Escape

The cover of Escape shows the two rappers of Whodini, Jalil Hutchins and John "Ecstasy" Fletcher, photographed behind a set of bars. The jail-cell framing is a direct visual reading of the title, and it made the second album by the Brooklyn group easy to understand at a glance. It was released by Jive Records, the American arm of Zomba, which had signed the group early and used London-based production to give them a polished electro sound.

The bars are a playful idea. Whodini were known for witty, adult storytelling about nightlife and relationships, and the image of two sharply dressed young men locked up, looking for a way out, matches the album's mood of escape from everyday pressure. The photograph also left someone out. As one retrospective noted, it was the second Whodini album in a row to "disrespectfully omit the third member and group deejay, Grandmaster D, from the album cover." The decision kept the focus on the two voices that radio listeners knew.

Escape became Whodini's most successful record, carried by "Friends", "Big Mouth" and "Five Minutes of Funk", and it helped prove that a rap group could sell albums as well as twelve-inch singles. The barred cover is now one of the defining images of the group's peak. Ecstasy died in 2020. The album was released on 17 October 1984.