As standing designer for all The N.O.C. records album artwork I am no stranger to thematically epic concepts when collaborating with this outstanding hip hop team. The No Ordinary Cats have proven their masterful hard as leather guts once again with the latest release from Skinny Buddha Records titled Romans. Grinding from the streets of Miami comes the urban reverent audible sauce that is this all-star cast’s most current studio record so properly titled. Like warriors marching back into battle The N.O.C. conjure their fervent style with no holds barred. It has been 5 long years since the incept release of the super group’s first album Dinosaur. The long awaited Romans is the perfect follow up to the hard coated jelly centered urban squad’s first record that gained them a mass following and national recognition.
Reaching back into the artillery at Beery Method Studios myself along with frontmen K Sos and Rams we cooked up the seminal package to correlate the group’s come back and further solidify the theme of the Romans record. Strutting balefully is a young Roman gladiator. Donned with an urban contemporary flare the young fighter walks cooly with his battle cat a beast of war the king lion. Both champions emerge from the Roman Colosseum scarred and wounded yet victorious. The Triumphal Arch sits symbolically in the backdrop of the cover. Leaving the Flavian Amphitheatre in a trail of blood the two soldiers represent the return of a classic flavor that is the sound of The N.O.C. while emulating the new beginning and youthful injection of fresh sounds and effects in the recent record Romans.
Armed with a bloody sword the mercenary boy reflects the battles the group has gone through. Despite many obstacles on the road and in the studio the outcome is victorious in a record that pumps truth from the heart in the veins of an audience. The shield of the die-hard kid reads “Non Ordinarius Feles” which is Latin for No Ordinary Cats. This reappears on the compact disc in English translation. A couple other small details are the Skinny Buddha Records emblem on the gold chain of the boy as well as an added Roman Column to the original The N.O.C. logo.
With a few tricks of texture and color the entire package comes together as another solid edition to the South Beach foursome’s fierce repertoire of flavorful album consumables. Tracks such as Devil’s In My Corner and City Never Sleeps sends light into the deep tunnels and mines of a megaton brood of hip-hop heroes that is The N.O.C. Buy the latest release Romans from Skinny Buddha Records today!
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