Photo: Zak Tebbal
Kanye West’s ‘Bound 2’ might not be the most child-friendly song/music video, but thanks to graphic designer and illustrator, Zak Tebbal, Kanye’s work has now been given the children’s book treatment with ‘Bound 2Gether’.
Tebbal, who graduates from New York’s School of Visual Arts this week, plans to continue to make “goofy projects that make people happy” for as long as he can. He told us about ‘Bound 2Gether’, which you can read below, as well as his other Kanye-inspired project, a 'Baby Yeezus' album.
Gigwise: What was the initial class project that inspired you to create this book, and why did you decide to do something with Kanye West, particularly around ‘Bound 2’?
Zak Tebbal: The project came out of my senior design thesis class. The prompt was to take a piece of art that was important to us, and translate it into a new medium/ format giving it a new life. I chose the 'Bound 2' music video because I'm a big fan of what Kanye has been doing in the past couple of years, especially his work on Yeezus, an album which, in my opinion, is wildly underrated.
How did you come up with the plot, and what was the process of creating the book like?
On one line in the song, Kanye sings “One good girl is worth a thousand bitches”, but for a live TV performance of the song, Kanye censored this to “One good chick is worth one thousand chickens”, which is the closing line in the book. I started with that line, and shaped the rest of the plot around it. Once I had the plot nailed down, I spent a couple of nights designing and illustrating the spreads, which was definitely the fun part.
Watch Kanye West's 'Bound 2':
Do you think any of his other songs would translate well into a children’s book? Do you have any plans to make any others?
One of the reasons I think the book was so successful is because of the extreme contrast between the vulgar nature of the song/music video and the sweet innocence of an illustrated children's book, so I think a lot of his songs could translate well to this format. Right now, I don't have any immediate plans to make any more of these books, but that could definitely change!
Can the book be purchased anywhere, or is only available to read online?
Unfortunately, the book only exists online on my website – there are only 2 physical copies, one of which my parents have already called official dibs on. I'm looking into possibly making it available for purchase in the near future.
Have you received any feedback from Kanye or Kim Kardashian? What do you think their reaction would be to it? Are you going to try to send a copy to North West?
I haven't had any feedback from Kanye or Kim yet, but I'm hoping that happens soon! I'm sure they would love it. They both have a great sense of humor and don't take themselves too seriously. I'd also love to send them over a copy for them to read to North West but I can't imagine it being an easy process finding their address.
I saw you’re also working on a ‘Baby Yeezus’ musical project – can you tell me a bit about that?
The 'Baby Yeezus' project initially started with the idea of possibly having a baby version of the music for ‘Bound 2’ play when the 'Bound 2Gether' book was opened, like many children's books do. I then realized it would be a lot more fun to make it a separate project and make the whole Yeezus album “baby appropriate”. I am also a musician, but I'm not much of a songwriter/performer, so I mainly use music as a fun tool to enhance my design projects.
Are there any other bands/songs you hope to adapt into children’s books? Do you have any other music-related projects in the works?
I made these projects because I'm a huge Kanye fan, so for the moment I'm not too motivated to explore projects with a lot of different artists. I may have a fun Kim Kardashian project in the works, though, but it's not music related. It's just an idea for now, but I'll definitely Tweet and share my process on Instagram if it ever takes off.
