Virgil Abloh on Creating Lil Uzi Vert’s ‘Luv Is Rage 2’ Cover Art
After a very, very long wait, Lil Uzi Vert's Luv Is Rage 2 is finally available for your consumption. That news was first announced via Lil Uzi's Instagram, which also showed off the cover art that was put together by designer Virgil Abloh. Peep it above.
Abloh (who *cough, cough* will be at the 2nd annual ComplexCon this November *cough, cough*) talked to the Fader on Thursday night, mere minutes before the album's official release, about a multitude of topics, one of which was the creative choices behind the cover that they eventually settled on.
After talking about how the 23-year-old Philly rapper reached out to him in the "final hours" of his project, and Abloh is directing a soon-to-be-released Uzi video, the designer talked about the cover (which was one of many available alternatives)—specifically, the idea behind it.
"These covers are a prequel to in-depth creative back-and-forth using all of our different assets," he said via phone. "He believes in me and I believe in him and it's us doing this crash of things that are in our own head. That OFF-WHITE tape is an additive to the content and it's emblematic of just how we think without practical terms. That cover it just comes up as an expression."
59a07fd18dd15d5805c07ea2
He also explained how the cover is similar to the Off-White collaboration that he did with Nike:
The Fader: The cover reminds me of your work with brands — making OFF-WHITE exist right next to the thing we know already. What was the thinking behind that here?
VA: I'm at a point in my career where I'm interested in seeing the consistency across different projects. One of the pillars of my design aesthetic is showing the process. That way a whole generation of kids will see themselves in the work, and do the work themselves too. That cover is pretty much a readymade example. You feel like you can peel it off, and that was important to me. The collaboration reads itself. The same way the Nike shoes — you look at them and you can almost feel like you can do it yourself or you can see the handmade feel in it.
I haven't done an album cover in what feels like six years. It was his idea to wrap his album package in a physical way. I think that in a digital age, album covers are becoming a lost art. His cover sort of embodies our short careers, and it's two people coming together from a long time ago.
Finally, the Fader asked him whether there was any hesitation about the placement of the Off-White tape for the cover they settled on. On that subject he spoke about the creative back-and-forth that comes about when two people with track records try to come up with a compromise that will keep both of their brands happy.
"You can look at Lil Uzi and know he has a strong opinion about his aesthetic," he responded. "He comes to creative from a whole different place. I pride myself in collaborating and being a creative director, and creative direction isn't putting my opinion first. It's supporting an artist so they get the most out of the project. I think it's a lost art in a way. Many people sort of want to be a creative director, but it's an awesome position to be able to support any artist's vision to get that out."
He also talked about how he first met Uzi, what makes the rapper unique, and the process behind creating the upcoming "XO Tour Llif3" video. Check out the whole interview over at the Fader.
Want to experience Complex IRL? Check out or second annual ComplexCon, a festival and exhibition taking place in Long Beach, California Nov. 4-5. Host committee members include Murakami, Pharrell, Virgil Abloh, and Sarah Andelman, among others. For more information on performers, panels, and tickets, visit here.
Related links:
More from Complex
