THE PLASTER MASKS BEHIND CLASSIC COVERS

## Sometimes you suffer for the cover Sometimes you have to sacrifice for your art. For Tyler, the Creator, Nas, and Navy Blue, that sacrifice meant having an entire head covered in plaster to make a lifelike 3D mold of the face. ## The process, and the yikes moment Tyler both endured and documented the procedure for his Cherry Bomb cover. Navy Blue took his Instagram followers behind the scenes of the lifecasting used for Sir Render. Nas wore a plaster mold for the I Am cover to create the pharaoh mask effect, and photographer Danny Hastings remembers it going sideways. "The first time we applied the plaster, the solution was a bit too soft," Hastings wrote. "It started sifting through the straws in Nas's nostrils. It was a yikes moment for the history books." Nas, ever the professional, told them, "Do not mess it up this time." Hastings and Dave Cortes did not. ## Bigger than album art The technique runs past covers. Daft Punk used lifecasting to build their famous helmets. Doja Cat and Janelle Monáe used molds for Met Gala prosthetics and a photoshoot. Ice Cube reportedly used a mold to help build the 25 foot replica of himself from his 1998 Family Values tour dates. For every one of these artists, the discomfort paid off. The lesson is old and reliable. The image people remember is usually the one that cost something to make.