Onyx – Mad Face

ehh . . . This is pretty much old and no one remembers artwork for single covers, but oh well . . . I tried to get the CD cover. Long post. A while back I created this illustration for the popular hip-hop group ONYX. Originally this was a personal piece just for fun. I was messing around with my airbrush, Bristol board and acrylic paints. I had enough courage to convince myself to get paid for it, get it published and printed. That was my goal. My first step was getting in contact with someone who knew the group, a manager, or a label rep. I had a whole direction for the CD cover. What was eventually used and printed was basically artwork that I used to pitch my idea for the cover. Well I eventually got in contact with a real cool guy, I can not remember his name, Bayye?, he was an A&R rep for the now defunct vanity label, JMJ Records. (Jay - R.I.P). Getting a meeting to show the artwork was the real work, but it simply required patience and preparation. Well the A&R rep was very helpful, honest and forthright. I was on the phone with him often attempting to secure a meeting with the group and/or group's manager and label president. Some times, he suggested an impromptu meeting in hopes of a chance meeting. Well that took a couple of months, maybe 3-5 or more months. I was still sure I could make something happen. In the meantime I was trying to get some work with an unknown Brooklyn group name Mash Out Posse through their main producer D.R. Period, he's a really cool dude. That's another story, another post. Surprise! I finally got a meeting with the group on 34th Street and luckily I had some portfolio pieces on me. This guy from the office recognized me and introduced me to Onyx who was sitting in a dark surburban jeep. With the exception of Sticky Fingaz everybody liked my work, even their entourage. Sticky looked me in the face and more or less said he wasn't feeling it. So that was that, but of course there's more. A week or month later, I go by the office to pick up the original artwork that I left at the office. Instead the A&R invites me to sit in on a meeting for the group. To my surprise, everybody is in this meeting, the group, their manager, their lawyer, Jam Master Jay, Nikki D, and some other folks. And as an after thought at the tail end of the meeting some one asks, what about that kid with the pictures. I figured I probably had less than one second to speak. I quickly explained my idea and showed the artwork. Jam Master Jay said it was hot, and pretty much everybody else liked it except Sticky. I left the meeting without any official word, they told me they're thinking about going with a photographer. Another couple of months later, I see posters, billboards and print ads with my artwork. I was thrilled of course. I called their offices and the A&R guy informed me that everybody liked it. I really think my timing and persistence worked in the end. I'm not sold on the idea of talent, because some times names alone sell talent. For every good artist, actor, athlete, etc. there's always some one waiting in the wings that is probably technically better. Anyway, the legal Department sent me a check followed by standard agreement contract 2 or 3 months later, interesting. So the image that I created end up being used for just about everything, including the cover of their first single for their album. So I excitedly asked him about doing the cover?!? He told me that they were thinking about something totally different for the cover and well I guess they went with something totally different. I'm just saying. Ahh, either way . . . I still liked it. The CD was good, but I never liked the first released single. The original icon for the group was a screwed yellow happy face was created by this guy I knew from high school. I just took his idea and made it Shiftee, Low-Down Gritty and Grimey to reflect the group's image. I rendered it in a metallic style because I thought they would have been a serious hit as a rock-rap group. Def Jam paid me the regular market rate, so I was cool with that. I just knew there had to be a better way to get work without running around in circles in hopes for a meeting. All I can say is that it really helps if you know some one, any one. Later, I started school in F.I.T. It was cool to see students in the illustration department with my sticker plastered on their portfolio cases. A professor that I knew told me that some most of his students thought the illustration was created digitally. Oh, Btw, I need to find a copy of the Shut 'Em Down CD. I still bump Onyx, especially the Judgement Night single featuring Biodhazard. Too bad, the Sticky-Dre solo CD suffered the same fate as Rakim's project. I also need to get BlackTrash: the Autobiography of Kirk Jones, the reviewers on Amazon.com love it. I don't think no one can deny Sticky's lyrical ability, he was, and is, definitely one of the nicest.