THE PROJECT
"Pressure (Message to My Haters)" is a hip-hop song by Boston rapper, Danny G. He asked me to create the art for its song cover.
THE STORY
When I first heard his song, I was surprised at how sad it was. I had assumed by its title that this was an angry rap song, full of spite and bravado. However, the beat, melody, and lyrics conveyed how alienated Danny felt when people criticized him, how frustrated he was by the pressure to conform to other's expectations.
Inspired by the Tokyo Ghoul anime that I was watching at the time, I went home that night thinking about roses petals falling -- how beautiful yet melancholy. I painted them in watercolor.
Danny was so impressed with my work that he asked me to put an image of him in place of the character that I had originally painted. It was a challenge to digitally recreate the work while maintaining the texture of the original version.
Sadly, his song was never released due to production issues.
