Fresh from trying to reintroduce good old manners to his fellow New Yorkers as part of his Subway Etiquette and Metropolitan Etiquette Authority series, artist Jay Shells returns to his familiar street sign reinterpretations (that echo the brilliant Street Museum of Art) – this time with musical education in mind. The self-proclaimed hip-hop-head has physically sited over 30 quotes from tracks in which rappers have called out specific locations; urban folklore from the likes of GZA, Mos Def and Jay-Z immortalised in officially-styled sign posts.
The below video, courtesy of superlative New York-based website Animal, follows Shells as he plots his über-site-specific street art – illegally parking outside a police precinct, along the way, in order to throw up a sign celebrating a line from a M.O.P. track that calls out said cops as drug dealers. Nice work Mr Shells, nice work. Quite how long the rap-obsessed artist’s work may hang around is anyone’s guess; Shells himself predicts that fellow fans will have them off in no time, his gift to the city’s hip hop-minded. And what a gift.
Images courtesy @jayshells, @TheRapQuotes
Video: Aymann Ismail/ANIMALNewYork
