https://www.ericchambersbx.com/home daily 1.0 2026-04-29 https://www.ericchambersbx.com/about daily 0.75 2026-05-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/d1a0cd82-a7fc-444c-b23a-9d1c4fa82004/BUTTER+PROFILE+PIC.jpg https://www.ericchambersbx.com/contact daily 0.75 2026-04-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/c0b4e98b-19e4-4a5c-8f49-206a0afe9711/20220605_122918.jpg https://www.ericchambersbx.com/ego-trippin daily 0.75 2026-04-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/fe6d22fb-4936-40ba-9080-f65b1abdd452/The+Ruler%27s+Back.jpg Eric Chambers Bx The Ruler's Back. Mixed media on canvas 24 x 48. My friends and I have fierce "Top 5" debates. We force ourselves into never saying "honorable mention", you have to stick with your answer. When it comes to Slick Rick's top five songs, your opinion doesn't even matter if La Di Da Di and The Show aren't on the list. Now that only leaves 3 open spots. I have Children's Story, Mona Lisa, and Hey Young World to round out my list. In order to get over my anger for dubbing The Ruler's Back from my list I commemorate that song by titling this piece after beloved song with the iconic trumpets. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/23437d79-5c24-4337-83ff-909c968c73d7/Bronx+Throne.jpg Eric Chambers Bx Bronx Throne. Mixed media on canvas 48 x 36. I'm a big fan of German symbolist painter Franz Von Stuck. His version of the Roman god Pluto is one of my favorite mythological paintings. Pluto was the Roman name for the god Hades, ruler of the underworld. I remade Stuck's painting substituting the ruler of the underworld with The Ruler of Hip Hop, and instead of using a cement throne, it was only fitting to use a golden throne. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/601f91f4-3cb4-49c5-a6f1-fcfed7bdebdd/The+Man+with+the+Fly+Green+Socks.jpg Eric Chambers Bx The Man with the Fly Green Socks. Mixed media on canvas 24 x 48. My JHS music teacher taught the class how to play the theme song to Inspector Gadget when it came out in '83. So when Doug E Fresh and Slick Rick's The Show came out in '85 most the kids in my hood were memorizing the lyrics but I got the extra points cause I could rap the song while playing the beat on a Casio keyboard. The wild thing is the impact of the B side of The Show. La Di Da Di had NYC on fire for a year straight, and you was the man in your hood if you knew all the lyrics. People would stare at you like "yoooo, that's that dude", just because you had the song memorized. We were fake neighborhood superstars just for knowing the lyrics to this iconic song. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/53e2e026-e6c1-45ab-afc6-bc486dbe6338/Slick+Triptych.jpg Eric Chambers Bx Slick Triptych https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/d28592bb-9e37-4b53-bd43-2e12cb29ab68/Self+Portrait+at+the+Bronx+Open.jpg Eric Chambers Bx Self Portrait at the Bronx Open. Mixed media on canvas 48 x 60. You don't have to know me personally to realize i'm obessed with Golden Era hip hop. I'm also obessed with comicbooks, New York Knicks, and tennis. I was THISCLOSE to making a collage of Rafael Nadal, my all time favorite player, but decided I should stop avoiding creating at least one picture of myself. I still used a photo of Rafa as my reference. Frida Kahlo was also a big inspiration of this self portrait because i've once read her self-portraits served as a personal diary to document her life experiences and identity. Well Hip Hop and tennis are two of my life long passions and I wanted to make my picture surreal as possible. Granted it's normal for players to wear a small gold necklace glasses and a hat while playing tennis, I knew I had to be diffferent with that approach. In true Hip Hop fashion, I had to be louder. Chain had to be bigger, glasses more stylish, and of course, what's a tennis player from the Boogie Down Bronx if he's not rocking a heavy pair of 40 Below Timbs and giant boombox while playing at a major event. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/9c7c8fec-2578-44f0-994b-053d8a497109/A+Word+From+Our+Sponsor.jpg Eric Chambers Bx A Word From Our Sponsor (remix) Mixed media on canvas 48 x 60. For years years I've procrastinated on creating a work of art on a large canvas for a combination of reasons. I feared that whatever I created wouldn't look as good on a large scale, i'm a master procrastintor that has a short artisic attention span and must work on several projects at once. I knew working on a large canvas would take forever, but it was on my personal artistic bucketlist. The two reasons why I ffinally commited to this project. One, while working on the smaller version of "... And Now A Word From Our Sponsor" I got so much positive feedback from friends while working on it, I knew I wanted to recreate it on a larger canvas. The second reason is Martin Wong's "Stanton near Forsyth Street" has always spoken to me, so the next time I was at the MoMa during the time I contemplated a larger canvas, it was Wong's masterpiece that gave me the push to get on the ball. I was so inspired by Wong's picture I made sure to use a 48 x 60, the same as Wong. Actually, he used da 48 x 64 canvas... whatever, close enough. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/314845c9-e208-43de-b168-1be9791fdcd5/Critical+Beatdown.jpg Eric Chambers Bx Critical Beatdown. Mixed media on canvas 36 x 48. Whenever people ask me for my top 5 rap albums of all time, two choices are interchangeable depending on my mood, but 3 are firmly cemented. Eric B & Rakim's Paid in Full, P.E's Nation of fa Million, and Critical Beatdown by Ultramagnetic. I've heard everything from "say word", "who?", "OH!?" "You like that more than __________?" The answer always defensively comes back "yup" The main reason I hold this lp in such high regards is because during junior high school and high school I was a comic book nerd and battle rapper. I would take all the scientific words I learned in Fantastic Four and Dr. Strange, and use them in rap battles. This was years before Ego Trippin even came out. I eventually abandoned this nerdy unorthodox flow because my classmates judging my battles didn't understand concepts of me writing rhymes of riding on nebulas, or leaving mcs stranded on broken satellites. When “Critical Beatdown” came out a few years later, I didn’t know too many people who fully grasped talks of ‘rampaging paramedics, medical utensils, like a battery charged I’m worth the alkaline,’ but it was a lyrical breath of fresh air to me. Even though De La Soul gets the lion share of credit for figurative language on platinum selling 3 Ft High and Rising, and deservingly so, but make no mistakes, Ultramagnetic MCs are the first rappers in Hip Hop history to use abstract rap patterns on wax. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/2aa7ef6a-4747-4be3-b3ba-c6ae71b4d3c3/A+Word+From+Our+Sponsor+2.jpg Eric Chambers Bx A Word From Our Sponsor (original) Mixed media on canvas. During a time when Bronx slumlords torched their own tenements for profit the residents found a way to overlook the fact that the Boogie Down resembled a third world nation once the djs in the park dug in their milkcrates and spun hits from Boogie Down Productions, Run DMC, Heavy D, EPMD and other future legends. That's when the breakers brought out the linoleum and cardboard boxes, and rappers lined up for a chance to "bless the mic for the Gods" Meanwhile on blocks where the asphalt wasn't wet from the Johnny pumps scores of Skelzies players would break out ther tops to stake claim in becoming the first killer of the day. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/e462279d-e11a-4dd5-9bbd-401da5574e8e/I+WISH+YOU+WOULD.jpg Eric Chambers Bx I Wish Ya Would. Mixed media on canvas. It's not uncommon for me to want to make a second project of a rapper I like, knowing I still have tons of other rappers I eventually have to commenorate. But this is the first time I've been inspired to create another project using lyrics from the same song. I was an immediate fan of LL when I heard his first single "I Need a Beat" in 84, and was always mad he didn't have any videos from his first album, particularly "I Can't Live Without My Radio" His first ever video "I'm Bad" from his second album didn't disapoint visually. Even though it may not be as iconic a line as the 100's of other LL lines "Trendsetter, I'm better, my rhymes are good I got a gold made plate that says "I wish you would" has to rank in my personal favorites of fall time. In that era everyone wore gold medallions with their names in script, bold letters, Nefertari's head, Jesus Christ's head, Nation of God's logo, Africa silhouette, etc, but Uncle L gave us a lyrical visual of the dopest gold medallion of that era. He warned all potential stick up kids, you wanna try to vic me? "I WISH YOU WOULD" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/67bcee96-1028-4be8-a90e-de8fec931c07/Black+Steel.jpg Eric Chambers Bx Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos. Mixed media on canvas 48 x 60. Black Steel... was titled after a track on Public Enemy’s “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back,” which is about a conscientious objector who escapes from prison. Public Enemy is considered to be the greatest Pro-Black Hip Hop group of all time, and I wanted to convey that via drawings of African male warrior statues from Tanzania, Benin, Liberia, and Nkondi Congo. Flavor Flav (the Cold Lamper), and Chuck D (the Conscientious Objector) venture out into the courtyard as the S1Ws are fighting against the Roman statute prison guards. All the while DJ Terminator X is yelling with his hand, providing the soundtrack of chaos during this epic nighttime prison break. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/c7fedc1c-0226-4d7b-9eea-63136c2185e7/Kane.jpg Eric Chambers Bx Long Live the Kane. Mixed media on canvas. 36 x 48. Excluding P.E's Nation of a Million lp, '88 (the best year in Hip Hop) was still a time when cats would only put like ten tracks on an lp. Short and simple, yes, but I distictly remember copping Long Live the Kane and immediately being anygry b4 I even ripped the wrapper off to listen. I was mad because I wanted at least 16 cuts like It Takes a Nation. Where the hell were the singles Get Into It, and Something Funky? Sure I had them on cassette, but I wanted a high quality version without hissing air. Luckily when I got over this anger the lp didn't disappoint. Everyone loves the classics like Set It Off, Raw, Half Steppin', but I was stuck on On the Bugged Tip. Here we are in 1988 AR (After Rakim) when the changing of the guard was in officially in place. More lyrical rappers were throwing down, but Kane was dope enough to not only give us Raw to lyrically compete with whomever but also showed respect to the forefathers by doing a back and forth style with Scoop Lover a la Double Trouble. It was fun but still had hints of next level lyricism in it. That alone made Long Live one of my favorite rap albums. As for the cover itself, it blew everything else out the water in that year to me excluding Ice T's Power, Eric B & Rakim's Follow the Leader, and BDP's By All Means Necessary. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/5a591e65-b2bb-4f7b-b027-fb9ff96dff07/One-for-All.jpg Eric Chambers Bx All For One. Mixed media on canvas 36 x 48. If the saying "everything comes full circle" is true, I can't wait for the cipher to be completed and return to the late '80s, early 90's Pro Black rap era. Albums like; Nation of a Million, Fear of a Black Planet, Holy Intellect, Edutainment, People's Instinctive, Intelligent Hoodlum, To the East, Blackwards and scores of others were my generation's version of James Brown's Black and Proud. But the one lp that set itself apart from the rest of the aforemention classics was Brand Nubian's One For All. Whereas Goats like Rakim, and Kane sprinkled Five-Percent Nation lessons in their lyrics, One For All, and 1993's In God We Trust were the "What's Going On?"albums of the Golden Era of rap. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/3e60acb5-b4e7-4faa-8702-f689794a668c/The+Night+Hip+Hop+Was+Murdered+in+Front+of+Sal%27s.jpg Eric Chambers Bx The Night Hip Hop Was Murdered in Front of Sal's. mixed media on canvas 48 x 60. Do the Right Thing is a critically acclaimed gem, that was inspired from the horrific events that's known as the Howard Beach incident on December 20, 1986. This movie is my generation's cinematic benchmark for racial tension. During that era, every hood had their Radio Raheem, the dude that would blast one song in their boombox all day long. I was the Raheem of my block, but instead of blasting Fight the Power, my weapon of choice to get on the nerves of the adults was Rebel Without a Pause. Radio Raheem is in my Mount Rushmore of fictional Black men that died in movies, along with Richard Pryor in Lady Sings the Blues, Bubba Gump in Forrest Gump, and Cochese in Coolie High. Radio Raheem struck home the hardest because of the times I was living in, his death made me angry, and because I repped Hip Hop like him. That could've easily been me in that situation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/5dac0723-f9c9-4ca6-bd94-a43e0c551654/TRANS+BRONX+EXPRESS.jpg Eric Chambers Bx TransBronxExpress. Digital media 18 x 24. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/e370beae-d369-4686-a12b-d6598f2f0988/black+hamptons.jpg Eric Chambers Bx Black Hamptons. Mixed media on canvas. Even though my picture The New Danger wasn't meant to be a diptych, The Black Hamptons was birthed from that project. It's a continuation, because even though I loved the concept of isolation and segregation in The New Danger only using inanimate objects, I wanted to extend that theme using people. In this picture I used a bunch people socializing at a elegant swank party not realizing the guy that's rocking a sheepskin represents a new unheard of culture that's going to make things very uncomfortable for the imminent future. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/5331ef6c-43b8-4cbd-8180-35fd0e9ac4c0/hardcore.jpg Eric Chambers Bx Hardcore. Mixed media on canvas. Nas vs Jay Z, and Big vs Pac, are linked together because of classic battles during rap's Golden Era. Lil Kim vs Foxy Brown was the first official debate over two females. I remember guys would debate over Queen Latifah vs MC Lyte, but those arguments weren't as passionate because for the most part, those two females were invoking positivity in their rhymes, and "who's more conscientious ..." wasn't really a hot topic among teens. But when Kim and Foxy came out in the 90s it was more about "who flows better?", "who's sexier?", "who's more of a ride or die chick?" I was always on the fence because just when I would sway one way, the other chick would do a guest verse to stop me in my tracks. Me being the anal nitpicking visual artist that I am, if I had to chose one, I'd pick Kim, just because of that iconic spread eagle album cover shoot. I remember my cousin blew that picture up, and pinned it to his refrigerator with a magnet. Even though he had a bachelor pad at that time, I wonder if he took it down whenever his mother visited, cause I know she didn't play that. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/dc755c43-521d-4abe-83c2-c8c67c2a01dd/humpy.jpg Eric Chambers Bx Pronounced With an Umpty. Mixed media on canvas. Since the creation of Hip Hop, rappers have always had aka names, and other alter egos. Each Wu Tan member have a few different names, and Kool Keith from Ultramagnetic MC's undoubtedly has the most in history, Although MF Doom has most famous alter ego, he's not the first rapper to actually have just a different name, but also a first outfit to attach to that name. That distinction goes to Shock G, aka Humpty Hump, pronounced with an Umpty. One moment he's rhyming on stage or doing interviews as Shock G, then the next minute he'd have a stunt double dressed as "Shock G" as he's one stage rapping with the nasal Hump Hump voice while rocking the Groucho Marx glasses and raccoon hat. I can't count how many arguments my crew would have pointing at the screen saying "dude is a stunt double, they're the same damn person!" And this wasn't just for 1 or two videos, he had the hip hop world skeptical for at least 1-2 years before it became common knowledge he was just an evil hip hop genius. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/a3926720-b91a-4d42-ac4c-37e5f4f47a17/ghostface.jpg Eric Chambers Bx Wallabees and Wildflowers. Mixed media on canvas 24 x 48. I have a notebook with a long list of rappers I want to commemorate. Ghostface was somewhere in he middle of the pile, but when I first saw the golden face I used for him in a book I thought "oh nah, this is Ghost i'm doing this now!" and all his accessories came easily. The iconic golden eagle bracelet, skullycap, and the 'i'm gonna rock n***as this summer' blue and cream wallabees flowed out effortless. Initially I only used a few flowers to become the ground, but since i'm a big fan of Kehinde Wiley and the floral patterns injected into his artwork, I thought i'd pay homage to him as well. Sometimes it's hard putting on my Ultramagnetic Public Ememy hat on thinking of slick titles, but again, this came easily because off all the "Wildflowers" I incorporated in the background. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/0ca3beb0-ab9e-4b1d-aa6f-cf2fbd4bb692/flash.jpg Eric Chambers Bx The Message. Mixed media on canvas 48 x 60. Ever since I was a little kid The Message social commentary always reminded me of two iconic Motown song, Marvin Gaye's Inner City Blues and Stevie Wonder's Living or the City. Living for the City and The video or the The Message impacted me in that they share the same outto where innocent Black men just minding their business, but were subsequently arrested by profiling policemen. Although Rapper's Delight was a cultural musical monster in '79, it wasn't until The Message in '82 that put middle America on notice Hip Hop isn't just a fun fad. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/b139e9fc-1927-45a9-89a7-5bc91cace27e/dapper+dan.jpg Eric Chambers Bx A Dapper Day in Harlem. Mixed media on canvas 48 x 60. Do the Right Thing is a critically acclaimed gem, that was inspired from the horrific events that's known as the Howard Beach incident on December 20, 1986. This movie is my generation's cinematic benchmark for racial tension. During that era, every hood had their Radio Raheem, the dude that would blast one song in their boombox all day long. I was the Raheem of my block, but instead of blasting Fight the Power, my weapon of choice to get on the nerves of the adults was Rebel Without a Pause. Radio Raheem is in my Mount Rushmore of fictional Black men that died in movies, along with Richard Pryor in Lady Sings the Blues, Bubba Gump in Forrest Gump, and Cochese in Coolie High. Radio Raheem stuck home the hardest because of the times I was living in, his death made me angry, and because I repped Hip Hop like him. That could've easily been me in that situation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/74a59ac1-3eda-4bc3-bd25-bc1e57428081/charon.jpg Eric Chambers Bx Charon Traveling Down The Bronx River Styx. Mixed media on canvas 36 x 48. Trust the creator to speak best about their formation. Here is Eric on his painting: “In Greek mythology, Charon was the Ferryman who transported the souls of the dead across the waters of Hades for the fee of a single coin. In Hip Hop culture, the demonic Ferryman is depicted by wearing an applejack cap and truck jewels, while holding a lantern on a pole while blasting the likes of The Cold Crush Brothers, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, Fearless Four, and other first-generation forefathers on his boombox. Those who passed away would have to cross the Bronx River Styx to the underworld, and Charon would take them on this journey. His fee for carrying the dead across these treacherous waters was a single cassette tape full of the dopest rap songs. Those who could not pay Charon’s fee, or were buried without a cassette tape, were said to have wandered as ghosts throughout the banks of The Bronx River Styx for 100 years before they could be accepted into the Hip Hop kingdom of 1520 Sedgwick Ave.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/bb3939b6-0b8b-4ad2-bd48-5c8fd51cf496/malcolmx.jpg Eric Chambers Bx Prophet of Rage ( Malcolm X Harlem Speech 1963) Mixed media on canvas 24 x 48. The inspiration for this piece features Malcolm X delivering unity message in Harlem on August 1, 1963. He called for the permanent separation of Black people from America. Although Hip Hop wouldn't be established until a decade later, I used famous venues like The Apollo theater and The Cotton Club to place the names of some contentious rappers that Malcolm eventually influenced in their music. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/560d1109-a9d9-4b34-a027-96ebbaade032/rakim.jpg Eric Chambers Bx The God Emcee. Mixed media on canvas 36 x 48. Summer of '86 I was chillin' in front of James Monroe H.S, head bopping to the songs this dude was blasting in his boombox. Then I heard that whistle for the 1st time, the whistle that I'd whistle damn near daily closing in on 40 years now. My Melody messed my head up when I 1st heard it. Soon as he said "I'm lettin' knowledge be born, and my name's the R, A-K-I-M..." I was like "you, that's that kid that made Eric B is President" I remember the dude with the boombox started to leave, and me and about 5 other teenagers followed him for about 2-3 blocks. He must've gotten scared and when inside a bodega and wouldn't come out until the owner made him leave. Long story short, none of the teen knew each other, we all followed him cause that was the 1st time any of us heard My Melody, and we wanted to hear it again, and again. We all sat on the corner analyzing the song for at least an hour. At that time my favorite rappers were LL, Melly Mel, Caz, Kool Moe Dee, Run DMC, but once I heard "I take 7 emcees..." everyone else immediately moved a slot down and Ra became The God Emcee to me, even b4 his 1st lp dropped. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/d7b54ccc-9d29-4301-83c2-7ffcb27d5b67/LL.jpg Eric Chambers Bx My Hat Is Like A Shark's Fin Mixed media and acrylics on paper. Before I creates collages of my favorite Hip Hop artists, I must consider its necessary components: “What’s going to be the theme behind the current artist I chose? Which song do I want to use as my muse? What’s an iconic line that was used?” The song "I'm Bad" by LL Cool J had many visual lines to choose from for my next project. Ultimately, the winner was “they call me Jaws, my hat is like a shark’s fin” because I always wanted to create a Jaws-inspired work of art, and using LL’s Jaws line, I could merge the visuals with symbolism. My main goal was to create an original, never before seen portrait of Uncle L. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/50d74c93-ed8d-410e-b909-c0e0f93a5caf/tupac.jpg Eric Chambers Bx Brenda's Guardian Angel Mixed media and acrylics on canvas 36 x 48. The concept from Tupac's classic song Brenda's Got a Baby was the epidemic of underaged pregnancy, and lack of support from family, government and society. I wanted to capture the moment in the video when Brenda goes to abandon her child in a garbage bin in an alley. My spin on this social ill is Tupac's appears out of nowhere as her guardian angel and guides her and the helpless child back to safely. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/d867b89e-cf76-4a15-87f0-0c6cae8aa6f6/danger.jpg Eric Chambers Bx The New Danger Mixed media on canvas 34 x 48. The "Whites" fountain were clean, and delivered cool drinking water. The "Colored" fountain wasn't so clean. This symbolized racial divide until the civil rights movement successfully put an end to that. Although boomboxes have been a staple in picnics, parks and parties since the 70's, it wasn't until the emergence of Hip Hop that the boombox became a symbol of fear, and inferiority, not only among races, but also as a musical genre. Disco, Rock and other musical genres wanted no parts of being associated with Rap. I still remember adults saying "it's only a fad, it'll be gone in a year or two" or at least a decade. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/aaffb38e-ffef-4092-bf2b-ef4b2f0e1b31/Herc.jpg Eric Chambers Bx All Praise the Kool Mixed media on canvas 24 x 48. Just as Wallace Fard Muhammad is revered as the founder of the Nation of Islam, Kool Herc is much respected as the father of Hip Hop. I've always admired of his Merry Go Round routine even before I knew what his name was or what he looked like. When I was a lil kid not old enough to even leave the front stoop, my older sister Gerry used to travel to block parties all around the Bronx and come back with mixtapes to play in the house. The Mexican by Babe Ruth, Melting Pot by Booker T. and the M.G's and Soul Makossa by Manu Dibango are 3 just songs I can say I'm a lifelong fan of because I've played them to death on a Herculoid tape when I was like 7 -8 years old. Thank you Kool Herc... and Gerry (ugh) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/56d9ad89-4521-49ef-b38e-9217e258e26a/9789.jpg Eric Chambers Bx He Snuck An Uzi On The Island. Mixed media on canvas 24 x 48. Nas has so many things in common with Rakim, like celebrated catalog, GOAT level status in Hip Hop, lyrical prowess, and a laid back demeanor and flow. When it comes to being a muse for my personal works of art the number one thing they share are vivid imagery . These two rappers get on my artistic nerves because they are the most difficult for me to create for because they literally have scores of visual lyrics I want to paint, but I won't because I don't wanna look like a "Stan" creating multiple projects between the two. When it came time to create a Nas portrait I knew it had to come from It Ain't Hard to Tell;, my favorite Nas song of all time. However, since I couldn't choose because "sneak an Uzi on the (Rikers) Island in my army jacket lining" or "I drink Moët with Medusa, give her shotguns in hell" I channeled my inner Stan and decided I had to make both. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69ee2b0ef985033d0ff8c08d/fa21cda4-d2d1-491c-9007-05b6909aebfe/Screenshot_20260612_081201_Gallery.jpg Eric Chambers Bx By Any Mean Necessary. 18 x 24 Mixed Media. I have a love/hate mentality when it comes to pointillism art. I love looking at it, and I respect the patience an artist must have to create one, no matter how large or small the scale is. The hate component stems from my lack of patience, which is why I haven't created as many as I would like. I also hate it because once I get over the self loathing for not attempting to create a new one, here comes my cousin Jemel Rose aka @shamezbond, an accomplished pointillism artist, showing me a new project he's working on. And the next project is doper than the previous one he showed me, so I get envious that I don't possess his patience. But he inspires me to give a new one a try, and I've finally executed a system to help combat against my short attention span to dwell in this art form. I can now compose a pointillism work of art while I'm watching the Knicks games. It becomes a less arduous task if I work on a drawing during time outs, commercial breaks and halftime. By working on small grids during these small three minute breaks in the course of a two and half hour game (three if they win and I watch the post game report), I get a lot of work completed.