Breaking Atoms

The cover of Breaking Atoms places the three members of Main Source, Large Professor and the Toronto brothers K-Cut and Sir Scratch, inside a cosmic scene. The original Wild Pitch sleeve credits the cover concept and design to Terry Clarke, art direction to Amy V. Fine, photography to Peter Bodtke and photographic effects to George Chevalier. Those last credits explain the look: a group portrait reworked with in-camera and darkroom effects until it reads as science fiction.

The idea follows the title. Breaking atoms is the language of physics and creation, and the image shows the trio as if they were building a universe of their own. The designer Bill McMullen, who later made covers for Beastie Boys and DMX, picked it as one of his favourite rap sleeves of the decade. "These guys are sitting around forming the galaxy," he said. "I just love that fantasy element again." He grouped it with other early-1990s covers that let rap groups be strange and imaginative at a moment when realism was taking over.

Breaking Atoms is now regarded as a cornerstone of the golden age, the record that introduced Nas on "Live at the Barbeque" and made Large Professor a producer's producer. Its cover has the same homemade ambition as the music, a small independent label reaching for outer space on a modest budget. The album was released on 23 July 1991.