Episode Details
Back to Episodes
Ep 320 - Justin Bua | Hip Hop, Michelangelo & the Uglification of Culture
Description
Justin Bua painted The DJ, one of the most popular art prints of all time, and created the look of EA Sports' NBA Street, a billion-dollar franchise. He grew up a latchkey kid in New York City, breaking in the streets beside Rocksteady Park and watching junkies and hustlers through the hallway of a single-room-occupancy building, while Rembrandt and Van Gogh hung on the walls at home. The conversation lives where hip hop art meets the sacred, in drawing as a spiritual practice and a channel from God, and in what happens when a commodified art world trades mastery for institutionally propped-up abstraction. Real rebellion, we find, can't be separated from authenticity.
(00:00) Pollock Is A Con
(00:39) Opening Conversation
(01:43) Meet Justin Bua
(02:57) NBA Street Origins
(04:44) NYC Roots And Hip Hop
(10:12) How Hip Hop Was Born
(15:35) Mentors And Street Survival
(18:32) Art Business And The DJ
(26:43) Modern Art, CIA And AI
(41:31) Uglification Economics And Architecture
(49:23) AI Art And Authenticity
(56:46) Natural Living No Chemicals
(01:02:51) Rebellion And Authenticity
(01:18:47) Trauma, Creativity And The Muse
(01:28:22) Closing Advice
Guest Links
Connect with Us
Join the Rise Above the Herd Waitlist
Start the Free 7-Day Self-Esteem Reset