The little plaques you see all over cities like NYC that commemorate where famous people used to live… well, they tend to be rather biased in favor of long-dead white guys, don’t they? This is why we’re rather enamored of these hip hop-centric street signs, which commemorate a whole heap of New York locations mentioned in iconic rap lyrics, encompassing Jay-Z’s early days in the Marcy projects, the corner where Redman’s associates used to “sling rocks,” and a Smooth B lyric referencing “125 and St. Nick” (where your correspondent used to live!), amongst many others. They’re the work of artist Jay Shells, who posted over 30 of the signs all over the city — our friends at ANIMAL went and photographed them all in situ. We’ve chosen some of our favorites after the jump, and you can see the rest right here.
Photo credit: Aymann Ismail
Photo credit: Aymann Ismail
Photo credit: Aymann Ismail
Photo credit: Aymann Ismail
Photo credit: Aymann Ismail
Photo credit: Aymann Ismail
Photo credit: Aymann Ismail
Photo credit: Aymann Ismail
Photo credit: Aymann Ismail
Photo credit: Aymann Ismail