OG Slick is an American urban and graffiti artist whose work was popularized by his association with several iconic California rap groups, including Pharcyde, Ice Cube, and others. Slick has said that his style is heavily influenced by the dance crews and 1990s hip hop community. In many ways, OG Slick’s career has been just as influential to the hip hop community, his early album covers are considered iconic and many of his style choices and aesthetics have been mimicked by other artists to this day.

These bold style choices have made OG Slick an extremely in-demand apparel designer. He has worked with famous street clothing designers like Fuct, Shaolin Worldwide, and Dissizit. He was part of the Los Angeles art collective, K2S, which is most famous for its graffiti during the early 1990s. Perhaps his biggest contribution to urban art is his “L.A. Hands,” which look a bit like a famous Disney mouse’s gloved hands throwing up a trademark Los Angeles hand gesture. OG

Slick has denied that these hands have anything to do with Disney. No matter the case, OG Slick’s art is popular for his bold and brash color choices, his disregard for society’s opinion, and his cutting-edge sense of style.

OG slick is a self-described “aerosol purist” where all of his art has to be from a spray can. He’s openly challenged other urban artists like Shepard Fairey and Banksy for their use of stencils. Slick’s style was influenced by urban and hip-hop culture, which was introduced to Slick’s native Hawaii through a strong military presence.

This separation from mainstream hip hop culture allowed Slick to create his own rules for graffiti art. He already had a strong sense of his own style by the time he moved to Los Angeles in 1986. That aesthetic is strong in whatever medium that Slick decides to apply himself to. Whether it’s clothing, album art, or original pieces like his L.A. Hands series -- all of them feel iconically different, but linked in one unified idea: they are the product of OG Slick’s prodigious talent.

OG Slick was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Living near military bases, Slick began to notice the “b-boy” dance clubs that popped up in his early teens. From there OG slick learned about hip hop, dance, and graffiti. He said that he only started to tag because his athletic skills weren’t up to par to allow him in a dance crew. At 19, Slick moved to LA -- attending art school at Otis and then the Los Angeles Art Center. This education was supplemented by his time in K2S, a graffiti crew that operated out of MacArthur Park in Los Angeles.

OG Slick’s big break came when he produced the album art for the rap group, Pharcyde. The album, Bizarre Ride to the Pharcyde, was the group’s debut album, a smash hit, and helped introduce OG Slick to the rest of the burgeoning LA hip hop community.