Street Artist Jay Shells Strikes Again Covering Atlanta with Hip-Hop Signs

Still from "Rap Quotes" video via YouTube.

After outings in New York and Los Angeles, the street artist Jay Shells has traveled to Atlanta to continue his Rap Quotes project, Complex Magazine reports.

Shells explained in an online video that he installs street signs of “site specific rap lyrics in the places that are mentioned in the songs.”

The artist traveled around the southern metropolis with a truckload of signs featuring quotes by Atlanta rap legends including Canibus, Outkast, Killer Mike, Bubba Sparxxx, Goodie Mob, and Jermaine Dupri.

While Shells realized that “a lot of the important locations that we’re hitting are strip clubs,” the project also took him to other interesting locations such as a local Waffle House diner, various nightclubs, and a prison.

“We get to go everywhere, see parts of the city that not everybody necessarily goes to,” Shells explained. “It’s just so cool to be in these locations,” he added.

Shells previously viewed the removal of his signs as a natural consequence of the transient nature of street art, but he has changed his opinion.

“I hope these signs last,” he admitted. “In the past, I’ve given my thumbs up for people to steal them but … I hope that they stay, it’s fun for people to find them in the wild. Although I can’t control that,” he added.

Last year, in Brooklyn, Shells painted an oversized Rap Quote street mural with the aim of giving the project greater longevity (see Street Artist Jay Shells Paints Hip Hop-Inspired Mural in Brooklyn).


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