General
Darryl Daniel, Illustrator of Snoop Dogg’s First Album Cover, Dies at 56
The 1993 album “Doggystyle” went on to sell millions of copies around the world and solidified the career of Mr. Daniel, known as Joe Cool, as a hip-hop illustrator.
Darryl Daniel, a hip-hop illustrator who designed the cover for his cousin Snoop Dogg’s genre-defining album “Doggystyle,” and went on to lend his distinctive artistic flair to brands that included Adidas and Supreme, has died. He was 56.
His sister Diondra Daniel confirmed his death. Snoop Dogg acknowledged his death on social media on Monday, but neither provided additional information.
Mr. Daniel, known in the hip-hop world as Joe Cool, became synonymous with the bright colors, block letters and bawdy canines featured on the “Doggystyle” cover, which sold millions of albums around the world after its release in 1993.
His style would always be linked to the album’s hits including “Gin and Juice” and “Lodi Dodi,” which played in streets and house parties throughout Long Beach, Calif., greater Los Angeles and the country in the early 1990s, when “Doggystyle” helped to usher in an era of G-Funk music and became foundational for West Coast hip-hop.
The artwork depicts two dogs in suggestive postures while several others peer over a brick wall above a dumbstruck dogcatcher. The risqué content drew negative reactions in the early ’90s, with some critics saying the depictions were demeaning to women, but Snoop Dogg fervently promoted Mr. Daniel’s work.
On an episode of “The Arsenio Hall Show” in 1994, Mr. Hall asked Snoop Dogg if he had anything to say about the artwork.
