The 5 Best Hip Hop Album Covers of 2013

Jay-Z – Magna Carta Holy Grail

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Alpheus and Arethusa, a 16^thcentury sculpture created by Battista di Domenico Lorenzi, lives in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and is an actual piece of art. The sculpture also is the focal point for Jay-Z’s Magna Carta Holy Grail. The original photo for the cover was taken by Ari Marcopoulos, a photographer who has captured photos of hip-hop’s greats for decades.  Jay-Z asked Ari to take photos of New York for the album booklet artwork, and after taking various shots of the city, he provided Jay with the Alpheus and Arethusa statue as a possible cover option. Jay was, at first, undecided about the photo, but after some thought, had faith in Ari’s vision. Jay-Z somehow also got the cover art into the Salisbury Cathedral in England, right next to one of the four surviving original 1215 Magna Carta documents.