5 Shocking Album Covers Banned In The U.S.A.

The pursuit of the perfect album cover is a risky endeavor. A fine line divides provocation and poor taste, the bold and boorish. This week we take a look back at album art that flirted with scandal, made censors nervous and generally tested the limits of cultural tolerance.

Ice-T - Home Invasion (March 23, 1993) - Ice-T ended his relationship with Sire Records over the Home Invasion cover, which showed a young white boy in headphones listening to rap music and surrounded by menacing black figures. After the label insisted on a change, T got out of his deal and took the album over to Priority Records, where it was released with album art as originally conceived.
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (November 22, 2010) - Kanye West turned to post-modern painter George Condo when it came to the artwork for his My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy album. Wal-Mart, however, didn't take too kindly to the darkly twisted depiction of a reclining black man with sharp teeth being straddled by a naked, white angel creature with exposed breasts and rear that Condo came up with. To appease the censors, the album cover shipped in pixelated form.
Master P - The Ghettos Tryin to Kill Me! (March, 1994) - For the cover of his third studio album, The Ghettos Tryin To Kill Me!, Master P let it all hang out. The photo is a close crop of P in bed while engaged in a most intimate act with an undressed woman on top of him. The ghetto must have been killing him softly.
Luther Campbell - I Got Shit on My Mind(November 9, 1992) - Throughout the '80s and '90s, 2 Live Crew courted controversy like it was head of the cheerleading squad. In his solo career, group leader Luke Campbell was no different, planting an expletive right in the title and adorning the cover with a photo of himself on the toilet and two naked girls standing in the shower behind him. Leave it to Luke to fuse potty humor, nudity and graphic language all on one album cover.The Coup - Party Music (November 6, 2001) - Though remarkably shot before the terror attacks of September 11, the ill-conceived cover photo for hip hop duo The Coup's album Party Music was a non-starter due to its depiction of the Twin Towers in flames with the group members standing out front. For the album's release, a more apropos image of a martini glass sitting on a bar had to suffice.

Next Gallery

Women's History Month: The Most Iconic Fashion Moments by Black Women

13 Photos

2 / 5

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (November 22, 2010) - Kanye West turned to post-modern painter George Condo when it came to the artwork for his My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy album. Wal-Mart, however, didn't take too kindly to the darkly twisted depiction of a reclining black man with sharp teeth being straddled by a naked, white angel creature with exposed breasts and rear that Condo came up with. To appease the censors, the album cover shipped in pixelated form.

ADVERTISEMENT