Spotify
ArenaHip-Hop
Rhymes takeover the streets of Mexico
Mexican hip-hop is experiencing one of its best moments, as reflected in the national Top 100 on Spotify, where an increasing number of urban hip-hop songs are entering. Therefore, the platform has decided to strengthen the image of the playlist that brings together the best Mexican hip-hop: Arena Hip-Hop.
ClientSpotify
Date2023
Unifying a divided scene through one visual identity
The culture surrounding Mexican hip-hop is full of beef between artists. There's division between those who are your friends and those who are not. The challenge was to find elements of unity in a very diverse and unconnected landscape.
An urban style calligraphy
Through our investigation of the visual language used in the Mexican urban scene, we discovered that many rappers originate from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Consequently, their music often reflects their personal identities and speaks out against the everyday issues faced in these neighborhoods. Given that only a select few can afford the lavish lifestyles portrayed in other countries' scenes, Mexican hip-hop artists' style tends to be less aspirational and more relatable to their audience.
While the streets of Mexico may lack the opulence of gold chains or fancy cars, they are alive with vibrant graffiti and street art with a dense cultural background. It was this urban aesthetic that inspired us to create calligraphy with a thick, broad nib, which we hand-wrote. We utilized this style as a unifying element and by leveraging this unique technique, we created monograms, titles, and tags for the top 40 most notable Mexican hip-hop artists.
The red lettering is combined with a black and white photo of the artist and the white lock-up and logo in various applications, creating a tough and highly-characteristic image.
Aside from the Spotify covers and headers, the new identity was applied to banners, billboards, OPIs, and even produced its own merchandise.
This allowed the latest hip-hop tracks from the streets of Mexico to have a stronger presence than ever before on Spotify.
Art Direction, calligraphy and graphic design by Vasava.
Spotify team:
Art Director - Shahin Haghjou.
Project Manager - Michelle Pham and Loren Lee.
Editorial Team - Uriel Waizel, Alejandro Grageda, Carlos Cervantes, Enrique Coyotzi and Juan Manuel Rótulo.
Spotify team:
Art Director - Shahin Haghjou.
Project Manager - Michelle Pham and Loren Lee.
Editorial Team - Uriel Waizel, Alejandro Grageda, Carlos Cervantes, Enrique Coyotzi and Juan Manuel Rótulo.