Kenny Gravillis' 10 Favorite Rap Album Covers of the '90s

This is part of a daily, week-long feature series where we asked legendary designers about their favorite rap album covers from the '90s.

After five years at Def Jam's The Drawing Board, Kenny Gravillis became the creative director of the Black Music Division at MCA Records on the West Coast. Gravillis worked on Mary J. Blige's albums Share My World and Mary, Common’s Like Water for Chocolate, and The Roots' Things Fall Apart. He even branched out to design for Babyface, Usher, and Third Eye Blind. After leaving MCA, Gravillis connected with old friends Steve Carr of The Drawing Board and Brett Ratner to re-brand his design firm as a visual communications company to work on movie ads for Dr. Dolittle 2 (directed by Carr) and Ratner's Red Dragon. Today Gravillis is the co-owner and creative director of Gravillis Inc. Most recently, he has worked on TV and film advertisements for Vice and Kick-Ass 2. Read stories about the history of rap album art from the man himself with Kenny Gravillis' 10 Favorite Rap Album Covers of the '90s.

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Year: 1998
Art direction: David Calderley and RZA
Photography: Michael Lavine
Illustration: Bill Sienkiewicz

"This cover is classic because it perfectly represents the RZA universe and still is an amazing piece of art."

Year: 1995
Art direction: Alli Truch
Designer: Brett Kilroe

"I love when an album cover captures the personality of the artist. This cover feels really authentic. "

Year: 1991
Art direction: Jean Kelly for ZombaArt

"This is one of my favorite album covers, and I can honestly say, I wish I had done it. It is iconic to its core."

Year: 1998
Art direction: Black Star and Tim Ronan a.k.a. Nobody
Design: Brent Rollins

"There is such a homemade feel to this cover. It matches the music perfectly."

Year: 1993
Art direction: Kimberly Holt
Illustration: Darryl "Joe Cool" Daniel

"The crassness to this art is what makes it work. It's not supposed to be cool or sophisticated. It's a scoundrel, not politically correct, controversial, and honest. That's why I love it."

Year: 1994
Art direction: David Calderly
Photography: Christian Witkin

"I love the attitude of this cover. I think anytime a cover speaks to the personality of the artist so clearly, I'm drawn to it."

Year: 1994
Art direction: The Drawing Board
Photography: Danny Clinch

"In a world where Photoshop rules, you still can't beat a great photo. I was part of this one, and it was bloody awesome to actually bury him."

Year: 1990
Art direction: The Drawing Board
Illustration: Bill Sienkiewicz

"One of the big common denominators for me when it comes to album art, or art that I gravitate to in general, is that it's just artful. I love actual paintings, illustrations, and anything that is done by hand."

Year: 1995
Art direction: Cyril Gittens
Photography: Mark Humphrey
Illustration: Denys Cowan

"Once again, the art says it all. When this album came out, it solidified the Wu-Tang culture for me, which is a great thing to be able to achieve through album art."

Year: 1999
Art direction: Kenny Gravillis
Photography: Corbis

"I love this cover because it was inspired by the great Reid Miles' Blue Note album covers. It shows the intelligence of the artist and their unflinching nature to face injustice head on.

I actually went to New York to meet with Ahmir [?uestlove] and Tariq [Black Thought] about the cover. They originally had an illustration that no one at the label liked. So my job was to sell them on another idea. The concept of 'visual failure in society' on the cover of an album called Things Fall Apart just made sense. Once they agreed, I went back to LA and researched Bettmann archives, which have great historical photography. We must have pulled about 40 different covers, and, in the end, the multiple covers concept came from the inability to pick just one.

To make having all the covers a special thing, we came up with a message that only makes sense when all the covers are flipped over and put together in a row. On the front, there is a code that gives you the order of the covers one to five. It's shown through the squares in the title bar. Back then, it was always about trying to come up with unique things that made the fans excited."