Medium

Earlier this year, Austin based artists, Poise and 20/20, contacted me about an upcoming promotional mixtape entitled “Bullets”. I had worked with both artist in the past, but when they contacted me about this project I was pretty busy with other things and wasn’t sure about working with a “Bullets” theme. I try not to do too many stereotypical “rap music” projects, because most of them tend to ask for pretty standard and formulaic artwork, so when I first heard the name for this project I was thinking that it would be more of the same. However, after a few conversations with them and after hearing the songs, I realized that that the “Bullets” theme they were going for was a bit different and I was going to have a little bit of freedom interpreting the subject.

Front Cover Artwork For 20/20 and Poise - Bullets

It might have been easier to go with a stereotypical idea of ultraviolent imagery, but instead I took an approach of necessary violence, whether good or bad. The front cover ends up being pretty standard, but the photography, by Dallas’s D.Brown, really helped it out a lot and to introduce a “bullets” theme I incorporated some steel/metal textures into the “logo” along with some smoke, dirt and broken glass towards the lower right hand side.

Back Cover Artwork For 20/20 and Poise - Bullets

The back of the packaging and the disc keep the “necessary violence” theme, with imagery from the American Revolution, the Cuban Revolution, the Vietnam War and World War II. Early drafts included an image of a child soldier from the Mexican Revolution, but the idea was shot down because, despite not being a typical rap mixtape, the content was not a political statement and an image of a child soldier may have been misinterpreted and the music’s actual message lost.

CD Artwork For 20/20 and Poise - Bullets

The disc itself had to be two colors only, so to stay with a metallic/metal “bullets” theme, I chose PMS 871 M (metallic gold) and pantone black. For the disc I brought back some of the war/revolution imagery and the name of the mixtape along with some of the smoke/dirt from the cover. For the first printing of the mixtape I think they had to go with a simple text on disc variation of the artwork, so hopefully there’s a second printing so I can see how the black and gold  printed.

I have’t seen a printed copy yet, so hopefully it came out well. Everone can pick up a free copy on April 17th and the Eclectic Styles of Summer Fashion Show. 20/20 and Poise will be releasing the mixtape there and I’ll be posting up some tracks from the mixtape and web exclusives leading up to the release.

The 20/20 and Poise MySpace page, designed by Sons of Nero is now up as well, make sure you check it out and add them as your friends to stay connected and hear about new songs, downloads and shows.

Tracklisting
1. Intro
2. Reppin Time
3. Interlude - Bullets
4. Never Know
5. Cold As Ice
6. Next
7. Guess Who’s Back
8. Words Are Weapons
9. V.I.P.
10. Interlude - 20/20
11. Ready
12. We Gonna Make It
13. Say Yes
14. Real Hip Hopper
15. Stay Fly
16. Interlude - Poise
17. Dreams
18. Dear Summer
19. Interlude - ATX
20. ATX
21. Outro

Links
2020 and Poise on MySpace
Dj Diamond Tip

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