LETTER TO LIL' JON 1-20-04
Dear Lil' Jon,
Hey man. This is Cojo, "Art Juggernaut."
In case you don't know who I am, let me give you a little background: I was the Dr. Pain artist for The Source Magazine from 99-2001. My style has since become a staple of the hip-hop world.
I've done full page comic strips in Complex Magazine for the last 9 issues, including "THE CRUNK WORLD" in which I featured you, so you might have caught it. I also currently do comic strips and illustration in: Vibe, XXL, King, Black Book, Maxim magazine and many others. As well as art for Nike, FUBU (Fat Albert Clothes), Zima, Nickelodeon (Black History Month Commercials) ,etc.etc.etc.
I have total respect for you, and all your talents, but I have to let you know that whomever did your recent album cover artwork is a total hack and Cojo imitator -whom is biting my style and making you and me both look bad. I have gotten numerous e-mail's from fans of mine who were like," Did you do the Lil' Jon album cover? I didn't see your name."
The thing that gets me is, not only did this guy pull the wool over your eyes in selling you a style he had ripped off of me, but I could have done a 10X BETTER JOB THAN HIM!
This is one of the big pitfalls of the commercial art industry. Someone (a young illustrator w/ no original style) sees a style that is already in the market and is "hot." A style another artist (visual artist) has spent years developing, pushing, getting established, and working to get his name recognized. And just copies it...poorly. Then using this stolen style, gets work from people who don't know that he's not the original, but a style thief ... please stop supporting the hacks. As an artist yourself, I am sure you can understand where I'm coming from with this...
So...in conclusion, if you ever want a piece done for another album or T-shirts/posters, whatever, I'd be happy work with you. Drop a line anytime. If you got another e-mail address / number I should have, hook me up.
Thanks
-peace
-Art Juggernaut
-Cojo