Photo: Dorothy | $38.34
It’s hard to imagine the history of an entire music genre contained in one poster. However, Dorothy specializes in prints that are as educational as they are beautiful to look at. The UK-based studio produced a mesmerizing tribute to the development of hip-hop music in the Inside Information: Boombox poster. This amazing piece of design is especially significant as we approach the 50th anniversary of the genre.
The three-color litho print celebrates 100 of the greatest moments in the history of hip-hop in the form of a JVC RC-M90 boombox, starting with DJ Kool Herc’s Back to School Jam in the Bronx on August 11, 1973. This project was a collaboration between James Quail and Malik Thomas. “We both love hip-hop and we started by listing out all our favorite stories that we wanted to show, from classic moments like DJ Kool Herc’s Back to School Jam, to stories like Grand Wizzard Theodore inventing scratching (when his mum came into his room to tell him to turn the music down he tried to stop a record spinning and accidentally moved it backward and forwards and invented the scratching technique),” Quail tells My Modern Met. “Or Boogie Down Productions and The Juice Crew feuding over the true birthplace of hip-hop in Bridge Wars, or Sylvia Robinson meeting Big Bank Hank at the Pizzeria through to views of artists and label-mates just hanging out together and we tried to surround them with little clues and easter eggs to their inspirations and influences, so there are nods to films that the artists list as influences or things they’ve sampled.”
There are cameos of over 350 hip-hop artists in the poster, including Snoop Dog, Dr. Dre, Beastie Boys, Wu-Tang Clan, and Lil Wayne. “Malik who illustrated it is a massive hip-hop head and it really was a labor of love for him, so it spiraled out of control as we just added more and more references and it was quite hard to know when to stop as there’s just always more amazing things to hear and discover or stories that we’d remember,” Quail adds. “But I think we’ve crammed a lot of what we love in there, hopefully, the people can feel our love for the subject through it.”
You can purchase the Inside Information: Boombox poster via Dorothy’s website for £30 (approximately $38.34).
UK-based studio Dorothy explores the history of hip-hop music in their Inside Information: Boombox poster.
Photo: Dorothy | $38.34
This three-color litho print was a collaboration between James Quail and Malik Thomas.
Photo: Dorothy | $38.34
It features iconic moments from hip-hop history, such as DJ Kool Herc at his Back to School Jam and the rap battle between Kool Moe Dee and Busy Bee at Harlem World in 1981.
Photo: Dorothy | $38.34
Photo: Dorothy | $38.34
Photo: Dorothy | $38.34
The poster features over 350 hip-hop artists, including Snoop Dog, Dr. Dre, Beastie Boys, Wu-Tang Clan, and Lil Wayne.
Photo: Dorothy | $38.34
Photo: Dorothy | $38.34
Photo: Dorothy | $38.34
Photo: Dorothy | $38.34
Photo: Dorothy | $38.34
Photo: Dorothy | $38.34
Photo: Dorothy | $38.34
Photo: Dorothy | $38.34
Photo: Dorothy | $38.34
Photo: Dorothy | $38.34
Find more of Dorothy’s clever posters at My Modern Met Store!