Last year, fans of Marvel were wowed by a series of 50 variant covers that injected some of the famed comic book company’s characters into some of Hip-Hop’s classic album covers. Killer Mike, whose Run The Jewel duo were the first rap acts to inspire a Howard The Duck variant cover, wrote the introduction to the upcoming free comic, The Hip-Hop Covers.
Fuse exclusively featured Killer Mike’s introduction on their website today, a day ahead of the free comic’s Wednesday (Jan. 6) debut. The Hip-Hop Covers will be a 32-page book that features 14 of the 50 variants that were released in 2015.
More from Fuse:
Comics became that thing for my dad and I that was ours. Going to Atlanta’s West End Mall with him became the highlight of my week. We’d get donuts at the Krispy Kreme, chill at the comic book store next door for hours, then catch a movie at the dollar theater. So when I first got news of Marvel Comics’ Run The Jewels variant covers, my dad was the first person I thought of and the second person I told (wives, bruh). To go from sharing comics with your dad to seeing something you’re a part of actually on a comic, to seeing those covers lay the groundwork for something as big as Marvel’s Hip-Hop cover initiative is unreal. Two things I love combined? It doesn’t get any cooler.
Without question, Marvel’s Hip-Hop variants are cool because they show how far-reaching Hip-Hop’s influences has grown, but they’re even cooler when you how perfect the pairings for the covers are. Choosing Nas’ Illmatic cover for Miles Morales’ debut in the Marvel Universe proper couldn’t have been more on point. The two Wolverine covers that flip DMX’s Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood and Ice Cube’s Death Certificate—awesome! Kamala Khan taking cue from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill—fitting. Outkast’s Aquemini for the Inhumans—next level. I mean, think about that last one: In the Marvel Universe there used to be two basic players: traditional super heroes (Avengers, Spider-Man) and mutants (X-Men, Wolverine); in Rap, the conversation was originally dominated by East Coast and West Coast, then Outkast came along and cemented the South as a legitimate third force to be reckoned with. Just like the Inhumans are doing this year.
Check out Killer Mike’s full piece by following this link. Hit the jump to see how the introduction will appear in the print edition.
In addition, Killer Mike is slated to be a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert tonight, 11:35 PM ET so tune in!
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Photo: Instagram
