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Chuck D has always stood to me as a voice that cuts through noise and refuses to be softened. Fear of a Black Planet felt like a declaration and a warning at the same time, an album that carried urgency, intellect, and defiance in every track. When I return to that record I hear conviction and clarity, and I wanted this piece to honor that force by channeling the energy and tension that made the album feel timeless and confrontational when it first hit my ears.
In this painting I leaned hard into the color palette from the album cover because those tones feel inseparable from the message. The blues create a sense of depth and atmosphere while the yellows push forward with heat and presence, almost vibrating against each other. I wanted Chuck D to emerge from that field not as a clean portrait but as a figure shaped by sound, history, and pressure, as if the music itself was staining the surface.
The texture and grain are intentional, built up to suggest distortion, resistance, and repetition. I was less interested in photographic accuracy and more focused on capturing weight and stance, the feeling of someone grounded and unmovable. This piece is about translating a voice into color and surface, letting the paint carry the same insistence and urgency that the music has carried with me for years.
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