De La Soul – Stakes Is High album art
Contributed by Florian Hardwig on Apr 14th, 2017. Artwork published in
July 1996
.
Source: www.undergroundhiphop.com License: All Rights Reserved.
The album art for De La Soul’s fourth full-length release Stakes Is High is typographically distinguished by the use of Cooper Black Italic (first issued in 1926) in all lowercase on a bouncing baseline, with the band name in outlined and overlapping letters.
Art direction: De La Soul, Michelle Williams. Design: Art Babe / MW [Discogs]
Hat tip to Bald Condensed!
Source: www.allwidewallpapers.com License: All Rights Reserved.
CD jewel case back cover
Vinyl label
Source: www.waxpoetics.com License: All Rights Reserved.
Cover art of a mixtape made by Chris Read in 2016 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the album’s release, recreating the famous typography.
Source: merchdirect.com License: All Rights Reserved.
“Stakes still high” — fan T-shirt
4 Comments on “De La Soul – Stakes Is High album art”
It’s not Cooper black. It’s a type of Cooper black but the “a” and the “k” are different.
Ah, that’s because it’s Cooper Black Italic.
In many typeface families including this one, the italic styles are distinguished not only by slant, but also by a cursive construction. Among the typical differences found in an italic are a “monocular” a (instead of the “double-storey” form of the roman) and a k where the implied pen movement from the bottom of the stem to the start of the top diagonal results in a visible loop.
Who is the graphic designer behind this? I’ve tried searching around for Michelle Williams and Art Babe but all that comes up is their mentions on Discogs. Any ideas/info?
I have no further insights.