Jason Jägel’s 73 Funshine: Art Book & Madlib 10-Inch Vinyl

• Jeff Jank
• Stones Throw
• October 15, 2008

IN THE STORE:
JASON JAGEL/MADLIB - 73 FUNSHINE

Book & 10-inch vinyl: 208 color pages, 14 x 12 x 1 inches, 2lb.
Released by Electric Works.

Around the time MF DOOM & Madlib's Madvillainy was dropping in 2004, DOOM asked if I had any ideas for the cover of his solo album MM..FOOD which was scheduled to come out a few months later. I didn’t, but I said, “Yes of course.” My only clue was that I’d give Jason Jägel a call.

I met Jason Jägel a couple years before, and I could see from the many hidden and not-so-hidden references to the lyrics of DOOM, Madlib and Declaime, that he connected well with this music. He’d also told me an idea of his for an art show: “One big room, 4 walls, and every lyric of Operation Doomsday, written by hand.”

I called Jason to ask him if he’d like to do anything for DOOM’s FOOD album, and I got the feeling that he had started on a sketch before I was done with the question. His painting which became the cover was finished in less than a day - something I marveled at when looking at the incredible details hidden into the edges. As art director, all I had to do was say, “keep it simple,” and - ironically - edit out a large blunt at the request of Mr. Doom.

Jason and I worked together on a few other things, some of them never released, like one of Madlib’s many private-press jazz albums (Monkfunkin by his Monk Hughes group) and some early ideas for a revamped Operation Doomsday cover for DOOM that never quite made it off the ground. I'm glad to see both of those pieces in this new, huge book of his, 73 Funshine. Given all the connections in the artwork, and of course the Madlib EP, I’m glad Stones Throw has this opportunity to offer the book & record right on our website.

There’s some pictures of the book below. The last photo, taken by Egon, is MF Grimm with Jägel, checking out the book at the 73 Funshine release party a few weeks back at Turntable Lab in Los Angeles.