Uncanny Similarities Between Rappers And Classical Art

Kanye West likes to think of himself as a modern Renaissance man. In a typically humble and self-aware way he has even compared himself Michelangelo. Now, you might not think 808s & Heartbreak is an artistic achievement on par with the ceiling of the Sistine chapel but, what do you know?

It looks like old Kanye may have had a point after all. In a very brilliant Tumblr, a New York-based art director Cecilia Azcarate compares hip-hop stars and classical works of art. And the results are weirdly incredible.

Azcarate says she is “"highlighting an invisible conversation between hip-hop and art before the 16th century". It must be a very big conversation because the similarities are uncanny. Old dead people and rappers love lots of gold and ermine.

So the next time you’re strolling through the corridors of the Uffizi Gallery, you might just want to ponder the relationship between Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Coolio.

Old masta’s Paradise.   

Left: The Adoration of the Magi, Hugo van der Goes. Late 15th century. Right: Wiz Khalifa

Left: Quentin Massys. Ecce Homo-1520. Right: 2 Chainz

Left: Portrait of Henry the Pious, Duke of Saxony by Lucas Cranach  - 1514. Right: Takeoff from Migos

Left: Detail of "The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence," oil on wood, by Masters of the Acts of Mercy (Austrian, Salzburg, c. 1465). Right: ASAP Ferg

Left: Jan van Eyck. Ghent Altarpiece detail. c. 1432. Right: The ATL Twins.

Left: detail of Christ Blessing surrounded by a Donor Family. Unknown German Painter 1560. Right: Kanye West

Left: Henry VIII by the studio of Hans Holbein the Younger, 1540-1550. Right: Rick Ross