Trap. The combination of the genres of trance and rap usually through sound mixing and editing, has become a staple of parties and festival shows. They share similar use of synth, heavy base and spoken words to create music.

Trap. The combination of the genres of trance and rap usually through sound mixing and editing, has become a staple of parties and festival shows. They share similar use of synth, heavy base and spoken words to create music. But what interests me out of these is the artwork and how the artwork mimics the mixing of themes between rap and techno much in the same way the music does.

Here we have two separate albums, one from a single artist and the other a collection of
trance music from multiple sources. but they both demonstrate characteristics demonstrative of album artwork from this genre. The use of psychedelic shapes and colors tie into the long history and association between trance music and drug culture. They sparse use of text and very modern, usually sans-serif fonts are present here also. There is a feeling of otherworldly-ness to these covers, in a way they try to touch on the shifting adaptive and full feeling that is found in trance.

Here now are some examples of rap album covers. They have radically different themes, pallets, imagery and text. With the theme focusing around "urban" life and it's ups and down, there is use of urban settings mixed in with hard street life, loneliness and the like. this isn't to be mistaken for more popularized rappers that have been stereotyped as the "drugs, guns and women" group. I picked this subset of rap as I see it as a more "pure" form that has mostly stayed away from the influence of other genres ("nas" is a great example of this) This has also lead to there album artwork to maintain the same stylized lettering, with a heavy focus on the artist that was common with earlier records by Public Enemy, Sir Mixalot, Ice-T, etc. Where the trance albums had psychedelic colors, the color schemes are more subdued here using monochromatic color schemes and a more complex presentation. This captures better the type of music these record have: hard, biting, angry music with heavy drums, little treble and a focus on the spoken lyrics.


What we have so far are two different sets of cover art accomplishing two separate things; on one hand, we have rap music and the other we have trance. now when brought together you have music that takes elements from each and can be best described with the word "bangin". But does the artwork follow? Left is a album cover from Cashmere Cat, a premiere dj who specializes in live shows and mixes trap. I chose to start with this one for the fact that it bucks my thesis. The most important thing to remember is that as much as they are blending two previous genres they are changing and adapting and creating new things that are separate and will start to exist in ways its predecessor could not. But we still haven't moved out of the formative years for this music so there are  plenty of examples of the combining I spoke of earlier. The album cover pictured below is an example of how  combining the two different art styles and typography into one piece can work.

On the left we have a dj duo called RUN DMT's latest album cover that uses psychedelic imagery as well as the more moderated pallet for their album. The text is very modern, but the name is a pun on the oldschool rap group called RUN DMC turning it into a reference for the illegal drug DMT. This is on multiple levels a blending of rap and techno culture, and perfect does it job of representing the type of music found on the album.

So does this hold? Guess if the genre is rap, techno of trap of the album covers below and see if you are right.



Album 1

Answer: RAP        

Album 2

Answer: TRAP      

Album 3

Answer: TRAP      
0

Add a comment

When we talked in class about usability and the internet, it sounded like the conclusion as to what makes a usable website is simplicity. Creating a website to serve a very obvious purpose is the key to usability.
Every day we are faced with multiple typefaces: the good, the bad and the ugly. Some help us to read faster and more clearly, some to invoke a specific feeling or emotion, all the while persuading us to do something (or buy something).
... and how clashing implications continue to shape our reactions to these colors.

Depending on the region and cultural upbringing, one may have different connotations associated with the colors black, white, and red.
When talking about the ethics and rhetoric of data displays in class, I brought up the example of geographic information system (GIS) and their technique of interpolation.
"The Cognitive Style of Powerpoint" makes the assertion that:

The core ideas of teaching- explanation, reasoning, finding

things out, questioning, content, evidence, credible authority not patronizing

authoritarianism-are contrary to the cognitive style of PowerPoint.
When I first pulled out Tufte's packet on Power Point, it looked like one of the most boring texts on the planet. 30 pages on the style of Power Point? But as I read, I started to see his point and even found myself laughing at certain parts (talking about the “stupefied audience”).
Since media technology has advanced past the typewriter, the capabilities of visual, and eventually digital, rhetoric using images have grown exponentially. By appealing to different human attitudes and emotions, digital images have the ability of persuasion and gaining compliance alike.
Often referred to as graffiti, tagging, or more negatively as vandalism, street-art has been around for 40ish years as it was birthed in the 70 but only gained a real popularity in the mid-80’s.
Blog Archive
Contributors
Loading
Dynamic Views theme. Powered by Blogger. Report Abuse.