Brooklyn Museum displaying SZA, Metro Boomin & 21 Savage sculptures

Spotify’s RapCaviar is a popular playlist, a concert series, and now also a museum exhibit. The “RapCaviar Pantheon” will feature live-size sculptures of RapCaviar’s three breakthrough artists of 2017, SZA, Metro Boomin and 21 Savage, at the Brooklyn Museum. The sculptures will be on limited display to the public on Friday (12/8). Here’s more info:

Rap has a pantheon of icons, names that are forever etched into culture and songs that no one is ever going to forget. In 2017, three breakthrough artists cemented their place in this pantheon. They created something lasting – and anyone who was listening this year knows it.

To celebrate the three breakthrough hip hop artists of the year, we are launching the inaugural RapCaviar Pantheon, which will pay tribute every year to some of hip hop’s rising stars in unique artistic formats. These artists are decided by a combination of data and curation, in keeping with the curatorial approach of the RapCaviar playlist. For the launch, we have chosen to create three life-size sculptures of this year’s inductees, Metro Boomin, SZA and 21 Savage, which will be unveiled at the Brooklyn Museum.

…“Pantheon is our way of non-verbally communicating the breakthrough artists of 2017,” said Tuma Basa, Global Head of Hip Hop. “We’re treating our artists with the importance that Ancient Rome treated its gods. Metro, SZA and 21 all proved this year that they’re here to stay. Their music is forever so why not immortalize their likeness? Greco-Roman Respect Style!”

…Each of the three life-sized artist sculptures draws from history, with tiny details that nod to both the artists’ work and classic antiquities – from Metro Boomin’s flute, Sza’s signature ‘Love Galore’ butterflies, to 21 Savage’s eight M’s (in his bank account). These sculptures were developed in partnership with SpecialGuest and created using state of the art Kuka robotic arms at Neoset Designs and Proptogroup over the course of 15 days.

You can get a sneak preview of the sculptures in the gallery above. You can also watch a video that chronicles the creation of the sculptures, which has a voiceover from Pharrell and was directed by Director X, below.

SZA’s CTRL is one of the most acclaimed albums of the year and it’s been showing up very high on several Best of 2017 lists. Metro Boomin remains a highly prolific producer, and his recent collaborative album with 21 Savage and and Offset of Migos, Without Warning, has been getting some love too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUD2leAzn2o&feature=youtu.be