One of hip-hop’s greatest cartoonists says he hasn’t forgotten where his inspiration comes from.

By Davaughnia Wilson

November 19, 2023

André LeRoy Davis remembers the little black book that started it all. In the late 1970s, at Art and Design High School in Manhattan, students would draw comic pages and graffiti and pass it on – each adding their contribution to the collective sketchbook. Davis drew cartoon caricatures that mostly poked fun at his classmates.

Those sketches depicting superheroes and comedic illustrations laid the groundwork for his career as one of hip-hop’s greatest cartoon illustrators.

Davis, 58, is a hip-hop illustrator, cartoonist, writer and art professor who recently held a retrospective on his work in New York City, showcasing his contributions to hip-hop culture over 28 years.

The Brooklyn native began mixing his deep love for hip-hop into his illustrations at an early age. Davis launched his career by creating cartoon caricatures for various magazines like Discover, Vibe, Emerge and HipHopDx. Over time, he developed his distinct style of hand-painting every detail, slowly blending and mixing the colors until the piece was exactly how he envisioned it – and typically incorporated political satire. Davis said people think his work is created with markers or colored pencils, but it’s not. He pencils the work first and sits for hours at a time hand-painting each distinct detail.

After graduating college and working as a freelancer, Davis was hired by The Source — a hip-hop magazine — in 1990 to create cartoon caricatures of various hip-hop artists for the magazine’s last page, “The Last Word.”

Selwyn Hinds, former music editor, and later editor-in-chief at The Source in the 1990s, said the magazine was the first of its kind that viewed hip-hop as both a music genre and a culture with deep influence. Hinds said visual art is one of hip-hop’s key components, and “The Last Word” reflected that.

“The Last Word was always a very, sort of, eye-catching component of the entire Source package,” Hinds said. “So, I think most of us were just big fans of that column, just as readers, and obviously being there as a member of the staff and eventually as the boss, being able to work directly with André was fantastic.”

While at the Source, Davis ensured his work was infused with politically satirical elements. He said he likes to make impactful statements drawn from hearing stories about people’s experiences with politics and race.

In 2003, Davis illustrated the album cover and CD insert for Ja Rule’s fifth studio album “Blood in My Eye.” Like all of Davis’ work, the illustration was penciled, inked in, and painted with a unique watercolor to capture every detail.

“Everything is hand painted, slowly, with time,” Davis said. “Every detail. Tears, skin texture, all that is painted.”

The album cover showed Ja Rule walking out of a penitentiary and the CD insert was a bleeding eye that, according to Davis, depicted the 1960s. The illustration shows a burning cross, the Ku Klux Klan, the phrases “I AM A MAN,” “COLORED,” and “SEGREGATION” all on different poster boards, a dead man hung by a rope and a white police officer. The illustration also shows the iconic image of USA Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos protesting during the national anthem in 1968.

It wasn’t just the experiences of others that influenced Davis to use his art to make statements. He also faced many difficulties and said if it were not for his sense of humor, he would have “probably gone crazy.”

In 1976 Brooklyn, 12-year-old Davis was heading home from his first day of school when he was doused in bleach and Coca-Cola and referred to as the n-word by a car jam-packed with white boys who attended the local high school. The bleach left pink spots on his blue tracksuit, and when he got home, he turned to his brothers and said, “Hey, look at me, I’m spotted,” with humor in his voice.

He found humor in his hurt.

“So that’s kind of how I tag all the stuff that I do because that’s more or less how I deal with life,” Davis said. “And of course, as a creative, my artwork is going to be just the extension of who I am.”

Davis said he wants viewers to look at his illustrations, see that it’s serious but still acknowledge the humor and think to themselves: “should I laugh?” Then chuckle a bit.

After leaving The Source after 16 years in 2006, Davis continued to create cartoon caricatures of various hip-hop artists before shifting to political figures and political illustrations. He recently created a commissioned editorial piece for American photographer Ernie Paniccioli of WNBA player Brittney Griner following her detainment in Russia. The piece shows a side profile of Griner flexing her muscles in a blue shirt with the number 42 on the collar with the hashtag #freebrittneygriner.

Davis said a lot of his work can be found by conducting a simple Google search or by looking at his Instagram. However, the best way to see his work is to see it live at his art exhibits or in museums.

In September, Davis hosted a one-man art show “50 Shades of Dre” in Williamsburg, Brooklyn which featured the first hip-hop illustration he ever drew: A 1987 piece on Run-D.M.C. that he drew in college. The exhibit also included a large volume of his satirical “The Last Word” pieces, the 2003 Ja Rule CD insert and pieces drawn after he left The Source in 2006 up until 2014.

On display was “Police is Watching,” which ran in 2003 on “The Last Word” and was inspired by a rumor that Lil Romeo was arrested. The piece showed 50 Cent, Juvenile, Fabolous and Lil Romeo handcuffed in the back of a police van. Fabolous is looking at Lil Romeo and asks him, “Damn kid what’d they get you for?”

He said he was trying to convey the “insanity” of police officers who were arresting innocent people at a time when police surveillance was extremely high, and a lot of rappers were getting arrested in New York and other major cities. 

“He [Davis] was very very quick, very efficient, very creative,” Hinds said. “An editor’s job is so multifaceted and multi-layered, and you got a million things demanding your attention. To have a columnist who can deliver the piece that they’re supposed to execute on time, on budget, with a high level of creativity is a God sent. So, André was that for me, for the entire three and a half years I ran the book.”

These days, Davis is an adjunct art and design professor at Montclair State University in New Jersey. He said what he did in high school, turning people into superheroes and making fun of friends fit perfectly into what he was hired to do at The Source. His talents and his love and connection to hip-hop afforded him a successful and influential career in the industry.

“I did it because I got to draw people and because I was of the culture,” Davis said. “No one had to explain anything to me, I just knew what to draw.”