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May 20, 2015 Aymann Ismail

In March of 2013, urban artist Jay Shells launched his “Rap Quotes” project in New York, whereby he installed street signs emblazoned with rap lyrics in the specific locations that said lyrics called out. The series was so well received by the public (and the rappers he quoted) that, he went for another spin around […]

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November 26, 2014 Aymann Ismail

After getting New Yorkers to clean up their act with his etiquette campaign, artist Jay Shells has been memorializing iconic hip-hop lyrics with the Rap Quotes project. For the project, Shells identifies specific locations mentioned in rap songs, paints them on street signs, and posts them at the intersections they identify. It’s a way to […]

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August 19, 2014 Aymann Ismail

“Let’s face it. What I’m doing isn’t really vandalism,” Jay Shells tells ANIMAL after a weekend of putting his site-specific Rap Quotes around Philadelphia. “But the questionably legal act of installing signs became trickiest around City Hall and the Liberty Bell where an abundance of bored security guards are waiting to flex on a smart ass like me.” But he got it done. […]

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April 28, 2014 Andy Cush

On Saturday night in Los Angeles, a crowd filled 1988 Gallery for an exhibition of “Rap Quotes,” a series of works by Jay Shells. The right side of the gallery housed the artist’s New York City street signs, which he’s been hanging at specific locations mentioned in hip hop songs since last year; the left […]

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March 31, 2014 Aymann Ismail

So far, artist Jay Shells has installed a total of 68 site-specific “Rap Quotes” in New York, with more coming. Yesterday, just like old times when we first covered the project, ANIMAL followed Shells as he put up 21 new uncanny signs with hip hop lyrics that shout-out street corners and locations in Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, the […]

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