KILLA VILLA have returned with their latest hip-hop-inspired jerseys, with this latest instalment paying homage to two New York rap legends.
The ‘Dead Presidents’ shirts are inspired by JAY-Z and Nas’s beef back in the hey-dey of NYC hip-hop. After failing to show up to record a verse on Jay’s track “Bring It On”, the Roc-A-Fella don then sampled Nas’s line, ‘I’m out for dead president’s to represent me’ – taken from Nas’ single “The World is Yours” – and ignited one of the most notorious battles
in hip-hop history.
The font used on Nas’ jersey was inspired by the original typeface featured on the ‘Illmatic’ album cover released in 1994.The crest on the Nas jersey featuring the title of the song and a globe symbol along with ‘40 side north’ – where Nas grew up.
The JAY-Z jersey takes similar cues from the ‘Reasonable Doubt’ album, whilst working on top of the Nas graphics, along with the release year in Roman numerals.The iconography con the crest is closely associated with the Tidal mogul: the diamond symbol and the all-seeing eye.
The Following Shots were captured by New York based photographer Matthew Stith
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