Ruby Hornet's The Weekly Swarm

[The Weekly Swarm] 7/26 - 8/2

Have you all recovered from Lollapalooza yet? We'll have more coming from the weekend later this week, but first - time to revisit last week's content in this installment of The Weekly Swarm! Highlights for last week's Weekly Swarm include our editorial on revisiting heroes as villains via Bill Cosby and Atticus Finch, a series recap of the Mission: Impossible films, trailers for Seth Rogen's The Night Before, Michael Bay's 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of BenghaziSpotlight, our recommendations for Lollapalooza, and more!

Check out our full list of content from last week below.

weekly-swarm-culture

Vilifying Our Heroes: How We Understand Our Problematic Faves

The Weekly Swarm Film

Series Recap - Mission: Impossible (1996)
Trailer for Victoria Teases Entire Film Shot in One Take
Seth Rogen Trips on Drugs in Red Band Trailer for The Night Before
Series Recap - Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)
Channing Tatum Might Leave Gambit Solo Film
Red Band Trailer for Michael Bay's Political Action/Drama, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
The Boston Globe's Massachusetts Catholic Church Sex Scandal Dramatized in Trailer for Spotlight
Series Recap - Mission: Impossible 3 (2006)
Feel the Plight of the Chilean Miners in First Trailer for The 33
Series Recap - Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
Brie Larson Destined for Breakout in Room Trailer
Ivan Reitman Shoots Down All-Male Ghostbusters Reboot Rumors
The Peanuts Movie Celebrates Franklin's Birthday
[Weekly Netflix Fix] Final July 2015 Update

The Weekly Swarm Music

Top Artists to See at Lollapalooza 2015
Watch the Lollapalooza 2015 Livestream Performances

weekly-swarm-tv

Key & Peele to End After This Season
[Review] MTV's Scream: Exposed
[Weekly Netflix Fix] Final July 2015 Update


Ruby Hornet's The Weekly Swarm

[The Weekly Swarm] 7/20 - 7/26

Last week was fun, wasn't it? We had a ton of great content from Pitchfork 2015, including some amazing photos from Vanessa and a stupendous mini video of Chance the Rapper's video from Jeremy. We also published an expose on the CPD's secret agreement with the FBI to purchase cell phone spying equipment from my good friend, Freddy. We also found out that Hulk Hogan is a racist, effectively ending Hulkamania's 30+ year reign. Rumors that LeBron James might star in a Space Jam sequel also came out, but hopefully that won't actually come about. Danielle also reviewed Bojack Horseman Season 2, and while I'm only halfway through the season, I highly recommend it.

You can read all this and more in The Weekly Swarm.

weekly-swarm-culture

[Review] Go Set A Watchman
[RH Photos] Pitchfork Music Festival 2015
Inside Chicago Police's Secret Cell Phone Spying Agreement with the FBI
Hulkamania Has Finally Run Dry

The Weekly Swarm Film

Trailer for Alejandro G. Inarritu's The Revenant is Astounding
[Review] Felt
New SPECTRE Trailer Reboots The James Bond Iconography
LeBron James Signs Deal with Warner Bros., Sparks Space Jam 2 Rumors
Pixar Turns Back Time with The Good Dinosaur Trailer

The Weekly Swarm Music

Riot Fest Chicago 2015 Day Lineups Available
[RH Photos] Pitchfork Music Festival 2015
[RH Video] Chance the Rapper Closes Out Pitchfork Music Festival 2015

weekly-swarm-tv

Hulu is Considering Ad-Free Subscriptions
WWE Battleground 2015: Results and Match Reviews
The Flash's Season 2 Costume is Comic Book Friendly
Here's the Reason Why The Muppets Are Coming Back to TV
LeBron James Signs Deal with Warner Bros., Sparks Space Jam 2 Rumors
[Review] MTV's Scream: Aftermath
[Review] Bojack Horseman Season 2


Promotional photo of Hulk Hogan

Hulkamania Has Finally Run Dry

"Train, say your prayers, eat your vitamins, be true to yourself, true to your country - be a real American," Hulk Hogan used to say. What happens when your hero turns out to be everything he stood up against?

Throughout the '80s and '90s, Terry Bollea, better known as the larger-than-life Hulk Hogan, was pushed as the face of World Wrestling Federation (as World Wrestling Entertainment was known as back then) at a pivotal time when wrestling was universally praised and reaching a new height in its popularity. During this time, Hogan essentially became the face of American pop culture as Hulkamania ran wild on magazine covers, TV shows, shirts, toys, cartoons, and more.

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However, The National Enquirer, in collaboration with Radar Online, recently got wind of Hogan's racist tirade during "pillow talk" on a sex tape that was recorded several years before clips and images were leaked by Gawker back in 2012. During a conversation about Hogan's daughter, Brooke, the wrestler aired his grievances to his partner, Heather Clem, about her failing career:

I don't know if Brooke was fucking the black guy's son. [...] I mean, I don't have double standards. I mean, I am a racist, to a point, fucking n****s. But then when it comes to nice people and shit, and whatever. [...] I mean, I'd rather if she was going to fuck some n*****, I'd rather have her marry an 8-foot-tall n***** worth a hundred million dollars! Like a basketball player!

[youtube id="P05qxH2pISQ"]

In a surprising response, the WWE has fired Hogan from his contract, removed him from their iconic Hall of Fame, ceased production and sale of his merchandise, and have practically wiped away all mention of him on their website. Removal of other Hulk Hogan, like documentaries and matches housed on the WWE Network, the company's On Demand subscription service, may soon follow. The company released a statement concerning Hogan's firing:

WWE terminated its contract with Terry Bollea (aka Hulk Hogan). WWE is committed to embracing and celebrating individuals from all backgrounds as demonstrated by the diversity of our employees, performers and fans worldwide.

However, this isn't the first time Hogan has been publicly exposed as a racist. Despite a Shade 45 interview that took place in 2012 in which Hogan very openly and comfortably used the n-word to describe his friendships with various rappers like Birdman and Lil' Wayne and former WWE wrestler Booker T, WWE never went to this level to distance themselves from the very person that helped them achieve success.

Archival photo of Mr. T and Hulk Hogan together at Wrestlemania

For all intents and purposes, this is the end of Hulk Hogan as we know it, especially considering he was essentially the face of American culture at the height of his popularity. There's no turning back from racist tirades, as evidenced in recent years by Donald Sterling, Michael Richards, and Donald Trump, as it ought to be.

And yet, given the landscape of modern American sociology that has been focused on combating racism and other forms of inequality over the past several years, the Hulkster's theme song's claims of him being "a real American" carries with them a sense of irony following the revelation. 30+ years after he transcended wrestling and became an American cultural icon, has Hogan indirectly come to represent the modern white American male in the spotlight?

Hulk Hogan gestures to the audience during his Hulkamania Tour at the Burswood Dome on November 24, 2009 in Perth, Australia. (credit: Paul Kane/Getty Images)

For his part, Hogan has issued an exclusive apology to People Magazine following the allegations:

Eight years ago I used offensive language during a conversation. It was unacceptable for me to have used that offensive language; there is no excuse for it; and I apologize for having done it.

This is not who I am. I believe very strongly that every person in the world is important and should not be treated differently based on race, gender, orientation, religious beliefs or otherwise.

I am disappointed with myself that I used language that is offensive and inconsistent with my own beliefs.

If Hulk Hogan ever returns to the ring, with his hand to his ear in one of his many iconic poses, he should be met with total and complete silence. Hulkamania has finally run dry.


Photo of cell phone towers in Mexico

Inside Chicago Police's Secret Cell Phone Spying Agreement with the FBI

Post written by special guest contributor, Freddy Martinez.

Over roughly the last year I've worked to uncover quite a bit about cell phone spying that Chicago Police has been doing since at least 2008. CPD has been quietly purchasing IMSI catchers (usually called Stingrays), which they describe as “military-grade electronics” which act as fake, portable cell phone towers to track cell phones. These Stingrays are capable of identifying all cell phones in a given area (roughly 1 Km in diameter, depending on the power used) and “filtering” out to a given wanted IMSIs (roughly, a number plus other identifying information). The basic function of an Stingrays is to show up to an arbitrary location, begin transmitting as a “real” cell phone tower, invalidating your current phone connection and forcing your phone to hand over its information. This information could mean dialed numbers, text message information, even your voice content all without a warrant. Through the Freedom of Information Act (and two FOIA lawsuits), we have learned that CPD claims to have no written procedures for when these Stringrays are deployed and further that the police department claims to have no records of this “military-grade” equipment being checked in and out of their Technology Lab.

Across the country we have seen that police departments have been signing non-disclosure agreements (NDA) with the FBI and Harris Corporation which forces them to keep quiet on how Stingrays are deployed. In Erie County, New York,  the ACLU fought all the way to nearly the Supreme Court of New York to force a police department to disclose its NDA. In fact, when CPD purchased their Stingray, they also signed an NDA with Harris and the FBI We have obtained a fully Non Disclosure agreement between from Chicago Police and the FBI and are publishing it here for the first time.

Photo of two different types of Stingrays

In analyzing the NDA, we notice this is the exact same NDA signed by the Erie County and CPD with the FBI and Harris Corporation. This indicated these agreements are boilerplate and used to hide critical records from the public. In fact, the police are not allowed to even buy the equipment unless they alert the FBI to routine public records requests. And both Erie County Sherrif'sand Chicago Police should “at the request of the FBI, seek dismissal of the case in lieu of using or providing, or allowing others to use or provide, any information concerning the Harris Corporation wireless collection equipment.” (page 6) So in the same breath that they claim this technology can save lives from dangerous criminals and terrorists, the case work could be thrown out at the direction on the FBI. It's a perplexing level of secrecy for local police to engage in.

Of course, the NDA is not just the entire story, but part of a pattern of secrecy around Stingrays and their use. As previously mentioned, CPD claims to have no record of ever deploying the Stingrays or checking it and out of Tech Lab. Yet at the same time, they claim that court records are exempt under US code (18 U.S. Code § 3123) Pen Register/Trap and Trace provisions, which was significantly expanded after 9/11, and which CPD claims as the legal basis for their authorization. This is particularly relevant since PR/TT does not require a warrant for records, which might conflicts with IL SB 2828 law for real-time location tracking. On top of the secrecy around FOIA, cops have gone so far as to invent Confidential Informations to attribute information to instead of showing Stingray use in court. And this pressure to local police seem to be coming from the top levels of Obama DoJ. All of this is organized from the federal level down and Chicago Police seems to have no issue with the vast secrecy.

As our FOIA case progresses, we hope to share further updates with readers in this space.


Sleater-Kinney performing at Pitchfork Music Festival 2015 in Chicago

[RH Photos] Pitchfork Music Festival 2015

Photos by Vanessa Bly, recap by Vanessa Bly and Geoff Henao

Pitchfork Music Festival 2015 has come and gone! Despite the sometimes muddy, sometimes rainy, and sometimes scorching hot day (sometimes all in the same day), fun was to be had at Pitchfork this year. Admittedly, there was an overall sense of something missing from this year's festival. Nevertheless, Chicagoans were the highlight this year, anchored by Chance the Rapper's outstanding performance to close Pitchfork out. Check out our recaps and photos from the festival over the next few pages!

Pitchfork Music Festival 2015 - Day 1

CHVRCHES performing at Pitchfork Music Festival 2015 in Chicago

CHVRCHES

CHVRCHES' performance at Pitchfork was the band's first in the United States since April, and you could sense the excitement and energy among the three. Notably, singer Lauren Mayberry's stage presence was at an all-time high as the crowd sang and danced along. Given this was my first time seeing CHVRCHES (outside of videos online), I didn't know what to expect, but I'm glad to say they were the perfect end to Day 1 of Pitchfork 2015. - Geoff Henao

Panda Bear performing at Pitchfork Music Festival 2015 in Chicago

RYLEY WALKER

Ryley Walker was a jam band that kicked off Pitchfork Music Festival 2015. Given their opener status, the crowd already at Pitchfork really vibed to their music. - Vanessa Bly

Jessica Pratt performing at Pitchfork Music Festival 2015 in Chicago

JESSICA PRATT

Jessica Pratt's performance was super chill... perhaps a bit too super chill. The crowd was still during her performance, which isn't what you'd typically find at a music festival. - Vanessa Bly

Steve Gunn performing at Pitchfork Music Festival 2015 in Chicago

STEVE GUNN

Steve Gunn looked like he wasn't having too much fun during their set. Granted, musicians enter a different attitude and embody on-stage personas when performing, but his seriousness turned me off. - Vanessa Bly

Mac DeMarco performing at Pitchfork Music Festival 2015 in Chicago

MAC DEMARCO

Mac DeMarco's set was FUN! His gap-toothed smile was hilarious, and the crowd really responded to them. Overall, the best way to describe their set was just simple, great fun. - Vanessa Bly

Panda Bear performing at Pitchfork Music Festival 2015 in Chicago

PANDA BEAR

Panda Bear's sound transcends all musical interests - whether you love hip hop or swear by rock, Panda Bear's appeal is enough to bring all types of different people together. The crowd for his set was vibing extra hard to his music, despite his relatively chill beats. I'd love to catch him at a venue one day. - Geoff Henao

Pitchfork Music Festival 2015 - Day 2

Sleater-Kinney performing at Pitchfork Music Festival 2015 in Chicago

SLEATER-KINNEY

Finally, Sleater-Kinney made their triumphant return to Chicago after a years-long hiatus. The band co-headlined Pitchfork's Day 2, supporting their latest album, No Cities to Love. Their performance made it seem like the band didn't take an extended break from one another as their set was tight and one of the major highlights of an otherwise dreary day ruined by the rain. - Geoff Henao

Future Brown performing at Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago

FUTURE BROWN

Future Brown's set was a lot different when compared to live performances I've become used to over the years. They're a production group, but brought out a plethora of guests to round out their set, including Lil Durk. The crowd was really into their set and weren't swayed when the rain began to pour down. - Vanessa Bly

Ex Hex performing at Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago

EX HEX

Ex Hex's set was unfortunately cut short after a few songs due to the rain, which sucked because they were rocking the stage. Even as the rain began to downpour heavier, the crowd stuck around in hopes the band would return before the festival was officially postponed. - Vanessa Bly

Shamir performing at Pitchfork Music Festival 2015 in Chicago

SHAMIR

I love Shamir's personality when he performs, but I don't think he brought it for his Pitchfork set; I was really looking forward to it, actually. "This is me on the regular," he sings, but I was hoping he'd bring more than just the regular. - Vanessa Bly

Pitchfork Music Festival 2015 - Day 3

Chance the Rapper performing at Pitchfork Music Festival 2015 in Chicago

CHANCE THE RAPPER

What can be said about Chance's set? It means a lot for a Chicagoan to close out Pitchfork alone, but Chance brought everything he had to commemorate the event. Backed by The Social Experiment, Chance ran through all of the hits during his night cap, and surprised the crowd by bringing out gospel singer Kirk Franklin! It felt like, for just one moment, the entire city was united together during his set, and it's moments like these that both Chicagoans and music fans alike can truly appreciate. - Vanessa Bly

Run the Jewels performing at Pitchfork Music Festival 2015 in Chicago

RUN THE JEWELS

As a surprise to nobody, Run the Jewels' set was wild and fucking crazy. It's hard not to truly enjoy yourselves while Killer Mike and El-P are on stage. They even brought out Rage Against the Machine's Zach de la Rocha, which put the crowd into even more of a frenzy. Rappers take note: RTJ's sets are exactly what you ought to strive for when fleshing out your live performances. - Vanessa Bly

Madlib and Freddie Gibbs performing at Pitchfork Music Festival 2015 in Chicago

FREDDIE GIBBS AND MADLIB

DOPE! The crowd was wild for Freddie Gibbs and Madlib's set, rapping along to every one of Freddie Gibbs' lyrics. By my count, a large number of the crowd waited nearly three hours for their set, and their patience was truly rewarded. - Vanessa Bly

Waxahatchee performing at Pitchfork Music Festival 2015 in Chicago

WAXAHATCHEE

Waxahatchee were cute and fun, and a great start for Pitchfork's final day. I definitely need an indie-rock fix, and they I (and the crowd!) loved what they had to offer. - Vanessa Bly

Courtney Barnett performing at Pitchfork Music Festival 2015

COURTNEY BARNETT

Courtney Barnett's style of rock and roll was super cool and infectious. The crowd was made up of dedicated fans that not only loved her, but sang along to every song. I just might find myself learning all of her songs for the next time she's in Chicago. - Vanessa Bly

Jamie XX performing at Pitchfork Music Festival 2015 in Chicago

JAMIE XX

Jamie XX's set was wild and nothing what I expected. The crowd went berserk for them, and even partook in some crowd surfing. Can you believe that, crowd surfing during a DJ's set?! That alone should be enough to summarize Jamie XX. - Vanessa Bly


Art for Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

[Review] Go Set A Watchman

The circumstances surrounding the publication of Go Set A Watchman have been sufficiently well documented and debated that there seems little need to retread that ground here. Whether or not you choose to buy the book as a result of its questionable journey into print is one best left to your own conscience rather than a thousand words of a reviewer wrestling with his. The core matter to be dealt with is simply whether or not it is a worthwhile book. My answer would be an emphatic yes.

It must be noted that it is also a tremendously challenging book, a long way from the moral simplicity of To Kill A Mockingbird, the novel it was later redrafted into but to which it now serves as a pseudo-sequel. Much has already been written about Atticus Finch being revealed as holding pro-segregationist views - with, as might have been expected, plenty of people popping out of the internet woodwork to let everyone know it was obvious to them all along, even if they didn't say anything at the time - and Scout, here known by her birth name of Jean Louise, struggling to deal with the idea of her father not being the paragon of virtue she had long looked up to.

That's not the challenging part, however. What is fascinating about Watchman is that, despite being written and set in the 1950s, its concerns are startlingly contemporary. Its themes cover the expected ground related to family, racism and the humanisation of childhood idols, but also moves through the politics of identity, class and privilege. Not all of these are given the same weight, understandably, but that they are tackled at all strips the book of Mockingbird's fairytale quality, which allowed various problematic elements to go ignored or dismissed as simply representative of their time, and roots it in something much closer to realism. Considering that such issues continue to disunite the States today, the change is an essential one for times where a reassertion of homespun values simply won't do.

Harper-Lee-1

It's difficult to say whether the book can be enjoyed on its own terms because it exists, both textually and thematically, in such stark opposition to Mockingbird. Whomever advised author Harper Lee to rewrite Watchman into that novel was a genius for recognising the elements which bore all the hallmarks of a best-seller, but in light of this new publication, should also be admonished for allowing its complexities to be so diminished. Where Mockingbird took a very clear and firm moral stance, Watchman takes the altogether more difficult but honest route of reminding us that it is dogmatic zealotry on both sides, and the dehumanisation and comforting vilification of those who disagree with one's views, which is often the real obstruction to progress.

Make no mistake, Atticus' views are, by today's standards and, I suspect, possibly even to some people in Lee's time, stomach-churning. A lengthy monologue in which he lays out his thoughts on how '[...] the Negroes down here are still in their childhood as a people' is brutal, and Jean Louise's anger, in light of her own, more modern views, becomes not only understandable but energizing. As thrilling as it is to revel in her takedown of her father's prejudices, however, Lee's point is not affirm one side over the other, but to emphasize the importance of communication and understanding even between those whose politics could not be more diametrically opposed. As long as people only seek to validate their own opinions, Lee suggests, and surround themselves with those who agree with them while demonising all who don't, the only result can be the ugly stalemate of each side sniping impotently at each other from afar.

Atticus' thoughts on segregation may be difficult to read, but Jean Louise's conversations with both him and the other people of Maycomb reveal her initial generalisations to be no less simplistic. While her views on integration are more acceptable to most modern audiences, she in her own way is no less patronising and close-minded than she accuses others of being. For all her noise and fury at Atticus, she has little interest in the thoughts of those affected by segregation - the ageing Calpurnia is the only black person given much of a voice, even then confined to a solitary scene where her function is to console the anguished white girl - and, until the very end, outright refuses to listen to anyone who challenges the fixed worldview through which she defines herself.

Atticus-scout-kill-a-mockingbird

Having spent the years since Mockingbird living in New York, the pouty resilience of the young Scout has mutated into the self-righteousness of a prototypical East Coast lefty. One gets the feeling that had the older Jean Louise been present at the Tom Robinson trial, which is given a brief mention and notable retcon, she'd have been quick to label her father a misogynistic rape apologist. That she later gets called a bigot (a turnip-sized one at that) by her conservative uncle is bound to ruffle a few feathers in view of her stance against segregationism, but rationally the essential point is hard to argue with. The wisdom of Watchman is not coming down on one side or the other, but as a reminder that rapprochment and honest conversation are the only ways out of America's historical holding pattern of racism and hate.

As for the rest of the book, the prose is adequate but largely uninspired, not above occasionally slipping into facepalm-worthy clichés - particularly a real stinker of a chapter closing line about colour-blindness - and lacking the rhythm and small linguistic graces which grow out of considered editing. The plot is barebones at best, conducted largely through a series of didactic conversations which only spring to life once the novel's themes take shape in later chapters. Brief flashbacks to Jean Louise's childhood are oases of humour and sweetness, but whilst on their own terms show how the innocently naive Scout laid the roots for the ideologue of later life, readers familiar with Mockingbird will find little new contained within.

The book's politics are so dominant, however, that how one interprets them will likely be the decisive factor in whether Watchman is deemed a worthy successor, of sorts, to its esteemed forebear. Already you only need put the title into Google to see how quick commentators have been to twist Lee's message of unity into one affirming their own views and prejudices - precisely what the text clearly warns against. That complexity and empathy is what makes it an important and essential second entry in Harper Lee's literary canon. Mockingbird may be the more refined and comforting read, but for all Watchman's many rough edges, it does what any good sequel should by expanding the perspective of the original into something richer, braver and wiser, dare I so blaspheme by even suggesting, better. The true mark of its success is perhaps that, even with the contentious nature of its publication hanging over it, it nevertheless proves itself worthy of celebration.


[The Weekly Swarm] 7/13 - 7/19

Welcome to the latest installment of The Weekly Swarm! We had an amazing and eclectic week of content at Ruby Hornet last week, so if you missed out on anything, The Weekly Swarm is you solution! We shared our photos and recap from Erykah Badu's performance at this year's Taste of Chicago, wrote a memorial to Nintendo's late CEO, Satoru Iwata, recounted our visit to a Korean bathhouse, shared Marvel Comics' amazing hip hop variant covers, shared our photos from Melt-Banana's latest visit to Chicago, reviewed AmyAnt-ManMinionsMr. HolmesThe Stanford Prison Experiment, Ted 2, and the latest episode of MTV's Scream, and shared an editorial on 33 1/3's latest books on Dead Kennedys, Devo, and Super Mario Bros.

You can find all of this and more in The Weekly Swarm!

weekly-swarm-culture

[RH Photos] Erykah Badu Headlines Taste of Chicago
Remembering Nintendo's Satoru Iwata, The CEO Who Made The World Smile
Highlights from San Diego Comic Con 2015
Girl in a Jimjilbang: Acting Natural Au Naturel in a Korean Bathhouse
New 33 1/3 Books on Devo, Dead Kennedys, and Super Mario Bros Are Criticism Done Right
Marvel Comics' Hip Hop Variant Covers
[RH Photos] Melt-Banana Returns to Chicago

WeeklyFilm

[Review] Amy
Official First Look at DC's Suicide Squad
Hayao Miyazaki Making CG Short Film
Fantastic Four Flex Their Powers in Final Trailer
[Review] Ted 2
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler Reunite in Sisters Trailer
[Review] Minions
Amazon to Release Spike Lee's Chicago Film in Late 2015
[Weekly Netflix Fix] Mid-July 2015 Update
[Review] Ant-Man
John Francis Daley, Jonathan M. Goldstein to Write Spider-Man Reboot
[Review] Mr. Holmes
[Review] The Stanford Prison Experiment

The Weekly Swarm Music

[RH Photos] Erykah Badu Headlines Taste of Chicago
New 33 1/3 Books on Devo, Dead Kennedys, and Super Mario Bros Are Criticism Done Right
Marvel Comics' Hip Hop Variant Covers
[RH Photos] Melt-Banana Returns to Chicago
Top 12 Bands to See at Pitchfork Music Festival 2015

weekly-swarm-tv

[Review] MTV's Scream: Wanna Play a Game?
[Weekly Netflix Fix] Mid-July 2015 Update


Marvel Comics' Hip Hop Variant Covers

Hip hop has become an undeniably large influence on pop culture; the same can be said for comics, especially in light of Marvel Studios' takeover of Hollywood over the last decade. With the level of artistry behind the hip hop's lyricism and comic books' increasing level of illustrative talent, it was only a matter of time before one of the Big Two (Marvel and DC) paid homage to hip hop in an official capacity. While Ed Piskor's Hip Hop Family Tree has been nominated for the Eisner Award and was named one of New York Times' Graphic Books Best Seller, it doesn't have the same level of visibility as Marvel.

Beginning this October, Marvel will be paying homage to hip hop with its line of Marvel's Hip Hop Variants. Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso had this to say about the line of variant covers:

"For years, Marvel Comics and Hip-Hop culture have been engaged in an ongoing dialog. Beginning this October, we will shine a spotlight on the seamless relationship between those two unique forces in when we unveil the first of more than fifty variant covers, each of which pays tribute to an iconic album cover from the past 30 years that shaped pop-culture over the past three decades."

You can find 12 of the hip hop variant covers in the gallery below. Can you name them all?

The first wave of Marvel's Hip Hop Variants will be released in October:

Amazing Spider-Man # 1- HIP-HOP Variant by Mike Del Mundo
Angela: Queen of Hel #1 - HIP-HOP Variant by Annie Wu
The Astonishing Ant-Man #1 - HIP-HOP Variant by Mark Brooks
Contest of Champions #1 - HIP-HOP Variant by Denys Cowan
Doctor Strange #1 - HIP-HOP Variant by Juan Doe
Extraordinary X-Men #1 - HIP-HOP Variant by Sanford Greene
Guardians of the Galaxy #1 - HIP-HOP Variant by Shawn Crystal
Invincible Iron Man #1 - HIP-HOP Variant by Brian Stelfreeze
The Mighty Thor #1 - HIP-HOP Variant by Mike Deodato
Sam Wilson, Captain America #1 - HIP-HOP Variant by Mahmud Asrar
Spider-Gwen #1 - HIP-HOP Variant by Humberto Ramos
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1 - HIP-HOP Variant by Phil Noto
Uncanny Inhumans #1 - HIP-HOP Variant by Damian Scott
Uncanny Avengers #1 - HIP-HOP Variant by Jason Pearson

Another wave of Marvel's Hip Hop Variants will be released later in the fall:

All-New All-Different Avengers #1 - HIP-HOP Variant by Jim Cheung
All-New Wolverine #1 - HIP-HOP Variant by Keron Grant
Carnage #1 - HIP-HOP Variant by Ariel Olivetti
Howard the Duck #1 - HIP-HOP Variant Juan Doe
Ms. Marvel #1 - HIP-HOP Variant by Jenny Frisson
Old Man Logan #1 - HIP-HOP Variant by Tim Bradstreet
Spider-Man #1 - HIP-HOP Variant by Adi Granov
Spider-Man/Deadpool #1 - HIP-HOP Variant by Dave Johnson
Squadron Supreme #1 - HIP-HOP Variant by Mike Del Mundo
Star-Lord #1 - HIP-HOP Variant by Tradd Moore
The Totally Awesome Hulk #1 - HIP-HOP Variant by Mahmud Asrar
Web Warriors #1 - HIP-HOP Variant by Damian Scott