ILLUSTRATION
CHOPS: Strength In Numbers was a successful crowdfunded hip-hop album created by Scott Jung, aka CHOPS. Born in Philadelphia, CHOPS is an Asian American hip-hop producer, rapper, and former member of the Asian American Hip-Hop group, the Mountain Brothers. He produced music for some of rap's biggest & best including The Lonely Island & Nicki Minaj "The Creep" (78+ million views!), Bun B & Lil Wayne "Damn I'm Cold", and Young Jeezy "National Anthem". One of Kanye West's first rap appearances was my Virtuosity album, alongside Talib Kweli and Raekwon from Wu-Tang Clan.
“Strength In Numbers” features music from over 30 of the best Asian American rappers and singers, with special guests from Japan and Korea. Each track on the album matched a musician or group with an artist who would design cover art for that song.
Luckily for me, I was paired with KIWI and BAMBU, two lyricist/activist emcees both with insightful, intelligent, and fiercely raw styles from LA. I tried to mimic that rawness in the way they rhymed, in a sketchy, scrawled, and sprayed style. In fact, I was planning to do a more painterly version of the pair, but ended up liking how energetic the underdrawing for each piece looked. Instead, I built on that unfinished look and applied a limited color palette to match the impactful yet minimal beat produced by CHOPS.
