Hip Hop Hockey League - part one.

[Eye]

What's goin' on, gents? Well, I gotta say, I brain hatched a creative idea or two a couple of months ago (you may have noticed I haven't really posted many concepts lately.) Also, you may have seen this thread asking about hockey practice/warm up uniforms. You may have seen this thread as well, which was just a sampling of my work. Though I posted Gang Starr hockey midway through February, I actually completed it some time in January, which led me to start the Hip Hop Hockey League (HHHL). Now Gang Starr is my favorite rap group ever, which is why I did them for fun, but then I branched off into doing my other favorite artists and the HHHL was born. No, doubt, I'm gonna go back and redo Gang Starr, by the way, for any fans of them or (potential) fans of this concept series.

For this project, I combined two things I enjoy. Hip hop/rap music, and ice hockey. Straight up, this project was just fun, and who's to say it's over, I may do other rappers (or non hip hop/rap music, because don't get me wrong, I love almost all types of music) if requested or if I want to expand the HHHL.

To do this project, I had to know about each rapper or group, which wasn't that hard, as I listen to rap pretty much everyday. Though I did read up on each artist, it was more to gain any unknown or extra perspective on them, you know, like which type of rap music they are in (hardcore, crunk, gangsta, east/west coast, old school, etc.)

So, let's get going, shall we? In no particular order, here is the first team of the Hip Hop Hockey League.

N.W.A - yes, that is the correct way to spell N.W.A (no period after the A) although people usually add a period on the end. You can look up what N.W.A stands for because some people may be offended if I actually type it here.

Created in Compton, California in 1986, N.W.A is considered as starting the beginning of the gangsta rap genre, and were one of the most successful groups out there, even though many of their songs were not played on radio. Now, what I did here was try to capitalize on the LA Kings and LA Raiders use of silver and black in the days of N.W.A. However, I then created my own logo for the shoulder patch (a gold badge outlined in black, with LAPD written in black, with California in silver, outlined in black, with the Los Angeles area colored in red. That's where N.W.A is from, gotta represent, ya know.) and found that the addition of gold would look bad ass. It does, also, it reminds me of the Anaheim Ducks (and the New Orleans Saints) who happen to be in the greater Los Angeles area.

The home crest is gold outlined in white (same as names and numbers), away crest is silver outlined in black, home and away alt is black outlined in silver. Names and back numbers are colored and outlined the same as the crest, except for on the home alternates. Sleeve numbers are an entirely different story. On the homes, they are gold outlined in silver, aways - white outlined in black, home alt - white outlined in silver, away alt -white outlined in black. The striping patterns are as follows: Home - silver/black/gold/white/gold/black/silver, Away - gold/white/black/silver/black/white/gold, Home alt - white/black/silver/black/silver/black/white, Away alt - white/silver/black/gold/black/silver/white. I went into extreme detail on the names, numbers, and striping patterns because when I saved this on photobucket, it came up small here or something (If anyone has any tips on how to make this concept show up bigger here, please tell me, I'd greatly appreciate it.)

You may have noticed the numbers, C's and A's are flipped horizontally. You may be thinking, WTF Raps. Here's an explanation. Look at the cover of N.W.A's album, Efil4Zaggin

Primary uniforms:

Alternate uniforms:

Efil4Zaggin is flipped horizontally, so I did that with the numbers, C's, and A's. The numbers are a really unique touch, and I like that part a lot. Each number is a year when N.W.A released an album or EP, so they do have relevance.

That's all for N.W.A and part one of the Hip Hop Hockey League. I'm down for some constructive criticism, hopefully you guys can provide some that will help me. Again, if anyone can tell me how to save my concepts so they show up bigger on the CCSLC I would greatly appreciate it.

-E.A.R.

EDIT: Made the uniforms come up bigger.

[mac756]

Love the concept of hip hop hockey.

NWA came out great except the numbers are a little hard to read backwards.

[Shumway]

I love it (I'm wearing my N.W.A. shirt as I type this, actually). THe only suggestion I'd make is to make the colors black, red, and white, but otherwise, this is great. Nice play on the LA Kings 90s jerseys. I'm not too fond of the backwards numbers and such, but it's unique, so I'll give credit for that. Keep these up, I can't wait to see what else you come up with.

[neo_prankster]

Nice job. Are we going to see a Death Row-Bad Boy all star jersey set?

[ReLyT]

Flashy bright green jerseys for Harlemworld... M A dollar sign E... lol

[Coast2CoastAM2006]

any way we'll be seeing a Schooly D concept anytime soon.

[JCC]

Very nice, I love the idea. As others said, I think the numbers are a litle bit hard to read.

[Bucks6thMan]

Having an LAPD badge on an NWA jersey would be like putting the Yankees NY on a Red Sox jersey. And I'm not a big fan of the backwards numbering since the connection isn't immediatley obvious. Although I do like the old LA Kings elements. I'd just use the original template since NWA was known for rockin' silver & black.

Can't wait to see what you come up with for Public Enemy.

[TFoA]

Having an LAPD badge on an NWA jersey would be like putting the Yankees NY on a Red Sox jersey.

I was thinking the same thing. I was like "WTF? Is this not the same group that came out with the classic " The Police?" So yeah, I was kinda thrown aback by that one.

Other than that, they'd be rockin that in the video if this was made back then, instead of the classic Kings jersey. It's that good, IMO.

[Eye]

Nice job. Are we going to see a Death Row-Bad Boy all star jersey set?

Wasn't planning on it, but who knows, the HHHL is always down for expansion.

any way we'll be seeing a Schooly D concept anytime soon.

See above.

Having an LAPD badge on an NWA jersey would be like putting the Yankees NY on a Red Sox jersey.

I was thinking the same thing. I was like "WTF? Is this not the same group that came out with the classic " The Police?" So yeah, I was kinda thrown aback by that one.

Other than that, they'd be rockin that in the video if this was made back then, instead of the classic Kings jersey. It's that good, IMO.

I guess I forgot to explain my logic in putting a badge on N.W.A's theads. I did explain why I put the badge on there to a friend of mine, guess my mind just ran together when I was typing this. It's mostly to mock the police, as ThaFlame and B6M pointed out in songs such as " Tha Police" and "Gangsta Gangsta" So that's why it is there, not really pay homage to them, like if N.W.A was ever asked why they had a badge logo on their uniforms, they'd give their opinion on the police and people would be like, "oh, they're making fun of them". I guess I didn't think about the Yankees/Red Sox reference you made, B6M, good point. Thanks for the comments, guys. Keep 'em coming, and I just edited my first post to make the uniforms show up bigger.

-E.A.R.

[Lee.]

This thread ain't if it ain't got $lick Rick.