Gregory Titus for UNIVERSUM (KADEEM & FTB)

"I’ve had a lot of great projects this year, but this one is easily one of my favorites. An illustration for an album cover for KADEEM and FRANK THE BUTCHER’s collaboration, "UNIVERSUM." When Frank hit me up to do this, he dropped a few pieces of reference and an album link in my lap, and said he wanted to capture the expansiveness of the universe. No small feat. He said “give a listen, see if you see what I see.” I gotta tell you…I did. Immediately. It’s a rare thing to have someone describe a piece of music to you, and have it so perfectly match your own experience of it. This album feels like a spacewalk, by yourself out in the abyss, but in front of a warm star. That warm star, is Frank's production. Those beats a melodic blanket letting Kadeem’s lyrics drift to you, grab on, and carry you with them, song to song, each it's own perfect planet. Two songs in I knew what I wanted to do, and dropped a quick sketch over to Frank.

We noodled some details back and forth, and then he let me off the leash. Good music, the right music, is it's own fuel and makes running hard on a project like this an absolute joy. To all my Hip-Hop kids out there, go give it a shot. To all my artist guys and girls, it’s perfect to draw or even write to. Invasive, not abrasive. "UNIVERSUM" is available now on all streaming platforms."

- Gregory Titus