb still captured the wild, woolly spirit of Janis Joplin and her bandmates, even if he’d intended for what became the front cover to serve as its back sleeve. —M.J.

Ani DiFranco, ‘Up Up Up Up Up Up’

Modern folk-music icon Ani DiFranco built her enduring success on a mix of anti-capitalist commitment, aesthetic ingenuity, DIY community, and her electric charisma. You can see all of those elements in the multidimensional cover image for her 1999 album. It’s a statement of playful substance over predictable image, but even with her face pointed to the ground she still completely commands your attention. The cover photo was taken by her friend and longtime manager Scot Fisher, who helped DiFranco found the Buffalo, New York-based label Righteous Babe. “We were a mom-and-pop operation,” she recalled in a 2016 interview. “Scot was the photographer and the dude who answered the phone, and I was the graphic designer who would paint the album covers.” —J.D. 

Silkk the Shocker, ‘Charge It 2 Da Game’

The garish, maximalist, larger-than-life album covers of Pen & Pixel defined the late-Nineties CD era, when Southern rap labels like No Limit, Cash Money, and Suave House began to topple the East Coast/West Coast monopoly. Brothers Aaron and Shawn Brauch covered hundreds of album covers with their Photoshop wonderlands of luxury cars, sparkling gems, and bottles of champagne. The cover of Silkk the Shocker’s second album — jeweled lettering, gleaming pinky ring, skewed perspective, gold “Ghetto Express” card — is a classic of the form. “The longer you hold that CD cover in your hand, the more possession-oriented you become,” Shawn told Red Bull. “People would comment later, ‘Yeah, man, the album wack, but the artwork was cool.’ I was like, ‘Well, that’s my job done, right?’” —C.W.

Neil Young, ‘On the Beach’

“Album covers are very important to me,” Neil Young wrote in his 2012 memoir, Waging Heavy Peace. “They put a face on the nature of the project.” This is especially true of 1974’s On the Beach, Young’s devastating rumination on Watergate, the recent breakup of his marriage, his recent albums’ commercial failure, and the overall dissolution of the Sixties dream. It’s all evident on the cover, where he’s seen standing on the Santa Monica shore, his back turned away from the camera. The tail light of a 1959 Cadillac emerges from the sand, surrounded by gaudy yellow patio furniture. The headline from a local L.A. paper reads “Sen. Buckley Calls for Nixon to Resign.” Young spontaneously purchased the items with art director Gary Burden while stoned on “dynamite” weed. —A.M.

Devo, ‘Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!’

“What we focused on was inane, mundane, dumb, mass stuff,” said Devo’s Gerald Casale to NBC. “We liked to go to Kmart and Gold Circle because it had all this discount stuff. That’s when I found, in an aisle of discontinued sports goods, the Chi Chi Rodriguez golf-ball package.” For its debut, the band wanted to use the image of the flamboyant golfer they found on a $1.99 box of balls; however, Warner Bros. lawyers intervened. They quickly found a composite photo of four U.S. presidents that Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh called “perfectly hideous” and had it airbrushed onto Rodriguez’s face. —C.W.

Frank Ocean, ‘Blonde’

The now-iconic photograph of Frank Ocean in the shower as he cups his hand over his face, his hair dyed in lime green, was the result of a lengthy 2015 collaboration between him and German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans. The image plays to both men’s interest in otherness, not only as a sign of queer identity, but also as a method of presenting a distinctly iconoclastic yet public self. Ocean and Tillmans were brought together for a photo shoot by the fashion magazine Fantastic Man. Blonde introduced Tillmans, who had been documenting underground culture since the Eighties, to a new generation. It also introduced a defining image of the singer, one both invitingly mysterious and alluringly unknowable. —M.R.

Minor Threat, ‘Minor Threat’

Minor Threat epitomized American hardcore punk at its most fiercely independent. You see that spirit in the classic image of singer Ian MacKaye’s brother Alec sleeping on the steps of Dischord House, where so many of the D.C. punk kids lived and where the band ran their label. Alec’s shaved head, his scuffed work boots, his rumpled clothes, his folded arms, his punked-out exhaustion — it summed up the whole ethos of Minor Threat. The image has been a symbol of DIY realness ever since, inspiring many tributes, most famously the cover of Rancid’s 1995 …And Out Come the Wolves. No wonder corporate America wanted a piece — Nike tried to appropriate it for their bizarre 2005 “Major Threat” ad campaign, until public outrage shut it down. —R.S.

Jay-Z, ‘The Blueprint’

For The Blueprint, Jay-Z turned to Jonathan Mannion, a photographer who had shot all of Jay’s covers since his 1996 debut, Reasonable Doubt. Mannion took inspiration from Jocelyn Bain Hogg, a British photographer who snapped South London gangster Dave Courtney giving a lecture at Oxford Union, for his book The Firm. Mannion’s shot replicates the aerial framing, finding Jay-Z looking away from the camera, holding court over a group of minions only identified by their shoes. Designer Jason Noto of Def Jam’s in-house creative department the Drawing Board cast the entire image in faded blues and grays. In 2021, Jay sued Mannion over prints the photographer sold from their many sessions. The two settled out of court in 2023. —M.R.

Taylor Swift, ‘Folklore’

Taylor Swift stepped back from her songs on her eighth album: “I found myself not only writing my own stories, but also writing about or from the perspective of people I’ve never met, people I’ve known, or those I wish I hadn’t,” she posted upon Folklore’s release in 2020. Its striking monochromatic cover — a departure from the candy-coated Lover front, and the first collaboration between Swift and photographer Beth Garrabrant — is similarly situated in the wide world, with the coat-clad singer seeming tiny amid mist-cloaked trees and mossy terrain, gazing upward with a pondering expression. —M.J.   

Shakira, ‘Dónde Están los Ladrones?’

After wrapping up her 1997 Pies Descalzos Tour, Shakira landed in Bogotá, Columbia, to discover her briefcase had been stolen … and in it, the songs she’d written for her next album. She’d decidedly named her 1998 record “Dónde Están los Ladrones?” or “Where Are the Thieves?” — and conceptualized the theft as an allegory for thefts of all kinds, including that of Columbia by corrupt politicians, drug lords, and paramilitaries, during what’s since been described as the “Dirty Wars.” Shot against a statement hot pink, Shakira posed for her album cover donning edgy purple braids, with extended dirt-covered palms. “The dirty hands represent the shared guilt,” she said of her cover. “No one is completely clean.… In the end, we are all accomplices.” —S.E.

King Crimson, ‘In the Court of the Crimson King’

King Crimson knew they were onto something big when they pieced together “21st Century Schizoid Man,” the snarling, sweeping portrait of an unraveling collective consciousness that would open their 1969 debut LP. And when artist Barry Godber dropped by London’s Wessex Studios to show them the cover painting that lyricist Peter Sinfield had commissioned, they knew they’d found the perfect visual counterpart. “This fucking face screamed up from the floor, and what it said to us was ‘schizoid man’ — the very track we’d been working on,” bassist-vocalist Greg Lake later recalled. Pairing the image with lyrics like “Blood rack, barbed wire/Politicians’ funeral pyre/Innocents raped with napalm fire,” it’s hardly a leap to imagine the cover figure looking on in horror at the atrocities the song describes. —H.S.

Weyes Blood, ‘Titanic Rising’

On the cover of Titanic Rising, Natalie Mering — the California singer-songwriter who records as Weyes Blood — appears inside an eerie deep-sea installation, hovering between a brass bed and a white wicker desk, with posters adorning the walls. The image perfectly captures the themes of Titanic Rising: millennial doom, the climate crisis, the isolation of technology, and water itself. “This bullshit initiation into culture — for most young people in the Westernized world, it’s their bedroom,” she told Rolling Stone. “They hang up posters of their favorite celebrities and their favorite movies, and they formulate these ideas about life and what life should be like, and what they want. And it’s all an incubation of capitalist bullshit. But it’s still very sacred.” —A.M.

Lil Wayne, ‘Tha Carter III’

“I’m going to be so honest with you: I don’t know Tha Carter III, Tha Carter II, Tha Carter One from Tha Carter IV. And that’s just my God’s honest truth,” Lil Wayne told RS last year. “I believe that [God] blessed me with this amazing mind, but would not give [me] an amazing memory to remember this amazing shit.” Fair enough. But the cover of Tha Carter III, Wayne’s best album, is unforgettable. Rappers have made iconic album artwork using baby photos before — think Ready to Die, Illmatic — but Wayne took it a step further, giving Baby Weezy a diamond pinky ring and some facial ink, for an image that summed up the unstoppable, no-fucks-given charm that made him a superstar. “We wanted to bring something new to it,” art director Scott Sandler said. “What if we put the tats on the baby?” —A.M.

New York Dolls, ‘New York Dolls’

Rolling Stone’s review of the New York Dolls’ 1973 self-titled debut refers to the punk pioneers as “mutant children of the hydrogen age.” This comes across perfectly on the album cover, which shows the androgynous quartet slumped together on a couch, slathered in makeup and hairspray. It was created by Vogue photographer Toshi Matsuo after the Dolls nixed a plan by their label to shoot them near vintage dolls in an antique shop, sans makeup. “That couch we were sitting on, we found that on the street and brought it up,” said guitarist Sylvain Sylvain. “We put the white fabric on it — I remember tacking it on.” The look was so ahead of its time that imitators wouldn’t come along until hair metal arrived a decade later. —A.G.

The Smiths, ‘The Queen Is Dead’

Throughout the Smiths’ feverishly productive run in the mid-Eighties, lead singer Morrissey selected photo stills depicting midcentury movies and pop-culture moments for their singles and albums. His pick for the Smith’s third album, The Queen Is Dead, may be their most iconic: an image of French superstar Alain Delon in the film L’Insoumis, lying in distress. The concept of this beautifully handsome yet controversially macho star — the Brad Pitt of the Sixties — as a “queen” nods toward Morrissey’s subversive sense of humor. The layout, handled by Rough Trade’s Caryn Gough, casts the photo in shades of dark green, making Delon appear as a doomed royal in their death throes. —M.R.

Tyler, the Creator, ‘Igor’

The cover for Tyler, the Creator’s fifth solo album is striking in its minimalism: a pained close-up of the California-born polymath combined with a typewriter-font assertion that he was responsible for all the album’s sonics, and a salmon backdrop that feels aggressive despite its pastel hue. Igor further established Tyler as an artist willing to push himself into new realms, and the cover announces that to anyone flipping through a collection. “We work well together because I believe in what he wants to create,” photographer Luis “Pancho” Perez, who worked with Tyler to create the cover, told Complex in 2019. “Nothing has really changed his confidence in himself.” —M.J.

Radiohead, ‘Kid A’

At the close of the 20th century, Radiohead were an acclaimed British rock band desperate to be anything else. That jittery unease fueled the artwork that Thom Yorke created with his old friend Stanley Donwood, riffing on ancient mythology and paranoid dreams in late-night sessions. “There was an air of chaos suddenly, and that was really fun,” Yorke told Rolling Stone years later. The cover they chose for Kid A has all the unsettling intensity of the music Yorke was making with his bandmates: an icy, forbidding mountain range, like something out of a digital nightmare. “It was almost a dark fairyland,” Donwood said. “A very lonely, cold, and quiet place, apart from the punctuations of terrible war.” —S.V.L.

Blur, ‘Parklife’

Designers Rob O’Connor and Chris Thompson took to London’s streets for inspiration as they were brainstorming a cover for what would go on to be Blur’s era-defining 1994 album. While peering in the window of a betting lounge for sports-related ideas, they found a concept that had bite: “We centered in on the greyhounds,” Blur guitarist Graham Coxon told Brit-pop chronicler Dylan Jones in 2022’s Faster Than a Cannonball, “because they had an aggressiveness we liked. We chose the ones with the most teeth. They look deranged, just longing to kill, and there’s a bizarre look in their faces. You just don’t get that look with a footballer — well, maybe a little bit.” The image of racing dogs underscored the hunger of the best Brit-pop, and set Blur apart from their more glam-minded peers. —M.J.

Willie Nelson, ‘Red Headed Stranger’

On his legendary 1975 opus, Red Headed Stranger, Willie Nelson tells the tale of a preacher on the run after killing his own child and unfaithful wife. Nelson stepped into the role of an outlaw on the cover (designed by Monica White), which showed his unruly image framed in the style of a ‘Wanted’ poster. Red Headed Stranger was country music’s first concept album, a watershed for the outlaw-country movement that included Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson, and its cover went a long way toward creating the subgenre’s rough-hewn iconography.  —G.M.

Billie Eilish, ‘When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’

Just like the music, the cover of Bille Eilish’s classic debut drops you right into her creepy-crawly teenage nightmares. Photographer Kenneth Cappello collaborated with Eilish on a 12-hour shoot, ending up with a deeply unsettling shot of Eilish sitting on bed, her eyes entirely white, pupils obscured. Eilish brought in sketches of her inspirations for the cover, which included the Babadook. (“I got so much inspiration from The Babadook,” she told Rolling Stone in 2019.) “She’s all in,” Cappello told MTV News. “Those wide eyes? Those aren’t in post, those are contacts. She goes all in on everything.”

FKA Twigs, ‘LP1’

The hauntingly plastic visage of British musician FKA Twigs dominates the cover of LP1, a bizarre representation of her disturbingly mutant electronic pop. It was constructed by Jesse Kanda, who met her via his longtime friend and collaborator Arca. “We did the front cover for her album in my room, with my shitty lights, and no people running around. I have the most control when I do everything myself,” he told Dazed in 2014. He sculpted a photograph of her using 3D technology, manipulating and warping the image, then painted over the results. Longtime XL Recordings art director Phil Lee and Twigs collaborated on the aquamarine blue design that spotlighted Kanda’s imagery. In 2015, the cover earned a Grammy nomination for Best Recording Package. —M.R.

Grace Jones, ‘Nightclubbing’

The famous Nightclubbing photo of Grace Jones dressed in an Armani suit, a cigarette dangling from her lips, was the culmination of a tempestuous personal and professional relationship between her and photographer Jean-Paul Goude. The image seemed as much a cheeky New Wave commentary on corporate Eighties style as an exercise in gender-bending fashion. But despite observers’ claims (and criticism) of how Goude crafted and manipulated her image, Jones has always asserted that she was in control of the process. “Jean-Paul would say, later…that he had created me,” she wrote in her 2015 autobiography, I’ll Never Write My Memoirs. “I knew that wasn’t the case, that I was creating myself before I met him.”–M.R.

R.E.M., ‘Murmur’

Lots of Southern bands had used pastoral imagery on their album covers to underscore their music’s down-home difference. R.E.M. flipped the script with the cover of their debut, Murmur. The front image shows a goth-y woods overrun by kudzu — a weed that grows so fast it covers and kills any plant in its way. The back image is of a disused train trestle near the band’s hometown of Athens, Georgia. Taken together, it was a perfect reflection of the band’s mysterious, enveloping sound. The “Murmur Trestle” immediately became part of local lore, defended by R.E.M. fans when it was approved for demolition in 2019. “Why do they need to preserve it?” said photographer Sandra-Lee Phipps, who took both photos. “It was just done randomly. Somehow it ended up mattering to people.” —J.D.

Van Halen, ‘1984’

When Warner Bros. designer Margo Nahas heard Van Halen’s original concept for the cover of their sixth LP — four dancing women made out of chrome — she quickly passed. (Already a seasoned illustrator of chrome, she “couldn’t imagine doing all the reflections,” she later said.) But when her husband, fellow designer Jay Vigon, brought her portfolio to the band, they were instantly drawn to her now-iconic painting of an angelic baby grinning and holding a smoke, which she’d modeled off a friend’s son. “I took a picture of him, took him candy cigarettes, which he proceeded to eat, every single one, after a brief tantrum, of course,” Nahas recalled in 2020. The impish yet innocent image encapsulated the lovable mischief of the band’s “Hot for Teacher” era. —H.S.

Lorde, ‘Melodrama’

For her highly-anticipated sophomore album, Lorde crafted a delicate cover that evoked Melodrama’s emotional heft. Painted by the Brooklyn artist Sam McKinnis — whom Lorde connected with via a fangirling email — and inspired by an image that McKinnis had made riffing on the cover of Prince’s Purple Rain, the cover is based on a photograph McKinnis took of Lorde as she lay in bed. Drenched in the shadows of a moody, electric blue that could swatch a dance floor or the walls of a club bathroom, with warm cracks of daybreak creeping on Lorde’s cheek, the image depicts her in the morning after a night of dancing with “all the heartache and treason” she sang about on the album. —M.G.

Marvin Gaye, ‘Here, My Dear’

There are breakup albums, and then there’s Here, My Dear, Marvin Gaye’s brutally honest unpacking of his in-progress divorce from his first wife, Anna Gordy. The serene front cover shows Gaye depicted as a Roman statue, standing in front of a lavish temple — its cornerstone bearing the inscription “Love and Marriage” — next to a sculpture of embracing lovers. But by the time you see the back-cover image, the sculpture and the temple have caught fire and are actively crumbling, and the inscription on the building now reads “Pain and Divorce.” If all that weren’t bleak enough, on the inner sleeve, we see a couple’s hands engaged in a Monopoly-like board game, with all their earthly possessions at stake between them, and the scales of justice looming ominously in the background. —H.S.

DJ Shadow, ‘Endtroducing’

DJ Shadow’s 1996 debut LP was constructed almost entirely out of samples, a love letter to funky, crackly old vinyl that was released into a world where most record stores only sold CDs. The cover image shows two of Shadow’s buddies from the Bay Area hip-hop label SoulSides, producer Chief Xcel and rapper Lyrics Born, going through the stacks at Records, a local institution (now closed) that billed itself as “a speciality shop dealing in out-of-print phonograph records.” As Shadow said of the store in the documentary Scratch, “Just being in here is a humbling experience because you’re looking through all these records, and it’s sort of like a big pile of broken dreams, in a way.” —J.D.

Sonny Rollins, ‘Way Out West’

“I was really living out my Lone Ranger thing,” Sonny Rollins said in 2009, reflecting on his Western-themed classic Way Out West. He wanted a cover that evoked the Westerns he grew up on, so photographer William Claxton suggested they pick up a ten-gallon hat, a holster, and a steer’s skull and head to the Mojave Desert, where he shot Rollins holding his saxophone and staring down the camera like a hardened cowboy. Some were critical of what they saw as the photo’s hokey premise and incorrectly assumed that Rollins was pressured into it. “Many people thought wrongly over the years that I was asked to pose that way or that the material was forced on me, because California was thought to be a movie place and a commercial place,” he said. “Not true. I was given complete control.” —H.S.

Janet Jackson, ‘The Velvet Rope’

With its themes of self-care, depression, and the then-taboo exploration of Black female queerness, The Velvet Rope may be Janet Jackson’s most intimate full-length work. Ironically, its cover depicts her clothed, not topless as on the Patrick Demarchelier-photographed shot on her previous album, 1993’s Janet. Photographer Ellen von Unwerth captured Jackson dressed in a black turtleneck with her head pointed downward. Meanwhile, the deep-red background tipped her audience to the burning emotions inside Jackson, as if she’s struggling to get it all out. (The interior photographs, shot by von Unwerth and Mario Testino, are more risqué.) “You know people they still ask me about it,” said von Unwerth of the enigmatic cover. “It became more iconic in a way.” —M.R.

My Bloody Valentine, ‘Loveless’

Swoosh-y abstraction was a go-to look for turn-of-the-Nineties shoegaze bands like Ride, Slowdive, and Swervedriver. But those bands usually worked in moody blues and grays. My Bloody Valentine’s choice of hot pink (a color you were more likely to see on a Poison record) for the cover of their 1990 masterpiece Loveless grabbed your eye with a look as undeniably loud as the band’s stomach-rattling guitar swells. MBV mastermind Kevin Shields and visual artist Angus Cameron collaborated on the image, taking a screengrab of Shields’ hands on his guitar from the band’s Cameron-directed “Too Shallow” video and turning it into a blur of radiant abstraction. —J.D.

Beastie Boys, ‘Licensed to Ill’

The cover of the Beastie Boys’ debut is as brash and playfully referential as the Beasties’ sound. Producer Rick Rubin got the idea for the cover — a Boeing 727 with a Beastie Boys logo and a tail number that, viewed in the mirror, says “eat me” — while reading through the Led Zeppelin bio Hammer of the Gods and spying a photo of the band’s private jet. “I wanted to embrace and somehow distinguish,” he said in the book 100 Best Album Covers, “in a sarcastic way, the larger than life rock & roll lifestyle.” Artists Stephen Byram and World B. Omes crafted the gatefold cover with a surprise in mind — at first it looks almost majestic, but when seen in full, the plane is revealed to have crashed, its front end crumpled. The resulting image provides another layer of irony: The plane, many have noted, looks like a joint smashed in an ashtray.

Joni Mitchell, ‘Hejira’

Joni Mitchell wrote Hejira while traveling cross-country, so she could have slapped a photo of an open road on the cover and called it a day. Instead, it was only the beginning. The sleek road sits inside a black-and-white Norman Seeff portrait of Mitchell, “haunted, like a Bergman figure,” wearing a beret and holding a cigarette. Around 14 photos were used for the cover and sleeves — including figure skater Toller Cranston out on the ice, to complete the wintry vibe — and an airbrush was used to make the images on the cover look like one cohesive illustration. The effort paid off, creating a beautifully intricate album cover to represent delicate tracks like “Amelia” and “Song for Sharon.” Looking back, Mitchell said it’s her favorite cover of hers: “A lot of work went into that.” —A.M.

Sonic Youth, ‘Goo’

Sonic Youth’s long run as the official band of America’s avant-garde art scene means that their catalog is full of iconic images, like Daydream Nation’s Gerhard Richter candle painting and Dirty’s Mike Kelley rag doll. But none are as enduring as the black-and-white sketch that SoCal punk legend Raymond Pettibon contributed to Goo. The pair of impossibly cool young sociopaths and their neo-noir tale of sex and death have been endlessly memed since then, but back in 1990, they made execs at the band’s new major-label home nervous — which was kind of the point. “That was so important at the time,” Lee Ranaldo later told biographer David Browne. “In a way, we were still in that world … that our ‘scene’ was making.” —S.V.L.

Rosalía, ‘El Mal Querer’

Rosalía tapped a longtime internet friend, the Spanish Croatian artist Filip Ćustić, to conceive what he’s described as a “visual universe” for her 2018 flamenco-pop masterwork, El Mal Querer. The two chatted over Whatsapp to devise an image for each track that would “update Spanish imagery to the 21st century.” In consistency with the record’s theme, Ćustić depicts Rosalía as an ethereal queen of the seraphs, a symbol of the divine feminine, liberated from the tyranny of a controlling man. “She emerges naked from the heavens, as if she were a goddess more than a virgin, saying, ‘This is me, and this has been my learning process,’” explained Ćustić in Spanish newspaper El Pais. —S.E.

Lana Del Rey, ‘Norman Fucking Rockwell’

On the cover of her sixth album, Lana Del Rey seems to be pulling us into her world of deconstructed American myths, as she clings to the Kennedy-esque figure of Jack Nicholson’s grandson Duke Nicholson. From its oil-painted blue sky to Del Rey’s bright-green nylon jacket, the image’s retro-modern feel perfectly reflects the way the music inside offers her own 2010s vision of fading Laurel Canyon glory. The cover photo was taken by Del Rey’s sister, Caroline “Chuck” Grant, who has collaborated with the singer on a number of music videos and photo shoots (including a 2023 cover of Rolling Stone UK). “She captures what I consider to be the visual equivalent of what I do sonically,” Del Rey said in a 2014 interview. —G.M.

T. Rex, ‘Electric Warrior’

Few rock sleeves feel as purposefully barren as the Electric Warrior cover, which finds glam god Marc Bolan suspended, along with his guitar and amp, in what might as well be an interstellar void. Using a live-image shot by Kieron Murphy, Hipgnosis designers Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell added a striking gold halo that helped turn Bolan into a visual icon at precisely the point when he was completing his metamorphosis from flower-child folkie to consummate rock & roll dandy. “Black and gold, the metal guru in full force,” Beck once wrote of one of his favorite album-art specimens. “This is what we want a rock cover to look like.” —H.S.

A Tribe Called Quest, ‘The Low End Theory’

The cover of A Tribe Called Quest’s second album features an unnamed model photographed by Joe Grant. She’s kneeling in black shadows, her body covered in green and red paint. It’s partly inspired by Ohio Players’ memorable 1970s run of covers that depicted women in freaky and suggestive positions. “I wanted a white background for the shot, but they flipped it and made it black,” said group leader Q-Tip in the 2005 book Rakim Told Me. All of the Low End Theory’s visual elements, from the woman in body paint to the red-black-green color scheme reminiscent of the Pan-African flag, became defining elements for Tribe moving forward, and a signature for their deep-rooted and jazz-inflected bohemian sound. —M.R.

Björk, ‘Homogenic’

The making of Homogenic was a fraught time for Björk, as she adjusted to a new level of global fame and the suicide of Ricardo López, a disturbed fan who mailed a letter bomb to her London home. After spotting a striking fashion photo created by photographer Nick Knight and designer Alexander McQueen, she enlisted them to sum up the various emotional currents in her life in an arresting hyperreal portrait. The blend of cultural elements — a Japanese kimono, a European manicure, Maasai neck rings, and a Hopi “butterfly whorl” hairstyle — reflected Björk’s perception of herself as a global citizen. As she later said: “We were trying to make this person that was under a lot of restraint, like long manicure, neckpiece, headpiece, contact lenses — still trying to keep the strength.” —H.S.

Judas Priest, ‘British Steel’

Judas Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton put in his time at the British Steel Corporation, working for the steel producer for five years before his band — who produce a different kind of heavy metal — decided to name their sixth album, British Steel. The title clicked with art director Rosław Szaybo and photographer Bob Elsdale, who created a giant razor blade out of aluminum with the band’s logo on it. Szaybo volunteered to hold it for the shot. “A lot of people looked at it and were really quite horrified,” Elsdale told Revolver. “The edges of the blade seemed to be cutting into Rosław’s flesh, because he was really gripping it quite hard. But that wasn’t the case — it actually had blunt edges. It wasn’t bloody, but it had an element of drama.” —K.G.

Sleater-Kinney, ‘The Hot Rock’

“It’s a labyrinthine record,” Carrie Brownstein wrote of Sleater-Kinney’s fourth LP, The Hot Rock, in her memoir, “sad, fractious, not a victory lap, but speaking to uncertainty.” Following up on their 1997 breakthrough, Dig Me Out, Brownstein, Corin Tucker, and Janet Weiss were working through interpersonal struggles while facing more scrutiny than ever before. The cover photo by Marina Chavez, showing the band standing on a Portland, Oregon, street corner, captures that heavy energy: Tucker and Weiss each stare toward the curb, the drummer looking almost trepidatious, while Brownstein holds up her hand, hailing a cab, her face bearing a disgruntled expression. Like the jewel thieves in the 1972 heist film that gave the album its name, the trio had no choice but to get a move on and meet their moment. —H.S.

David Bowie, ‘Diamond Dogs’

David Bowie closed out his glam era with the decadent apocalyptic excess of Diamond Dogs, a concept album set in a crumbling America of the future. “When we got to Diamond Dogs,” he later said, “that was when it was out of control.” The deranged spirit extended to its cover, designed by Belgian artist Guy Peellaert, which depicted Bowie as a grotesque half-man/half-dog, including genitals on his twisted body. Bowie’s pose on the cover was inspired by a 1926 photo of singer Josephine Baker. Just as the album was ready to get shipped to retailers, Bowie’s record label pulled the cover and had it airbrushed into something less offensive. Some copies did make it out, and Diamond Dogs remains the most provocative album cover of Bowie’s career. —G.M.

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Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Yachty and more close out Milwaukee's Summerfest with a hip-hop feast

It's only fitting that Summerfest — one of the world's largest music festivals with more than 600 performances over nine days — should end with a massive show in its biggest venue, the American Family Insurance Amphitheater.

Hip-hop superstar Lil Uzi Vert closed out the Milwaukee fest's largest stage Saturday, a noteworthy booking considering the only other place they've played this year was Coachella, and they have no other appearances scheduled this year (so far).

But with all due respect to Uzi Vert, that's not what made this show massive.

It was the incredibly stacked bill leading up to the finale, with Lil Yachty, J.I.D., Rico Nasty, LIHTZ and a thrilling Milwaukee hip-hop showcase starring breakout rappers J.P. and 414BigFrank, with surprise appearances by SteveDaStoner and Mook G, plus Milwaukee spinner Djay Mando.

In total, there were nine rappers who performed at the amphitheater Saturday. The show lasted a full five hours, with 15 minutes max between sets.

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More: 'Thankful for the opportunity': Milwaukee rappers J.P., 414BigFrank mark Summerfest debuts

More: Ivan Cornejo, Anne Wilson, Amy Grant and the best and worst of Summerfest 2024's final day

Lil Uzi Vert ends Summerfest with a wild, rare show

That said, purists will scoff at the idea of Lil Uzi Vert being considered hip-hop, and their 45-minute Summerfest set wouldn't convince them otherwise. Rapping isn't the strong suit for the rap superstar, who went for long stretches across their songs not really rapping at all — including one somewhat tedious moment where they were trying to take a selfie on a fan's phone while the DJ blasted "Fire Alarm."

But Uzi Vert's appeal is that they are a walking, (sort of) rapping embodiment of Freud's concept of Id. And what they primarily wanted to do at this rare 2024 show is rock out.

For "x2," from last year's white-knuckle "Pink Tape" album — a song that sounds a bit like a Nintendo game soundtrack on steroids — Uzi Vert jumped the barricades to hang with fans at the base of a video screen, freaking out security. During "Amped," they were so hyped up they tossed an (unlucky) fan's phone that ended up on stage some 20 feet in the air, then for subsequent song "Pop," flung a microphone across the stage in a fit of passion.

Then later for a song that can aptly be described as their life's mission statement — "Do What I Want" — Uzi Vert dropped to their knees on a ramp on stage, in the center of a big ring of lights, where they were greeted with a deafening singalong. But it still wasn't loud enough for Uzi Vert, who orchestrated the crowd from their knees with waving arms, the singalong, seemingly at peak volume seconds ago, reaching greater heights.

Uzi Vert put a lot of energy onto that stage and was paid back from the crowd in kind, who supplied more electricity than even the DJ's bass-rattling song drops could muster singing and rapping along to Uzi Vert's unstoppable bangers like "20 Min" (including, for a minute, a cappella); their superstar-cementing blockbuster "XO Tour Llif3"; and their latest tsunami-level rager "Just Wanna Rock."

And while Uzi Vert's team made the curious choice to not let their set be filmed to be projected on the amphitheater's big screen, that didn't prevent the crowd way back on the bleachers from wilding out.

Lil Yachty has fun slipping into their old persona and songs

Lil Yachty has earned a reputation for being one of mainstream hip-hop's most admired weirdos, but even their recent output has managed to surprise, from last year's "Let's Start Here" album, which drastically switched up his style for a more psychedelic soul rock sound, and this year's "Bad Cameo," an often dreamy album made with Justin Vernon-loving English producer and songwriter James Blake.

"Cameo" didn't make a cameo during Yachty's nearly hourlong set, but it did begin with "Drive ME Crazy!" from "Here." But Yachty at the start of his set was surprisingly passive, the crowd, from my perspective, seemingly more excited to see Yachty than to hear Yachty take detours with newer material.

So, after a few songs, Yachty vowed to "turn this (expletive) upside down," delivering on that promise with "Slide" — a more straightforward, crowd-bouncing 2023 hip-hop track — and the audience transformed there for being happy Yachty was on stage to being thrilled to dance and rap to his music.

And that remained the mode, from both the rapper and his fans, for much of the rest of the set — aside from a touching moment when Yachty had the boisterous crowd join in a moment of silence in memory of Yachty's "Yacht Club" collaborator Juice WRLD.

If Yachty, at this stage of his artistic evolution, doesn't feel much connection with cutesy, nursery rhyme-like early hits like "Minnesota," "Broccoli" and "iSpy," he didn't show it, seemingly having as much fun vibing to those songs as his fans did nostalgically belting out their lyrics.

And while Yachty, like Uzi Vert, coasted here and there without much live rapping, he offered more than the main headliner, like an a cappella spin through "From the D to the A."

J.I.D. demonstrates superhuman spitting skills with opening set

J.I.D. accomplished the impressive feat of making Imagine Dragons seem cool in recent years with his dizzying guest verse on their hit “Enemy,” and his Summerfest set was an even greater demonstration of his superhuman skill.

His words flew so fast — but the enunciation still sticking with every syllable — that his rhymes outraced the speedy scroll of lyrics on the screen behind him for “151 Rum.” One could quibble that he announced it was his time to bounce five minutes before his set actually was supposed to end — but J.I.D. brought so much energy to thrillers like “Stick” and “Surround Sound,” and did such a good job convincing old hip-hop heads that the art of rap was in good hands, that he earned the right to hit the showers early.

Rico Nasty goes for the throat with visceral, fun set

Rico Nasty was no-nonsense for her 35-minute set, barely taking a break or talking to the crowd. But her personality was loud and clear.

Her brash, punk-inspired flow went straight for the jugular — even while it was peppered with some throat-ripping yells, eerily cutesy delivery a la early Nicki Minaj, and the occasional butt shake.

She never coasted on backing vocals either — her head-spinning delivery for “Cold” was especially fiery — and hearing her rap her signature song “Smack a (expletive)” over the beat for Ludacris’ “Move (expletive)” was an inspired flip.

LIHTZ doesn't fit bill, but makes lasting impression

On paper, LIHTZ was the most out of place of all the rappers on Saturday’s bill. While everyone else on stage had catalogs filled with high-energy bangers, the masked Philadelphia rapper specializes in softer, slower, melodic pain rap, with pensive piano and acoustic guitar the dominating sounds on “Mixed Signals” and “Serenity.” But LIHTZ was such a passionate presence on stage, with such a luminous flow — even expressed a cappella for a portion of “Broken Spirit” — that he was impossible not to like.

Milwaukee's own J.P., 414BigFrank, SteveDaStoner, Mook G, Djay Mando kick things off

Saturday’s amphitheater show at Summerfest was a celebration of some of hip-hop’s most exciting national talents — and that includes Milwaukee’s street rap scene, which has earned a place in that conversation.

For about five years, local rappers have earned hundreds of thousands, even millions, of streams for individual songs at a rapid clip. There have been record deals and glowing coverage from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone and other major outlets. And Saturday, multiple buzzy Milwaukee rappers played Summerfest’s biggest stage.

Milwaukee’s premier party starter Djay Mando set the mood first, slipping in local rap gems like Munch Lauren’s “Big Money” and AyooLii’s “Schmackin Town” into his mix. Then came 414BigFrank, whose big, fun-loving personality instantly emerged for this year’s lowend breakout “Eat Her Up,” with Frank and about a quarter of the large on-stage entourage busting into some synchronized dance moves.

Unannounced special guest Mook G took the stage next for “Pay Me,” with another surprise guest, SteveDaStoner, rapping by his side. Stoner essentially has become the mascot for Milwaukee’s rap scene — and a popular guy eager for a selfie roaming the stages through the fest this year — and when he took over the set for his signature banger “RWS,” it was clear how Ludacris could have charmed enough by the guy to join him for a viral “free concert” stunt at 3rd Street Market Hall last month.

J.P., effortlessly translating the charm and charisma from his TikToks to a big stage, closed out this 25-minute Milwaukee rap party — a fitting choice considering none other than Lil Uzi Vert was the first famous rapper to endorse the Milwaukee rapper following his debut lowend single “Juicey Ahhh.” Alas, it didn’t make the set, but J.P. has since had an even bigger smash, “Bad Bitty” — arguably the biggest song ever from a Milwaukee-based rapper, with more than 19 million Spotify streams and counting. You better believe even the people toward the back of the amphitheater rapped “Bad Bitty” back to J.P. at the top of their lungs.

To see the scene celebrated on the biggest stage of Milwaukee’s biggest festival was a joyful achievement after years of unprecedented accomplishments. Here’s hoping it marks the first chapter of an exciting new beginning.

Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or  [email protected] . Follow him on X at  @pietlevy  or Facebook at  facebook.com/PietLevyMJS .

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YG Drops New Single “Stupid” Featuring Lil Yachty and Babyface Ray

Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum artist and humanitarian YG has released his latest single, “Stupid,” featuring Lil Yachty and Babyface Ray. Produced by DJ Mustard with Bandz and Julia Lewis, the track is poised to be a summer anthem with its infectious hook and head-bopping beat.

“Stupid” masterfully combines a flute-like melody with a heavy-hitting beat, showcasing YG’s signature West Coast sound. This new single represents a unique fusion, integrating Lil Yachty’s Atlanta flair and Babyface Ray’s Detroit swagger. The cross-regional collaboration promises to captivate fans nationwide with its dynamic sound and undeniable energy.

The accompanying music video features vibrant scenes of the trio, highlighting their carefree spirit, camaraderie, and luxurious lifestyle. This perfectly complements the song’s lyrics and overall vibe.

The track underscores YG and Mustard’s iconic partnership, reminiscent of their past collaborations that have shaped West Coast hip-hop. “Stupid” maintains this powerful alliance while venturing into new territory, infusing different elements and paving the way for a fresh direction in the West Coast scene.

Set to be a standout feature on YG’s highly anticipated project, “Just Re’D Up 3,” the single promises a collection of tracks that push boundaries and showcase YG’s evolving artistry. “Just Re’D Up 3” is slated for release on Aug. 16th.

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