I have spent a great deal of time thinking about the subject matter of Hip Hop and what it means to me. I had always wanted to work Hip Hop in to my art in a way that was meaningful. I have created many images of the people I felt had made their mark on this genre of music. What I never considered was to think of Hip Hop in a way that would evoke discussion through a visual means. The need I felt came as I started to express my concerns to friends about the direction the music had taken since our early recollections. My intent is to use my creative ability as a means of continuing and even immortalizing the love I have for the music. What is so unique about this body of work is the visual expression of my special relationship to the music. It took me approximately one year to develop the approach I wanted to take with this subject. My focus is the change that Hip Hop has undergone: the lack of attention placed on creativity, the appropriation of advertising, and the commercialism of the record industry. I seek to define what was most important in the music from its inception, and to expose the commercialism that exists within Hip Hop. Also, my intention is to pay homage to the contributors of this art form in an aesthetic manor similar to the music itself.

      The aim of this body of work is to be critical of the music and the culture, moreover I am concerned about the path Hip Hop has taken and the contributions it has made to American culture. Hip Hop is firmly rooted in American society. It has reached pop status, and it has been commercialized and made mainstream. Hip hop is far reaching; it has consumed and has been consumed by the societies from all over the world. This work speaks of the successes and failures of the musical civilization we call Hip Hop.

      I have chosen to use the method of collage. I use text as image and base for the paintings. I build layers of cut paper from magazines and marry them with acrylic paint and hand drawn images. What you will find is a weaving of images intertwined to assemble my thoughts about Hip Hop. Large block of color juxtapose and overlap one another to emphasize and subdue images and text. I believe this body of work is in the spirit of the music. For it is in the spirit of creative expression that Hip Hop was born.