The Ugliest Hip-Hop Album Covers of 2025
People who suddenly show up white, AI slop, and creepy crawlies on faces: once again this year, rap music distinguished itself with bizarre cover designs.
It’s that time of year again (not for Shatter the Standards, as we don’t do this often). As tradition demands, we dig through the rap catalog and pick out the prime offenders who turned in the worst album packaging of the year. And anyone who’s been following these lists over the years knows there are a lot of philosophical questions in play here. What actually makes an album cover bad? It’s not always pure silliness. Very often, it’s exactly the most ridiculous Pen & Pixel covers that have gone on to earn a kind of lovable legendary status.
Still, we want to rummage through all the covers that have each contributed in their own way to what a shitty cover can look like. And we really have every angle covered again: we’ve got the loveless ones. We’ve got the confused ones. We’ve got the misleading ones. We’ve got the ones that have completely lost their minds. Once again, we learn: there isn’t just one bad cover. There are an unbelievable number of ways to run your visual and graphic design straight into the ground. We’ll keep it short and sweet, no Sabrina Carpenter!
Joyner Lucas, ADHD 2
This year, Joyner Lucas faced the tough task of finding a worthy successor to his ADHD album, only to land a legendarily shitty album cover. I’d say: mission accomplished. I think what really makes the cover so goofy, just like the first one, is the way he stares straight ahead, so stoic and graceless. If he changed his expression just a tiny bit, it might even look okay. But as is, he just stares blankly into space, like he’s not even registering that there’s a big-ass creature parked on his face.
Will Smith, Based on a True Story
Ding, ding, ding! With this, we have another album cover in front of a shitty white background. Here, with absolutely nothing in the way of visual elements. Just Will Smith in his best Hip Hawp midlife-crisis fit, which probably actually is“based on a true story.” And the threat that this album might only be part one of a series. Please no.
Lil Durk, Deep Thoughts
This really awkwardly photomontaged depiction of Lil Durk with a tattoo of a giant skull on his back is meant to illustrate his “Deep Thoughts.” It kind of looks like the guy who made the very shitty Suicide Squad movie got the note to use even more CGI. A great little touch, though, is the word “Pain” subtly written on the wall with a tiny heart next to it. That way, you immediately know you’re supposed to brace yourself for some really, really deep thoughts.
Lil Wayne, Tha Carter VI
I’ve seen enough tattooed kid heads. Wayne has already used this exact album cover idea twice. In the meantime, there have easily been a dozen other albums by Wayne protégés who did their own version of the tattooed kid head. That’s enough. Or rather: if you’re going to rip the exact same idea from your own, much better album, at least do something different with it. Tha Carter IV at least put a little hat on the Tha Carter III cover. Tha Carter VI trudges back to the source, completely uninspired. It should have been a red flag for the album.
Young Thug, UY Scuti
For the record: that Young Thug album cover is also really, truly shit. I hate when someone brands their release forever with outrage marketing. Also: stop looking at me like that. Seriously.
Dave Blunts, You Can’t Say That
I’m so glad we won’t have to think about Dave Blunts anymore next year. Bonus shoutout to the absolutely absurd, hacky Photoshop job. Why was he edited in there? Would it really have been that hard to make this cover in real life?
Hot take: face tattoos are shite