“NCVRD” – read as uNcovered – is an interview series that takes a closer look at the cover art of our favourite albums or projects. We aim to uncover daring and bold visual artists across the continent while illuminating the creativity behind a project’s visual world.

About ten minutes into our conversation over a WhatsApp voice call, Upson Martin pulls up the cover art for Cruel Santino’s newly released sophomore album, ‘Subaru Boys: FINAL HEAVEN’. As the illustrator, he most likely has all the details of the drawing committed to memory, but he needs to take another look because I’ve asked him to describe the relationship between the album’s themes and its art. “I can’t even explain it, ‘cause I feel like you have to experience it yourself,” he explains, before launching into his own interpretation of that connection between music and visual art.

In the years since killing Ozzy B and his rebirth as Santi—now Cruel Santino for nominal copyright reasons—the singer/rapper has left many people stomped on how to spin his music into simple translations. Of course, there’s the hybridised delivery, a melange of dreamy melodies, rap-sung flows and patois-influenced cadence that purposefully obscures his lyrics, so much so that every drop sparks a debate about the accessibility of Santi’s music. At the same time, his albums are universes seemingly pieced together meticulously, goading listeners to consistently dig until it reveals something tangible to them.

 

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Like its predecessors, ‘Suzie’s Funeral’ and ‘Mandy & the Jungle’, Santi’s new LP is a conceptual work that will take multiple listens to unravel. A good entry point might be its cover art, which is “definitely all Santi, to be honest,” but as the second closest person to it, Upson can offer authoritative insight into. “The best way to explain this thing is something like, you know how, when you’re going to war, you have your squad with you and everyone is ride or die, you guys kill for each other, and you all love each other to death,” he tells me.

“Everybody in the squad has different personalities, you can see it on their faces: some of them are smiling, some of them are boning, some of them are giving this sinister look, some of them are happy.

They all have this different vibe about them, but they all have the same mission, they all have to reach this destination.”

The cover art for ‘Subaru Boys: FINAL HEAVEN’ is a partial product of Cruel Santino’s obsession with gaming and anime, and Upson’s mutual obsession with the latter. Seeing as he only fully adopted the anime aesthetic fairly recently, in service of this project, his illustrations for Subaru Boys is a pivotal inflection point in his lifelong journey as a visual artists. “I’d say even before primary school, my mum was already teaching me how to draw,” he tells me of his creative beginnings. “So I just fell in love with and from then I was always drawing.” Deeply enamoured by football, drawing took a backseat in high school, but he did learn technical drawing, which helped fanned the flames of that passion.

By uni in Toronto, where he was studying Economics, Upson was working his way into graphic design and digital art. After a couple of art exhibitions, designs for clothing brands like Severe Nature, and posting about one percent of his work on Instagram, he started to turn more heads, and that included artists that wanted him to work on cover arts for their music.

Illustrating the cover art for ‘Subaru World’ is no doubt the biggest music-related work of his career till date, and he also states that it’s one of the most thrilling projects he’s been a part of, because of the scope of Santi’s vision and how much it helped expand his creative horizon.

“How I draw is, I’m learning at the same time. I’m never trying to draw the same thing or have a particular style. I don’t want to conform to anything, I just want to draw something different every day, but I spent all that time and gave that entire [anime aesthetic] to Subaru because it’s an idea I love.”

Our conversation with Upson Martin follows below, and has been lightly edited for clarity.

NATIVE: How did you get your first bits of attention?

Upson: I’d say it was back in Canada. I did a couple of art exhibitions in Canada. I went to college in Toronto, that’s where I actually started learning digital art, because I liked it on my own—I was studying economics in uni—and I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I started learning Photoshop, how to draw on computer because it’s not necessarily the same as drawing on paper, and I was doing a lot of design for clothes at the time. I started working with (fashion brand) Severe Nature, I did the first designs and logos, people started liking those, then messaging me on Instagram for commissions and stuff like that. I think that’s how it all really started, from merch design; it wasn’t really like a cover art thing, I was more about just working on digital art every day. If you see my Instagram page, I don’t even have up to one percent of my work on there, I’ve just archived a lot of things. People just liked the stuff I posted, and I was just working consistently while have some fun with it. Then I did an art exhibition in Toronto in 2015, and that put me on the map a bit.

NATIVE: How did that lead to creating cover arts?

It was a commission based thing. An artist would reach out, let me know that they like my art and they’d like me to do a cover. I can’t even remember the artist I worked with first, but I know how I got in to eventually working with Santi. I was working with Zamir—we went to the same high school, we kept in contact while I was in Canada and we used to just talk about creating stuff together, and he commissioned me for some art on his projects. I think from there, ‘cause he and Santi are quite close, Santi saw my stuff. Also, when I moved back to Nigeria, I linked up with Zamir and Santi, then we chopped it and shared stuff. I don’t really work with a lot of musicians; just Zamir, Santi, Prettyboy D-O, and I just recently linked up with Lady Donli. I’m not really into that music space, ‘cause I’m an artist and I make my own art, I think that’s why these guys work with me.

NATIVE: Since you create your own art, how are you able to adjust into working on another person’s vision, especially with Subaru?

This one, it’s definitely all Santi, to be honest. It’s his idea, it’s his vision, and I’m just literally the person that brings it to life, as far as how he wants it to be. I can draw, I have that anime aesthetic in my arsenal, so we talk about what he wants, I’d sketch, send it back to me, we look at references together, but it’s all Santi as far as ideation. Also, he has a story behind the album and the art, so it’s basically about bringing it to life for me.

NATIVE: How does the theme translate into the art?

I can’t even explain it, ‘cause I feel like you have to experience it yourself. I’ve never worked with an artist where I had to actually experience it myself, as far as the vibe, it’s something I had to listen to the album properly and feel the energy coming from it. It’s tough but it’s most the exciting ride I’ve ever been on to be honest—as far as working with someone else. [Pulls up cover art.]

The best way to explain this thing is something like, you know how, when you’re going to war, you have your squad with you and everyone is ride or die, you guys kill for each other, and you all love each other to death. Everybody in the squad has different personalities, you can see it on their faces: some of them are smiling, some of them are boning, some of them are giving this sinister look, some of them are happy. They all have this different vibe about them, but they all have the same mission, they all have to reach this destination. It’s just like real life, you know. Everyone has a goal, and you have your go-to people, those you trust that can help you through it. I’m just saying all of this from my own perspective.

As far as the poses, it’s like this is Subaru, basically. Just imagine the first time someone invented the fuck you, which is flipping someone off but it’s also like a form of greeting. So the poses are basically like a new wave of salutation, so you can see some guys are saluting, some are bowing and all that. You know how in the military, when the commander is coming through, everybody bows, so it’s something like that. You have your crew but nobody is going to be bowing on some corny shit, you want to be cool about it.

NATIVE: Is it inspired by an actual crew of people?

Yeah, it’s inspired by different people, Santi is in there as well.

 

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NATIVE: The art has a ‘Final Fantasy’ feel to it.

The thing about it is, we’re actually trying to create an anime. The idea Santi had was to create an anime, then use the music as a platform to set it up.

NATIVE: Have you worked on an anime before?

No, I haven’t. This is my first time! I’ve been learning as we go, but the thing is, I’ve been doing anime drawing from time, so it’s not like it’s new to me.

NATIVE: When did anime become your art style?

Not too long ago, to be honest. I’d say early last year. It has always been what I wanted to do, I’ve just been learning and I finally got how to draw that way last year.

Early stage artwork

NATIVE: Is that how long it took to work on the cover?

Yeah. I’d say it was ready by the beginning of the year but we spent more than a year working on it, ‘cause there was a lot of character design and stuff, so it took a while.

NATIVE: Working with Santi, knowing that there’ll be more attention to your work, did that bring any pressure?

Nah, because it’s what I love to do. Besides, I’m not doing it just by myself, and we’re pretty good at blocking the noise out and just focusing on the main thing, which is reaching the final destination. That’s what Subaru is all about, actually reaching your goals and getting past the forces you have to break through.

NATIVE: What does Subaru mean to you?

For me, it means a lot of things. It’s a new wave of art, it’s just doing whatever it takes to get to your goals in a very swaggy way. There’s a line on the album that goes, “no dey move like you be junkie, Subaru boy, mami demon water no fit touch me.” I think that’s my favourite line on the album. As Nigerians, we always have this mentality that there’s demons pulling you down, and it’s that thing like, “there’s nothing that can stop me. I’m going to swag this shit out. I’m going to do what I love and I’ll get to that final heaven.” That’s what it’s all about, and that’s the wave now, ‘cause we’re not interested in the nonsense people have to say.

Early stage artwork

Featured image credits/NATIVE/UpsonMartin

ICYMI: READ OUR 2019 COVER STORY ‘SANTI’S REBELLION’