‘The Art Behind the Tape’: A Coffee Table Book on Mixtape Cover Art
One of the coolest things about buying records, tapes and CDs was the visceral experience of exploring the artwork. We used to spend hours reading through the lyrics and liner notes, or staring into the images on the front and back of an album, imagining what it would be like to step into that world.
Now that music is fully digitized, many miss that experience—including hip-hop’s DJ Mars. So he put together a coffee table book documenting and celebrating the artwork on mixtapes, from the basic days of the early ‘80s to today. The Art Behind the Tape gives a rough overview of the scene’s history, with emphasis on mixtape artwork and how it’s evolved through the decades. With a full-length documentary also in the works, it’s really just the first step in Mars’ quest to document the mixtape movement.
The Art Behind the Tape is a must-own for street artists, designers, or plain-old music geeks, and it’s available now, just in time for the holidays. Buy it via the website.
