Kulay, Vibestation

The album artwork of Kulay-Vibestation focuses on 90's hip hop aesthetic in a very digital, graphic, and futuristic interpretation, with influences from American hip-hop, funk, and European techno/house music. Understanding the impact of hip-hop by looking at its spectrum and interpretation around the world, allows us to see art, music and global cultural movement better. A spotlight on Asia's hip hop scene is instrumental in understanding the impact of the music movement coming from the U.S in the 90's with Tupac, Biggie, and all of the samples that were being used in American music at the time. Vibestation Album used English predominantly, experimented with samples from the Isley Brothers, 60's instrumentals, funk, soul, techno, and old school R&B with remixes by Judge Jules and Fatboy Slim. Kulay would set the tone for hop-hop in the Philipines, whether the region was attuned to the style at the time or not. Much like European techno the album art references are of futuristic equipment, looking like an engine or mother board inside of a stripped jukebox from the future. The face resembling what could possibly look like an ipod without a case, hardware framing the low fi photo of the musical group. The typeface feels like early 80's video game, header quality that we now see coming back into the category of vintage, or recycled popularity. Kulay signed with Sony Music Entertainment Philippines and released Vibestation in 1997 on the Dance Pool label. Since the Philippines was still getting used to a very adventurous style of music, the album sales did not meet the expectations of the label there, but had better progress in the UK.