It Was Written: Bringing Hip-Hop To Life Through Art Posted by Lucas G. on 06/12/13 | Filed under Opinion, Art

Maybe I am a tad disillusioned, but I am someone who firmly believes that hip-hop, at its core and at the pinnacle of what it is supposed to be, is most certainly art. I have had this debate with my non hip-hop friends who site the likes of 2 Chainz and Wocka Flocka as evidence against my argument. All I can do is yell about Talib, Outkast, Mos Def, and Brother Ali, until I am blue in the face, but the end result is never what I want.

I wish I could gather every single person I have ferociously debated and bring them to The Fridge, a DC art gallery, tucked snug into an alleyway in the Eastern Market area of our nation's capital. This gallery, dedicated to graffiti and urban art is currently hosting an exhibit entitled It Was Written. As you might expect with a name coming from one of Nas’ albums, the exhibit currently on display is dedicated to hip-hop and is visual proof that hip-hop at its highest, is an inspiring, thought provoking art form. It Was Written hosts the works of two talented artists, Aniekan Udofia and HKS 181, who have teamed up to bring some of our favorite classics to life.

Over time, hip hop’s guiding principle of chronicling the culture of urban Americans has been replaced by an egocentric bravado rooted in fantasy. The work in It Was Written is born out of Aniekan and HKS 181’s desire to document the importance of the commonly shared narrative to hip hop music. The paintings depict literal and conceptual interpretations of classic and underground songs.

Since both artists have unique styles, it is best to approach them separately. Aniekan’s set of about over 10 photos are the first thing you see when you walk in the door, and were the first ones I looked at. The thing that stood out to me about Aniekan’s work was the richness and vibrancy of his paintings. Udofia took a few big risks, covering classics like “Protect Ya Neck”, “Da Art of Storytellin' (Pt. 1)”, and “Electric Relaxation” as well as newer songs like “125 Part 3 (Connections)”. While each song is unique and very different, Udofia did a wonderful job of maintaining a few themes, linking the pieces together.

First, his use of pencils was phenomenal; not drawing with pencils, but the incorporation of a pencil in his pictures. Often times, Pencils were yielded like weapons representing the power written lyrics hold. One of the best examples of this comes from his take on Jay-Z’s line “Brooklyn’s Finest”, “like short sleeves I bear arms”. The panting depicted a child, on the back of a ferocious bear, donning a over the shoulders ammo belt. Instead of bullets however, the belt holsters tiny, sharp pencils. Behind him the child too was a monkey dual wielding pencil guns with pencil casings flying out.

The pencil was also used in one of the more powerful pieces for Wu-Tang’s “Protect Ya Neck”. The dangerous vixen has an assassin like style to her. The crimson background brought made her stand out thanks to its contrast with her tight blue dress. As she made the “shh” sign, with a finger over her mouth, she slung a giant pencil behind her. As if she was an assassin, who had just finished slicing someone the weapon.Unlike, “Brooklyn’s Finest” there were no jungle animals in the painting, but that was not the case for many of Udofia’s other works. He often incorporated primates, bears, tigers and lions, that made his paintings all the more striking. I thought they perfectly captured hip-hops innate raw, brashness. Hip-hop itself is a jungle, but even more so, it is a tool to deal with the jungle that is the world. There is something so primal about an emcee ripping apart a beat, which was depicted so well through Udofia’s use of wild animals. We listen to these song so often and some of the poetry is so vivid it is burned into your brain, but for Anekian Udofia to take these legendary lyrics and bring them to life in a whole different way was a pleasure to see.



HKS 181, too demonstrated truly special ability to give some powerful bars a whole new life, but did it with his own style. While Udofia’s paintings were lush and vibrant, I got a much more rugged, raw feeling from HKS’s work. The El-Salvadorian artist’s strongest pieces were given a visceral, textured vibe--to echo the more rugged bars he selected to bring to life—because he took an almost plywood like surface to paint on; His use of an almost sketched like technique too, brought the grittiness of some of the selected bars to life. Take his depiction of Big Daddy Kane’s “Platinum Plus” line, “Now - exhibit, styles I kick with it [*COUGH*] Pardon me, but I'm f**kin sickwiddit”. The line itself colorful, but Kane’s delivery and the Premo beat has a certain edge to it. HKS captured it perfectly with the striking sketch technique and even brought the humor to life, putting cold pack On Kane’s head and having the thermometer read adjectives like tight, fresh and ending in Sick (of course the mercury went all the way to the top). He too captured the rawness of Masta Killah’s line, “Devils worship this like an icon Bear-huggin mics with the grips of a python” (from “Winter Warz”) with a bear, rocking a pentagram belt, roaring with a mic in hand. I loved the way the short strokes really gave the picture the powerful, cutting effect that Killhah’s bars have.



My favorite work of HKS’ depicted one of my all time favorite songs, Mos Def’s “Ms. Fat Booty”. The maroon background is cut by a fiery pyramid full of imagery from the song, from “Cats with big things” to the exact avenue where Ms. Fat Booty was spotted (HKS heard where it was exactly from a Mos Def interview) and “jewels, chips, and money clips”. When I close my eyes and picture the lady Def describes, my imagination could concoct an image of her as perfect as HKS’. If you take a look below, you will notice her eyes are missing. I thought it was very interesting, that, in most of his pictures they eyes of the subjects are blank. The best explanation I can come up with is that, in hip-hop, everyone can see something different in each song, and by leaving the eyes blank, he is leaving it up to us to determine what we see and receive from every song we listen to.



If you happen to find yourself in DC before June 30 (when the exhibit ends) I highly suggest making your way to The Fridge. Like all of you, I listen to so much music and have heard some of these songs more times than I can count, but listening to them after the exhibit has provided me with a whole new experience. I cant tell you how great it was to see the art and poetry of hip-hop literally come to life in these paintings. As long as Aniekan and HKS are doing this kind of thing, hip-hop won’t ever die.

See Also:  The Artists Behind Jay-Z’ Spending Spree at Art Basel