On Saturday, February 22, 2025, at 4pm, Cey Adams, the pioneering graphic designer behind Run DMC, Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, and Jay-Z’s most iconic album covers, is hosting a one-day-only collage masterclass at the Art of Hip Hop in Wynwood.
It’s not just a class—it’s a chance to learn directly from one of hip-hop’s most influential visual artists inside his own solo exhibition, Departure: 40 Years of Art & Design. The event is part of the Monster Energy Monthly Program Series, and tickets include all supplies.
Cey is a legend in the art and music world. Before Photoshop, before digital design, he was creating by hand—cutting, pasting, layering textures, and shaping the look of hip-hop before it became a global movement. This is a rare chance to step into his world and learn his creative process firsthand.
Cey Adams, a New York City native, emerged from the downtown graffiti movement to exhibit alongside fellow artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. Adams served as Creative Director for Hip-Hop mogul Russell Simmons’ Def Jam Recordings, where he co-founded the Drawing Board, the label’s in-house visual design firm. While there, he created visual identities, album covers, logos, and advertising campaigns for Run DMC, Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Notorious B.I.G., Maroon 5, and Jay-Z.
During the 1980’s and 1990’s, before digital tools like Photoshop and Illustrator became mainstream, Cey’s design practice was a hands-on, tactile process that involved physical materials, like paper, scissors, and glue. It was the go-to method used by graphic designers and illustrators working with print layouts, posters, magazine ads, and other designs before the digital age. Today, this methodology inspires Cey’s fine artwork, which involves dismantling various imagery and paper elements to build multiple layers of color, texture, shadow, and light. Cey now draws inspiration from 60s pop art, vintage sign painting, and comics. His retrospective is currently on display at the Art of Hip Hop, featuring 40 years of his work, focusing on themes including pop culture, race and gender relations, and cultural and community issues. He has collaborated with many global brands, including IDEO, Apple, Levi’s, Foot Locker, Converse, Pabst Blue Ribbon, YouTube, and Google. Participants of the class will get to take a lesson from Cey himself inside his solo exhibition, where over 50 of his most famous hip-hop album covers are on display.
For more information, visit artofhiphop.com.
Event Details:
Where: Art of Hip Hop, Wynwood, Miami.
When: February 22, 2025, at 4:00 PM.
Tickets: Click Here to Register, $30 – $50 (includes all supplies).
