The Cover Art For Nas’ New Album Was Taken in South Dallas

The photo used for the cover of Nasir, Nas’ new album, is a striking one. It was taken in South Dallas for a 1988 feature in Texas Monthly, which covered how the crack epidemic was tearing apart the neighborhood. The photographer, Mary Ellen Mark, spent much of her career documenting the people and the parts of town that society too often neglects. More of Mark’s photo work is currently featured in a yearlong exhibition downtown at the Museum of Street Culture, a new and important program we wrote about earlier this year.

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