MP Da Last Don

MP Da Last Don is the seventh studio album released by rapper and record mogul Master P in 1997. The album features an album cover designed by the Houston-based graphic design firm Pen & Pixel, known for their unique album designs that defined the graphic design of southern hip-hop music in the 1990s. 

Pen & Pixel was founded in 1992 by brothers Aaron and Shawn Brauch. Pen & Pixels primary clientele throughout their tenure was local hip-hop artists commissioning the label for their album and mixtape cover designs. Many of these artists were underground and lacked the resources to commission traditional, established design firms for their album designs. Pen & Pixel was the one of the few design firms in reach of southern hip-hop artists, and was relied on by this community to visually convey the nature of the uniqueness of southern hip-hop. 

The album's composition is eye-catching and unconventional by typical graphic design standards, combining design taboos such as centered type and gaudy style effects on the heading. The photo of the artist is edited by enlarging the hand to show off the subject’s jewelry and exaggerate the photo’s perspective. The back cover design showcases a diamond-encrusted custom gold chain with the logo of Master P’s No Limit Records’ logo directly in the center of the composition. The focus on the extravagant jewelry in this cover design is an early example of hip hop’s Bling era, which dominated the late 90s to the mid 2000s. 

Pen & Pixel was the go-to album designer for the No Limit Records label in addition to other southern hip hop record labels, such as Cash Money Records and Bigtyme Records. These labels were famous for their high rate of album output, which resulted in the widespread proliferation of the Pen & Pixel design style. Pen & Pixel’s design style is now seen as synonymous with 90’s hip hop, and their house style of design continues to influence the visual direction of underground hip hop today.