Posted on 03/26/2009
Many claim hip-hop has lost its essential culture. Granted, there’s a new age of hip-hop culture enlightening many, for better or for worse, but one of the lesser appreciated forms of the culture was always graffiti. Graffiti was a way for cats to express themselves, let out their inner Picasso, or even just mark their territory. It was seen on subways, on walls around the block, on jackets, and even in the playground. The fact is, while hip-hop lyricists paint a picture with their words, an art form like graffiti created a whole visual orchestra.

Kagan McLeod isn’t a graffiti artist, he’s an illustrator, but he does draw one hell of a picture; a picture with over 460 artists on it to be exact. Ranging from entrepreneurs like James Brown and Cab Calloway, to daily rhymers like Muhammad Ali, to traditional emcees like Rakim and Lupe Fiasco, Kagan has crafted a magnificent piece of work that has value not only as a terrific visual aesthetic, but also as a tool of education. He calls it the “History of Rap.”

After gaining praise from his hip-hop heroes as seen on his Facebook group, and his interview on KevinNottingham.com, it was only natural that Okayplayer.com caught up with the artist to talk about his the “History” piece, as well as his journey in hip-hop art.  Look at the full image, and then scroll down for the interview below.



OKP: How'd this start off? Describe your process.

KM: The goal was to try and create a visual history or rap, and rappers, where someone could just look at the portraits and get a sense of the time periods, styles and prominent figures. I wanted to keep the main part of the piece as simple as possible (just portraits and names), but a lot of people required a bit of info and context so I put the briefest amount of that I could on the back of the piece.

OKP: Was it hard to limit yourself like that?

KM: Sort of, but this way you get to see the group names, the main songs, etc. too. I'm hoping the hardcore heads can look at it and be impressed with the amount of work put in, and the casual heads can too but they can also learn a bit about the past.

OKP: You also have everything in chronological order too, right?

KM: Yeah, so the first step was to make a list of all the most important rappers, then put them in chronological order based on when they came out. After that I started drawing!

OKP: Why'd you decide to include MC's only and not DJs or Producers? Is there a chance that we'll see another specific poster devoted to them?

KM: MCs are the forefront of most rap acts even if the DJs and producers are the backbone. There are more instantly recognizable MCs than DJs, by the nature of what they do. Another reason for just doing MCs is so I could hope to do something more complete, you know, getting enough rappers on there that you're satisfied with who's on and who's not. Just to cover one hip-hop element as fully as I could.

OKP: Is there a chance we’ll see a poster devoted to DJs and producers?

KM: It would be great to do one, it would just have to be much more specific and include a lot of lesser known personalities. Adding DJs is a whole 'nother hip-hop element, and would double the amount of people that needed to be on the previous poster (since every rapper has a DJ or producer!). I don’t mean to offend by leaving off the Premiers and Jazzy Jeffs, but I just tried to focus on the rappers for this particular piece of work.

OKP: What are some of your other prominent pieces?

KM: As an illustrator I love doing music pieces whenever I can. I've drawn Kanye West for a newspaper, Pharrell Williams for an entertainment magazine, Ol' Dirty Bastard for The Source around the time he died... more recently Beyoncé and Janet Jackson for Entertainment Weekly.



OKP: Ideally, what do you want to do next with hip-hop art?

KM: The current gigs really are awesome jobs, but I'd love to get into album covers and that sort of thing. Most of my favorite album covers are illustrated and it would be great to be the guy who made the art that you think of when you think of a favorite album.

OKP: You are obviously a very musically educated dude. You did two particular pieces that focused on sample favorites. Can you talk about those?

KM: The way hip-hop can pick a few bars of a classic song and flip it a thousand ways was always interesting to me, and I tried to break something like that down visually by drawing the actual sound waves of a few songs and circling who took what and what for. It’s kind of a cool way to present something non-visual like music.

OKP: Where has this piece, the “History of Rap,” taken you, and what responsibility do you feel you hold?

I started sending the poster out to a lot of the artists on it and at first I felt a little weird about it - this is their life and people they know and have grown and shared experiences with - and here I am, an outsider, attempting to put it all on one piece of paper. My knowledge is definitely second-hand, just putting together pieces from what I interpret in the music, articles, interviews and videos. But it's definitely a great compliment when some of the artists are impressed by the work. I hope in a way it serves as a big thank you to them!

OKP: Who are some of the artists that you’ve met through distributing the poster?

KM: I got to meet Kangol Kid from UTFO and he was thrilled with it and very complimentary to me, so I was feeling pretty good that day. NYOIL revealed upon seeing the poster that he WAS on it, in an early 90s incarnation as Kool Kim from the UMCs! That was great too! I got to watch Maestro Fresh Wes go over every line and call out the names and groups of the artists to me. Other artists that have gotten copies of the poster include Ice T, Hieroglyphics, Busta Rhymes, Brand Nubian, the RZA and even Jay Z in a Much Music interview with Nardwuar. So to be connected in that way to the people I've listened to all my life is amazing.

Kagan and his work are accessible through a variety of ways. Feel free to visit the following sites to discuss the poster, buy his work, and contact him for other work:

To discuss, visit Kagan McLeod Official Web Site or The History of Rap Facebook Group. 

To buy, visit The Beguiling or Halcyon The Shop.


- Sean Deezill