Kevin Gates, Chance The Rapper and More Get Marvel Variant Covers

Last year, Marvel released a collection of 50 variant covers, reimagining popular hip-hop album art with superheroes taking the place of the artist. Now, Playboy.com has gotten a hold of six new entries which pay tribute to the Wu-Tang Clan, Kevin Gates, Chance The Rapper, LL Cool J and more.

“Comics and hip-hop share a common narrative: They’re all about underdogs struggling, striving and persevering against overwhelming odds,” explained Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso over email. “So it’s no surprise that so many rappers have been influenced by the Marvel mythology or embraced the Marvel heroes over the decades. The hip-hop covers were our way of showing that the love is reciprocal. A lot of the writers, artists and editors that make Marvel Comics are inspired by hip-hop, and it shows in their work.”

Some of the variants are included above and below, Jessica Jones for instance taking on the pose that Kevin Gates strikes on the cover of his debut album Islah, which just recently went platinum. “We picked Kevin Gates’ Islah for Jessica Jones because his body language simply nails who she is,” Alonso explained. “Ditto for LL’s BAD—the stance, the attitude was all Luke Cage.”

Marvel and hip-hop have been deepening their ties with one another in recent years and months, with every episode of the new Netflix series Luke Cage to be named after a Gang Starr song, the series itself being co-scored by A Tribe Called Quest's Ali Shaheed Muhammad. Run The Jewels meanwhile have lent a helping hand in the Black Panther relaunch.

The new art will debut on the covers for the comics Champions #1 by Rahzzah, Ultimates 2 #1 by Risa Hulett, Infamous Iron Man #1 by Anthony Piper, Jessica Jones #1 by Jeff Dekal, Nova #1 by Christian Ward and Cage! #1 by Marco D’Alfonso. For additional details and images, visit Playboy.com.

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