 |
Cey Adams | |
|---|---|
 Artist, Cey Adams. | |
| Born | 1962 (age 61–62) United States |
| Occupation(s) | Visual artist, graphic designer, author |
| Website | http://ceyadams.com/ |
Cey Adams (b. New York, 1962) is an American visual artist, graphic designer and author. He was the founding creative director of Def Jam Recordings and is known for his work with Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, LL Cool J, Jay-Z, and Mary J. Blige. [1] He has been described as "legendary" for his work in hip-hop graphic design. [2]
Adams was a graffiti artist in the late 70s and early 80s. He studied painting at New York's School of Visual Arts and ultimately had work exhibited in the city alongside Jean Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. As a 19-year-old, he was represented by Graffiti Above Ground gallery, a gallery featuring prominent graffiti artists. In 1982 he appeared in the historic PBS documentary Style Wars about subway graffiti in New York. [3] [4]
Cey Adams met Adam Horovitz in 1983, and a close relationship with the Beastie Boys began with Adams designing the graffiti lettering that spelled out the name of the band on the cover of their 12" single for Cooky Puss. Around the same time, he began working with Russell Simmons' Rush Artist Management creating logos, tour merchandising, billboards, and advertising campaigns for rap artists including Beastie Boys, Run DMC, De La Soul, and LL Cool J. [5] [6]
In the late 80s Adams and his partner Steve Carr co-founded the Drawing Board, Def Jam Recording's in-house visual design firm overseeing the visual style of Def Jam's artists as well as artists signed to MCA, Universal, Warner Bros., Bad Boy and BMG.
The Drawing Board closed in 1999 and Adams began working on corporate advertising campaigns for companies such as Levi's, Nike, HBO, Coca-Cola, Burton Snowboards, Moët & Chandon, Comedy Central, HBO, and Warner Bros.
Adams continued designing branding and logos, working with companies such as Revolver Films and Asylum Records, and music artists as diverse as Foo Fighters, Don Henley, and Mary J. Blige. [7]
From 1999 to 2000 Adams worked as a creative director for Urban Magic, an internet startup founded by Magic Johnson and Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz.
In 2000 he co-designed the hip-hop wing of Seattle's Experience Music Project. In 2001 Dave Chappelle hired Adams to create the logo for his new sketch comedy show, "Chappelle's Show" on Comedy Central.
Having previously designed clothes for Run DMC for Adidas, in 2006 he was commissioned to design his own custom track suits and sneakers featuring Beastie Boys. In 2007 he created a limited edition collection for Muhammad Ali for Adidas. The shoes were included as part of "The Rise of Sneaker Culture" exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York. [8]
In 2008 Adams co-edited "DEFinition: the Art and Design of Hip-Hop", published by HarperCollins, with the music journalist Bill Adler, who had been Def Jam's original publicist. [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]
Adams was invited to participate in Looking at Music 3.0 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2011. It was the third in a series of exhibitions exploring the influence of music on contemporary art practices, focusing on New York in the 1980s and 1990s. He also designed a poster for the event. [14]
That same year, Rizzoli published "Def Jam Recordings: The First 25 Years of the Last Great Record Label" Adams designed the book and CD box collection for this "comprehensive coffee table book that compiled over two decades of photos, album artwork, and stories behind every record released under the label."Also in 2011 he designed Tommy Boy Records' 30th anniversary poster. [15]
In celebration of Martin Luther King Day in 2013, Adams was commissioned by The Juilliard School to paint a large scale mural titled "Dream," a powerful portrait of Dr. King and a visual timeline of the Civil Rights Movement. He also worked with Brooklyn Academy of Music on "Picture the Dream," a community-based creative workshop which teaches young people the value of making art while educating them about Dr. King's message of equality through non-violence. [16]
Adams took a two-month residency at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Nebraska, in 2014, during which time he also created a mural with local teenagers, with the message "Love", and in an interview with the Omaha World Herald talks about developing his new series of artworks referencing classic corporate logos. In his recent artworks, Adams employs mixed media including hand-made papers and magazine clippings on canvas, and silk screening. [17]
In March 2015, a new body of collage work incorporating the corporate logos was exhibited at Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, an organization "dedicated to providing inner city youth across New York City with significant exposure to the arts." It was founded in 1995 by Russell Simmons. The Foundation writes that Adams "draws inspiration from 60s pop art, sign painting, comic books, and popular culture. His work focuses on themes including pop culture, race and gender relations, cultural and community issues. Trusted Brands transforms images and icographics that he grew up with." Adams describes the Trusted Brands series as "an homage to pop art." In an interview with NY1, the director of Rush Art Galleries speaks about Adam's positive influence and advocacy for emerging artists. [18] [19]
Adams took part in "Red Eye," an annual weeks-long exhibition of art and entertainment in Fort Lauderdale, in July 2015. He collaborated with local students, helping them create a mural for the National Urban League conference, as well as teaching, and lecturing. [20] [21]
The Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture opened in September 2016 and Adams contributed a wall mural for the opening festival "Freedom Sounds: A Community Celebration.” Adams also designed a coffee table book published by the Smithsonian that is a 300-page anthology of Hip-Hop that includes a box set of CDs and never-before-seen photographs. [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28]
Beyond Walls is a group of Lynn, Massachusetts residents, business owners, and public art and place-making enthusiasts attempting to create a sense of "place and safety" in Downtown Lynn. Adams completed a mural for this project in July 2017. [29] [30]
Adams was the Brooklyn Arts Council's 2015 50th Anniversary Gala Honoree. [3] [31]
Honoring the 44th anniversary of the birth of Hop Hip on August 11, 2017, Google launched a "first-of-its-kind Doodle featuring a custom logo graphic by famed graffiti artist Cey Adams, interactive turntables on which users can mix samples from legendary tracks, and a serving of Hip Hop history – with an emphasis on its founding pioneers." [32] [33]
In collaboration with photographer Janette Beckman, Adams worked on a project called the "Mash Up" where graffiti artists "remixed" Beckman's photographs of hip hop musicians, that was released as a book in 2018. [34] [35]
For the launch of Levi's new store in Times Square in November 2018, Adams screen-printed and airbrushed clothing. The pieces are an homage to time doing graffiti, when he would hand paint designs on vintage Levi's apparel for family and friends. [36]
Adams was commissioned by Pabst Brewing Company in 2019 to reimagine their Pabst Blue Ribbon logo. His design was placed on 150 million cans that were distributed nationally. [37]
Departure: 40 Years of Art & Design, was debuted in 2022 at Stone Gallery at Boston University. This is his retrospective exhibition, featuring work from throughout his lifetime. [38]
The new school of hip hop was a movement in hip hop music, beginning in 1983–84 with the early records of Run–D.M.C., Whodini, and LL Cool J. Predominantly from Queens and Brooklyn, it was characterized by drum machine-led minimalism, often tinged with elements of rock; rapped taunts, boasts, and socio-political commentary; and aggressive, self-assertive delivery. In song and image, its artists projected a tough, cool, street b-boy attitude. These elements contrasted sharply with funk and disco, novelty hits, live bands, synthesizers, and party rhymes of artists prevalent in the early 1980s. Compared to their older hip hop counterparts, new school artists crafted more cohesive LPs and shorter songs more amenable to airplay. By 1986, their releases began to establish hip hop in the mainstream.
Richard Martin Lloyd Walters, better known as Slick Rick, is an English-American rapper and record producer. He rose to prominence as part of Doug E. Fresh & the Get Fresh Crew in the mid-1980s. Their songs "The Show" and "La Di Da Di" are considered early hip hop classics. "La Di Da Di" is one of the most sampled songs in history.
Licensed to Ill is the debut studio album by the American hip hop group Beastie Boys. It was released on November 15, 1986, by Def Jam and Columbia Records. The album became the first rap LP to top the Billboard album chart, and was the second rap album to become a platinum album. It is one of Columbia Records' fastest-selling debut records to date and was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2015 for shipping over ten million copies in the United States. The album received critical acclaim for its unique musical style, chemistry between the group members, and their stylized rapping. Since its release, Licensed to Ill has been ranked by critics as one of the greatest hip hop and debut albums of all time.
Style Wars is an American 1983 documentary film on hip hop culture, directed by Tony Silver and produced in collaboration with Henry Chalfant. The film has an emphasis on graffiti, although bboying and rapping are covered to a lesser extent. The film was originally aired on the television network PBS and was subsequently shown in several film festivals to much acclaim, including the Vancouver Film Festival. It also won the Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival.
Richard Colón, better known by his stage name Crazy Legs, is an American b-boy who was featured in the earliest stories on hip hop dancing to appear in mainstream press, and as president of the Rock Steady Crew brought the form to London and Paris in 1983. Today he is also involved in community outreach, dance instruction, and dance theater productions. He has appearanced in fiction films and documentaries. Crazy Legs is current president of the Rock Steady Crew.
Wild Style is a 1983 American hip hop film directed and produced by Charlie Ahearn. Regarded as the first hip hop motion picture, it includes appearances by seminal figures such as Fab Five Freddy, Lee Quiñones, Lady Pink, The Rock Steady Crew, The Cold Crush Brothers, Queen Lisa Lee of Zulu Nation, Grandmaster Flash and ZEPHYR.
Mark Machado, better known as Mr. Cartoon or more commonly just Cartoon or Toon, is an American tattoo artist and graffiti artist based in Los Angeles, California. Growing up in the Harbor area of Los Angeles County, young Cartoon began doing illustrations and graffiti then going on to airbrushing clothing and lowrider custom cars. Machado then moved on to working in the music industry doing album covers, tour merchandise, and later tattooing recording artists and other celebrities.
Streetwear is a style of casual clothing which became global in the 1990s. It grew from New York hip hop fashion and Californian surf culture to encompass elements of sportswear, punk, skateboarding, 1980s nostalgia, and Japanese street fashion. Later, haute couture became an influence, and was in turn influenced by streetwear. Streetwear centers on comfortable clothing and accessories such as jeans, T-shirts, baseball caps, and sneakers. Brands may create exclusivity through intentional product scarcity; enthusiasts follow particular brands and try to obtain limited edition releases, including via proxy purchases.
Robert "Bobbito" Garcia, also known as DJ Cucumber Slice and Kool Bob Love, is an American DJ, radio host, author, and member of the Rock Steady Crew. He is known as a former co-host of hip hop radio show The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show, alongside Adrian "Stretch Armstrong" Bartos, from 1990 until 1999. He later moved to Washington, D.C., where he currently hosts a new podcast on NPR called What's Good? alongside Bartos. Garcia was the announcer for the video game NBA Street Vol. 2.
Eric Haze is an American artist, graphic designer and art director.
Terrence "Terry" Ronnie Keaton known by the stage name T La Rock, is an American old-school emcee best known for his collaboration with Def Jam Recordings co-founder Rick Rubin and the 1984 single "It's Yours."
Chung King Studios was a recording studio that operated in New York City under that name from 1986 to 2015. It was founded by producer John King and engineer Steve Ett with financial backing from the Etches brothers, occupying three different locations during that era. Countless notable hip hop acts recorded music at Chung King Studios over the years, including Run-DMC, LL Cool J, Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, Busta Rhymes, Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur, Lauryn Hill, Outkast, ODB, Method Man, Nas, Jay-Z, Hell Razah, Lil Wayne, and Kanye West. The studio became one of the most important recording spaces in the history of hip hop, pioneering commercial production of rap music. Beyond hip hop, notable groups like Aerosmith, Amy Winehouse, Beyoncé, Depeche Mode, Destiny's Child, Fergie, Lady Gaga, Maxwell, Moby, and Phish also recorded there.
Steven Harold Carr is an American film director, music video director, and film producer from Brooklyn, New York. After studying fine arts on a full scholarship to Manhattan’s School of Visual Arts, Carr founded design firm The Drawing Board with Cey Adam to create iconic album artwork for Def Jam Recordings artists such as Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, LL Cool J and more. Asked to take his vision to film, Carr created groundbreaking videos for influential hip-hop artists from Slick Rick to Jay-Z, and was signed to Quentin Tarantino's A Band Apart Music Video production company in Los Angeles, CA.
Janette Beckman is a British documentary photographer who currently lives in New York City. Beckman describes herself as a documentary photographer. While she produces a lot of work on location, she is also a studio portrait photographer. Her work has appeared on records for the major labels, and in magazines including Esquire,Rolling Stone,Glamour,Italian Vogue,The Times,Newsweek,Jalouse,Mojo and others.
Ricky Powell was an American photographer who documented popular culture including hip hop, punk rock, graffiti, and pop art. His photographs have been featured in The New York Times, the New York Post, the Daily News, The Village Voice, TIME, Newsweek, VIBE, The Source, Rolling Stone, among other publications. His photographs included candid portraits of artists including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Madonna, in addition to many other popular culture artists and other common people. His photographs were included in the books The Rap Photography of Ricky Powell! (1998), The Rickford Files: Classic New York Photographs (2000), Frozade Moments: Classic Street Photography of Ricky Powell (2004), and Public Access: Ricky Powell Photographs (2005) and were exhibited both domestically and internationally.
Bill Adler is an American music journalist and critic. Since the late 1960s, he has worked in the music business in a variety of capacities, including as a record store clerk, radio disc jockey, critic, publicist, biographer, record label executive, documentary filmmaker, museum consultant, art gallerist, curator, and archivist. He is known best for his tenure as director of publicity at Def Jam Recordings (1984–1990), the period of his career to which the critic Robert Christgau was referring when he described Adler as a "legendary publicist".
Sacha Jenkins is an American television producer, filmmaker, writer, musician, artist, curator, and chronicler of hip-hop, graffiti, punk, and metal cultures. While still in his teens, Jenkins published Graphic Scenes & X-Plicit Language, one of the earliest 'zines solely dedicated to "graffiti" art. In 1994, Jenkins co-founded Ego Trip magazine. In 2007, he created the competition reality program ego trip's The (White) Rapper Show, which was carried by VH1. Currently, Jenkins is the creative director of Mass Appeal magazine.
Hip Hop Family Tree is a series of educational and historical comic books by Ed Piskor that documents the early history of hip hop culture. Originating online with Boing Boing, the series was published in print form by Fantagraphics. The first collection was a 2014 New York Times Graphic Books Best Seller (#7) and was listed in The Washington Post Top 10 graphic novels of 2013. The second collection won the Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work in 2015.
Run-DMC was an American hip hop group from Hollis, Queens, New York City, formed in 1983 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jason Mizell. Run-DMC is regarded as one of the most influential acts in the history of hip hop culture and especially one of the most famous hip hop acts of the 1980s. Along with Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, and Public Enemy, the group pioneered the fun music new-school hip hop music and helped usher in the golden age of hip hop. The group was among the first to highlight the importance of the MC and DJ relationship.
Michael Benabib is an American portrait photographer, known for his portraits of David Bowie, Tupac Shakur, Sean Combs, and Keith Richards among others. Notable portrait photography of public figures include Bill Clinton, Alan Dershowitz and Loretta Lynch. His work has appeared in publications including Vanity Fair, Vogue, GQ, Rolling Stone, Vibe, ESPN magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, NPR and Newsweek. His work was included to photography collections on display by The Smithsonian and MoMa.