April 16, 2019

“Taking lyrics from well-known rap songs, artist Jay Shells creates street signs and installs them at the physical locations referenced on the tracks. “The Rap Quotes” project is one of the greatest hip-hop themed street art projects of all time …” Andrew Lasane, Complex
“When I wrote the lyric, I wasn’t thinking anything like this would ever happen, but it’s an honor, it’s an honor honestly.” Masta Ace
Since 2013, multi-disciplinary artist Jay Shells (Jason Shelowitz) has been travelling to major US cities, installing his Rap Quotes campaign. At the time of this publication, the campaign has touched down in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Houston and the Bay Area. Part art book and part guide book, The Rap Quotes Coast to Coast takes you on a new kind of journey, with gorgeous photography by Aymann Ismail to o er context for the hip hop lyrics that mark locations in these major cities. Each city/chapter opens with remarks by local hip hop journalists and ends with a map plotting every site-specific rap lyric for that city, giving the reader the ability to take their own hip hop-specific tour of the city they love. The Rap Quotes campaign is ongoing, and in the next few years will launch in Chicago, New Orleans, Miami and other cities around the globe.
Jay Shells ( Jason Shelowitz) was born in 1979 in Oceanside, New York. His work has been exhibited in galleries throughout the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom as well as featured in publications including The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times, Juxtapoz, Complex, ARTINFO and The New York Times. Jason’s work appears in the book Seinfeldia by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong, and Street Messages by Nicolas Ganz. Many of Jason’s public art campaigns have been written about extensively on an international scale.
Aymann Ismail was born in 1989 in Newark, New Jersey. He is a renowned photographer, videographer and journalist who initially made waves creating original content for Animal New York. Aymann is currently producing, writing and directing the web series Who’s Afraid of Aymann Ismail for Slate.