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Sex Symbolism in Hip-Hop Gets Interactive

Artist Sam Rolfes interprets rap world designer GEO's work as a painterly net exploration of the chrome, gold, and the female form.
Images courtesy the artist

Statement wardrobes, precious metals, gorgeous women; hip-hop's status symbols are frequent tools in ex-DONDA designer and Kanye West acolyte GEO's repertoire of album covers, merch, and art, which represents the likes of Tyga, Two Chains, and Pusha T. For his new mix tape, LOVE, GEO collaborated with head of the Chicago and Austin-based collective Join The StudioSam Rolfes, to couch his new beats in a luscious interactive space that embraces the excess defining his work.

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GEO interpreted the mixtape's theme to Rolfes, describing it as, "Everything I love that I hope others love too: the female body, clashing against gully sounds of the UK and other woven-in details and sonics." Rolfes tells The Creators Project, "I took his LOVE theme and developed a hyper-sexualized but painterly take on it that focused on the borderline-revolting excess of gold, skin, and gloss that the theme evoked."

An interactive website evolved from their collaboration, centered around a 3D model of a headless woman enveloped in a cloud of floating lips, tongues, breasts, hands, and what might be a dong. Everything flashes gold, silver, and a luxurious shade of pink somewhere between flesh and rose gold, and when dragged, the objects become sculptural paintbrushes that fill the page with your own surreal creation like an adult-themed take on Kid Pix.

Idolatry pervades any good music scene, but it's rare to have so stimulating and self-aware an altar as the one Rolfes and GEO have made to hip-hop. Have a listen to GEO's new mixtape and make your own 3D abstracts on the site here. And keep an eye out for downloadable .png's of GEO's favorite designs hidden throughout the experience.

See more of GEO's and Sam Rolfes' work on their websites. Visit the LOVE interactive experience here, or listen to the mixtape on Soundcloud.

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