Today in Hip-Hop — November 5: Makaveli’s The Don Killuminati Turns 30, and the Compton Airbrush Artist Who Painted the Cross

November 5, 1996. Less than two months after Tupac Shakur died in Las Vegas, Death Row put out an album credited to someone called Makaveli. The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory turns 30 today. Everybody remembers the cover. Fewer people know who painted it. Ronald “Riskie” Brent was a Compton artist who got his start airbrushing designs at a booth in the mall. Pac told him what he wanted: paint me on a cross. Riskie’s own bio says Pac never got to see the finished piece.

The Numbers Nobody Expected

It debuted at No. 1 and sold about 664,000 copies in its first week, per SoundScan. The Los Angeles Times reported that was only 16,000 short of Metallica’s Load, the biggest opening week of 1996. It knocked the Beatles’ Anthology 3 out of the top spot. It was also Pac’s third No. 1 debut in 20 months, after Me Against the World and All Eyez on Me. By June 1999 the RIAA had it at four-times platinum.

The sound is darker than All Eyez, and the credits explain why. Pac left the usual hitmakers out. Most of the beats came from Hurt-M-Badd, a young in-house Death Row producer (“Hail Mary,” “Hold Ya Head,” “Against All Odds”), and from Darryl “Big D” Harper, an R&B guy (“Krazy,” “White Man’z World”). Pac co-produced “Me and My Girlfriend” and “Against All Odds” himself. The one outside producer he’d worked with before was QDIII, who did “To Live & Die in L.A.” QDIII is Quincy Jones’s son, and we wrote about his father’s hip-hop legacy two days ago.

Then look at the painting again. Riskie drew a road map of cities across the country on the cross, all with large Black populations from East to West to South, and lit the scene with only a moon and the light coming through the cracks. A Parental Advisory sticker sits right where the “Thug Life” tattoo would be. At the bottom is Makaveli’s disclaimer that the portrait is no disrespect to Jesus Christ. It’s one of the most argued-over covers in rap. It came from an airbrush artist out of Compton, not an agency.

Wear It

We made a Tupac Don Killuminati tee for the heads who still start “Hail Mary” when the lights go off. When it gets cold, there’s the Don Killuminati hoodie, with the same seven-day mood.

Also Today in Hip-Hop

• 1996: Mo Thugs’ Family Scriptures (30 years). It came out the same day and debuted right behind Makaveli at No. 2, with 219,000 sold. Krayzie Bone produced it, and it went platinum by January. It’s the family album from the crew that came up on Eazy-E’s Ruthless Records.
• 1996: LL Cool J’s All World (30 years). His first greatest-hits collection, running from Radio (1985) to Mr. Smith (1995). QDIII produced “Back Seat (of My Jeep)” on it, which puts him on two big albums released the same day.
• 1996: Richie Rich’s Seasoned Veteran (30 years). The Oakland vet’s Def Jam album, and still his only major-label release. Pac has a verse on it, and the single “Do G’s Get to Go to Heaven?” was dedicated to his memory.

Stay creative — The Custom Creative Team

Jon Jones