Houston, Texas-based graphic design firm Pen and Pixel are in a class of their own. Founded by Shawn Brauch and his brother in 1992, Pen and Pixel Graphics began by providing rappers from the south with very little budget the ability to create glamorous looking album covers that would stand out on record store shelves. Their motto was to create anything that the client could dream up, although they did have to draw the line somewhere:

“Like I said, this one guy came up and he wanted, for some reason…I think this was Clown Possee, if I’m not mistaken. They wanted someone shooting a pregnant woman from the front with a shotgun, and they wanted to be able to see the baby, the fetus, flying out the back of her. I was like…No. Bye bye, thank you. I would just absolutely refuse to do that type of stuff.”
-Shawn Brauch, Co-Founder Pen & Pixel Graphics

At first glance, these album covers might look like gaudy amateur Photoshop trainwrecks. But upon further inspection, I see glimmers of Surrealist masterworks combined with a little influence from 70′s Blaxploitation posters. Of course, some are just hilarious to look at, which is another plus. I feel like Dali would have been a great fan. Below are some of my favorites.

Fantastic interview with Co-Founder Shawn Brauch located here