Twelve Of The Worst Mixtape Covers Of All Time
posted in: Music News • Urban
Artwork is one of the more under appreciated aspects of music as product. It’s unjust. Even in this day and age, when an artist can just take a picture with a smart phone, slap on an Instragram filter, and call it an album cover. IT STILL MATTERS, PEOPLE. The album cover is the forward facing marketing element for your music. If someone has never heard you, an attractive or eyecatching cover may pique their interest. Which makes terrible album artwork all the more worthy of scorn.
Now there’s a ton of examples of bad release artwork floating out in the ether, but today we turn our focus on bad mixtape cover art. Maybe it’s because mixtapes are typically low budget releases. Many on the mixtape circuit don’t have a professional design team to do their art direction. Whatever the reason, there’s just so many terrible mixtape covers. And bear in mind that every one of those artists with a mixtape with a wack cover thought the artwork was COOL AS HELL.
So let’s celebrate the campiest, the corniest, and the most trifling examples of bad mixtape covers after the jump.
Rick Ross – The Black Bar Mitzvah Mixtape
This was the cover that inspired this collection, this monument to bad taste. Rick Ross’ dedication to excess fits well with his image. But conflating riches with the trappings of religion is just too much. The cover of The Black Bar Mitzvah veers dangerously close to Donald Trump-esque visions of grandeur. That’s not a good look.
Dolla Bill – Peace Pot Microdot
There’s nothing inheritly offensive about the cover of Peace Pot Microdot. The only problem is that as soon as I gazed upon it, my eyeballs melted. We get it, Dolla Bill: You like to get lifted. The marijuana leaves used to frame your name drive that point home on their own. It’s also clear that the Dead Head who created the artwork was paid in shrooms.
Willis – Narnia
The cover to Willis’ Narnia is terrible in a different way than the rest of the entrants in this list. It’s terrible in an amazing way. It’s basically a straight rip off of the movie poster for The Chronicles of Narnia. But it’s the little touches, such as the presence of Gary “What choo talkin’ ’bout Willis?” Coleman as a gallant knight, that truly elevate the cover to wack status. And then there’s Todd Bridges, aka Willis himself, whose visage has been merged with that of Narnia’s main character/Jesus Christ surrogate, Aslan, The Great Lion. Spectacular.
Gucci Mane & DJ Fletch – Gucci Gone Bonkers
Not to knock the Johnny Depp remake, but the original 1971 iteration of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which features Gene Wilder’s iconic portrayal of the eccentric candy maker, will always be the superior film. But what if they remade it again, starring Gucci Mane in the titular role? This raises a litany of questions. Is his name Gucci Wonka or Willy Mane? Would the chocolate factory really be a front for a criminal organization? Where is the ice cream room (to go along with his tattoo) and would I say,”brrrr” if I were to step in it?
Feva – Bussin Down Bricks
There’s a good chance you haven’t heard of Feva. But that hasn’t stopped the Kansas City-based rapper from producing music. In fact, Feva just released a couple of mixtapes through his Datpiff page. Seventy-five mixtape to be exact. (You thought Lil B was prolific?!) It’s impossible to judge the quality of all of his music, but it doesn’t look like the art direction is maintained across every tape. Just take Bussin Down Bricks, for example. There’s Feva, standing behind a wall in mid collapse, with a shrug that implies “Did I do that?” Oh Feva, you’re incorrigible!
Drake – The Recipe
No, this is not from an officially licensed Drake release. Hope that clears things up a bit. Though no well stocked kitchen would be complete without a cupboard of swag.
Chip Da Ripper – Money
Chip Da Ripper has it harder than most coming up in the rap game since he is about an eighth the size of a dollar bill according to his mixtape art. It must be difficult for him to maintain fat stacks. And Chip probably needs someone to lift him up to the mic in order to record a verse. “Aw, he’s so adorable when he spits hot fire,” his (literal) handler must think as he gently cradles Chip in his warm, welcoming palm.
DJ P Exclusivez & Fat Stack$$$ – BS Stacks On Deck II: The Cookie Monster Edition
This mixtape was actually used to beat a dead horse.
I honestly can’t figure out what they were thinking with The Cookie Monster Edition. What’s the draw here? Was the designer so bereft of inspiration that he decided to take the one semi-unique article of clothing that Fat Stack$$$ happens to be wearing and run with it? Oh great, cookies. Fat Stack$$$ likes to eat cookies and so do I! I’m sure that I’ll identify with a lot of the themes and songs on this mixtape.
Emmano The Young Bronco – Diary Of A Real Nigga
Emmano, the Rap Game Centaur, clomps over the rest of the competition, bucking haters off left and right. His style is mythical. His flow is fantastical. Those who listen to Diary Of A Real Nigga better be prepared to saddle up. With this cover art, Emmano proves he is one of the greatest, neigh, the greatest of all time.
Carebears Present Uncle Murda – Murda Muzik 2 Return of the Bad Guy
What’s up with all of these long, involved titles? It’s a weird parallel that hard hip-hop shares with emo and pop-punk. In any case, Uncle Murda is only interested in murda’ing one thing: your childhood. He combs the streets at night, looking for the figments of your fondest memories. And he’s gonna cap em. Cold blooded.
BIM BOYS – From The Swamp To Mars Da Mix-tape
The BIM BOYS should probably visit an optometrist, stat. Their visual spatial acuity is totally off. To them, planets outside the asteroid belt and terrestrial cities are nearly on the same plane. But kudos to whoever slapped together the cover as everything has been neatly cropped out of their original picture and placed into this visually busy hood hellscape.
Gorilla Zoe – Gorilla Ape Shit
Is this the worst mixtape cover of all time? Maybe. Maybe not. Arguably it’s not even the shittiest, considering the cover of the Dirty Old Mixtape and what is smattered on Ill Tone’s face. But there’s just so much wrong the cover of Gorilla Ape Shit: the fly killing stink gasses, the feces encrusted toilet, the green spectral beings emerging from said toilet. And why does Gorilla Zoe use money as his toilet paper, when the regular stuff is just an arm’s reach away? Probably for the same reason that he decided to use this image as the cover of his mixtape: because he can.
So there you have it. The worst of the worst. If you think there’s any covers that we missed, let us know in the comments!
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