Big-Upping the South Bronx Artist Yasiin Bey and Music-Industry Vet Set Free Richardson Will Open an Art Gallery This September in the Heart of Where Hip-Hop Began
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the beat Big-Upping The South Bronx Artist Yasiin Bey and music-industry vet Set Free Richardson will open an art gallery this September in the heart of where hip-hop began BY ADRIENNE GAFFNEY VER TWO DECADES AGO, WHEN Set Free Richardson, then-director BEHIND THE ALBUM ART of entertainment marketing for And1 OBasketball, irst met Yasiin Bey, formerly known as Mos Def, the rapper was LLOYD LAYS signed to ’90s indie rap label Rawkus Records and recording his irst solo album, Black on Both Sides. IT ALL BARE Through the years, the pair worked alongside R&B singer Lloyd — whose 2004 each other on music projects and products with debut, Southside, hit No. 11 on companies like EA Sports, Adidas and UGG. But the Billboard 200 and was followed by three top 10 albums — dropped The Compound and Ron English’s toy collaboration. their most recent venture, a new art gallery situated his last LP seven years ago. So in the South Bronx, The Compound, is their most when it came time to announce Tru, signiicant passion project yet. “Free and I have The gallery’s irst show, which will start when the out Aug. 31 on Empire, he went all always been family,” writes Bey, 44, in an email. “It space opens in September, is an exhibition of works out — literally. For its striking cover, he posed nude in Desoto was a no-brainer for my brother [and I] to open up by music photographer Jonathan Mannion, who Falls in northern Georgia, with a gallery in such a historical borough and further shot classic album covers like JAY-Z’s Reasonable only his guitar covering him up. bring together the art and hip-hop worlds.” Doubt and Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP. In “I was fearless,” says the New Orleans native, 32, recalling As development in the South Bronx accelerates, the future, Richardson hopes to be able to work the photo shoot. And while Lloyd honoring its artistic legacy has become critical. with artists like painter-graiti visionary McGee, (real name Lloyd Polite Jr.) had “We had [the building complex] 5Pointz up here multidisciplinary artist Hebru Brantley and good intentions, social media was with all the graiti and beautiful murals, and they graiti collective Cat’s Crew. (He has already quick to poke fun (“Photographer was wild horny,” read one popular knocked that down,” says Bey, referring to the 2014 worked with contemporary artist Ron English.) tweet). Still, Lloyd stands by his demolition of the building, which was known for “The South Bronx didn’t get its credibility for choice. After taking time to focus the street art covering its exterior. “The Bronx had what it created in the culture,” says Richardson. on his mental health and family, Tru some of the great artists. A lot of the graiti artists “The story hasn’t been told the way it should. I’m conveys a new mind-set: “I mean, look at the cover,” he says. now” — he mentions KAWS, Barry McGee and not saying that I’m the person that can tell the story “‘Liberation’ is exactly the word Futura — “have gotten transferred to blue-chip best, but I do want to contribute to telling it.” that comes to mind.” He explains galleries, but they started in hip-hop.” what inspired him to let it all Created to celebrate the borough as the hang out. birthplace of hip-hop, the gallery — where SELFLOVE Richardson will oversee day-to-day “I wish everybody could move operations and Bey, who lives in Paris, will Bey (left) and around like that in the world: no curate special projects — is an ofshoot of Richardson. clothes, no makeup, no nothing to hide behind. So much insecurity Richardson’s creative studio of the same is hidden behind clothes. [When] name. Inspired by Andy Warhol’s people have their guards up, it Factory, Richardson opened it in prevents them from being able to love someone who they don’t know 2006 after years spent working as and also from loving themselves.” an artist, producer and marketing consultant. It has been used for FINDING HOPE a Chris Rock commercial and “I’m usually in a good place. However, with so much news about an ad for Toshiba, and visited murder and hate crime and very by musicians and athletes close relatives suffering through including Jadakiss, A$AP their own depressions, that Ferg and Kevin Durant. triggered me to assess m own mental health. Multiplied with the fact that I changed my diet a few years ago, I started to gain a new appreciation for every day that I was given.” INSTRUMENT OF CHOICE “I always have [my guitar] with me, and I happened to have it the day [of the shoot]. It seemed like a good prop to carry around. And also, I think I was trying to say, ‘Here is my most natural music that I’ve recorded,’ and also, ‘Here is me in my most natural state.’” —CARL LAMARRE BEY, GALLERY: STEVE SONNY BULA. 44 BILLBOARD AUGUST 11, 2018.