When Rappers Replicate Iconic Malcolm X Images
The civil rights leader's likeness has been imitated often.
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When Rappers Replicate Iconic Malcolm X Images - Malcolm X remains one of the most iconic figures in Black culture. As such, it's not rare that he’s mentioned in rhymes, with rappers crafting similes around the civil rights leader's name. Numerous famous images of him have also been reimagined by rappers for their own use — most recently with Nicki Minaj’s single cover for "Lookin A-- N---a." She's caught some backlash for the use, but Nicki's not the first to use an iconic image of Malcolm X. Read on for more rappers who have replicated iconic images of Brother Malcolm. (Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
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Nicki Minaj - For the single cover for her latest release, “Lookin A-- N---a,” Nicki Minaj decided to use a famous photograph of Malcolm X holding a gun and peering through curtains out a window. Sure, he’s technically “looking” in the image, but many still feel that this is a misuse of his likeness. (Photo: Young Money, Cash Money)
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KRS-One (and Boogie Down Productions) - Boogie Down Productions reframed Malcolm X’s famous “By Any Means Necessary” couplet for the title of their 1988 album, By All Means Necessary. The album cover depicts KRS-One as Malcolm X, peering out the window with a gun. (Photo: Jive/MCA Records)
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Bilal - Bilal’s 2010 album Airtight’s Revenge slightly flipped the famous image of Malcolm X with the M1 at the window. Bilal posed holding a microphone in the gun’s place, a stage curtain replaced the window curtain. (Photo: Plug Research)
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Jeezy - Jeezy put out a sequel to his classic mixtape in 2010 with Trap or Die II: By Any Means Necessary. Not only did he make Malcolm X’s famous words part of the release’s title, but he imitated the late leader’s famous pose on the cover, wearing round-frame glasses with his left pointer finger near his left eye, staring at the camera for a black and white photo. (Photo: CTE, Def Jam)
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The Roots - The Roots took a bit of a different approach for the cover of 2004’s The Tipping Point. Rather than an image from later in Malcolm X’s life, the Philly cohort used a 1944 mug shot of Malcolm Little. (Photo: Geffen/Interscope)
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T.I. - For his 2009 Vibe magazine cover, T.I. posed as Malcolm X — in a black and white photo and wearing a suit and tie, glasses and a hat — shortly before heading to jail to serve time for his weapons charges. (Photo: Vibe)
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Wale - With the cover line, “Wale declares a revolution in ink!” Urban Ink put the DMV rapper on their cover in 2013. To go along with the bold claim, they created an equally bold image, with Wale dressing up like Malcolm X. In another image, the MMG MC replicated the window pose as well. (Photo: Urban Ink)
