Over the Top Hip Hop Album Covers
Crossing the line and then some.
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- Hip Hop has always been unapologetic about it's affinity for line-crossing when it comes to artistic creativity. One of the genre's most mercurial figures, Wu-Tang Clan's ODB, has pulled antics that have warranted him his own page in the history books, beginning with his debut album, 1995's Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version, on the cover of which his face appears on a food stamp card. ODB wasn't alone. Other rappers have released albums just as jaw-dropping. In light of the re-release of ODB's debut album here's a round-up of other equally outlandish covers that might need a re-release as well. (Photo: Elektra Records)
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Ice Cube Death Certificate - Cube's second studio album, 1991's Death Certificate featured a deceased Uncle Sam draped under an America flag. The album debuted at #2 on Billboard 200 chart and went on to sell more than 1.6 million copies despite it's less than patriotic image. (Photo: Priority/EMI Records)
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Trina Da Baddest B***h - Trina showed who was the baddest when she dressed up in a skimpy nurse's outfit and straddled an injured patient for the cover of her debut, 2000's Da Baddest B***h. The gold-selling album remained on the Hip Hop/R&B album chart for 49 weeks straight. (Photo: Slip-N-Slide/Atlantic Records)
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2 Live Crew Move Somethin' - While relatively still under the mainstream media's radar, Florida's 2 Live Crew released Move Somethin' in 1987. The album's cover, a view of the crew through the legs of a bikini-clad model, was the predecessor to the follow-up album cover, As Nasty As I Wanna Be, that would spawn one of the largest legal battles in hip hop history. (Photo: Luke Records)
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2 Live Crew As Nasty As They Wanna Be - The American Family Association (AFA) argued that 2 Live Crew's 2X platinum As Nasty As They Wanna Be album (1987) was too much for a Parental Advisory sticker alone. Although the ruling was later overturned, the AFA made sure that the album was deemed legally obscene by the District Court for the Southern District of Florida and banned from record stores. (Photo: Luke Records)
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Iceberg aka Ice-T Gangsta Rap - The gilded frame didn't added any class to the cover of Ice-T's (then going by the alias Iceberg) eighth studio album Gangsta Rap (2006) which featured T and his voluptuous wife Coco naked in bed. Record companies wanted the album cover censored but Ice clearly won that battle. (Photo: Melee Records)
Photo By Photo: Melee Records
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Master P The Ghettos Tryin to Kill Me! - The all too personal moment shared on cover art for Master P's third studio album The Ghettos Tryin to Kill Me!, was a bit much to say the least. When the album was rereleased as a limited edition under Priority Records in 1997 some of the songs were edited out but miraculously the album cover remained the same.(Photo: No Limit/Solar Records)
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Lil Kim Hardcore - Lil Kim's album cover for her 1996 debut Hardcore which featured her laid out on a bear skin rug was just a teaser for the hyper-sexualized lyrics on the album. Civil Rights activitst C. Delores Tucker, noted for spearheadeding a campaign against gangsta rap, labeled the album's content "gangsta porno rap." (Photo: Undeas/Big Beat Records)
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Pooh Man (MC Pooh) Funky As I Wanna Be - An apparent nod to 2 Live Crew's As Nasty As I Wanna Be cover, Pooh-Man otherwise known as MC Pooh upped the cringe-worthy factor with the raunchy cover of his 1992 album Funky As I Wanna Be. Even if the image itself didn't bother you, the possibility of a double entendre between it and the title of the album should.(Photo: Jive Records)
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Master P Only God Can Judge Me - Arguably Master P and the whole No Limit Crew had plenty of gaudy and gilded album covers to choose from, but when P went religious for his 1999 album Only God Can Judge, the results were borderline blasphemous.(Photo: No Limit Records)
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