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PREMIERE: Captain America Meets J Dilla In Latest Marvel Hip-Hop Variant

blame it on Meka March 4, 2016
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J Dilla and Captain America have a lot in common: both cut their teeth in an era where the times were at a tense — and violent — moment (Captain America during World War II, Dilla during the deaths of 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G.), both were lost to the world too suddenly and too soon (Cap, during the waning days of WWII, had fallen from a plane into the Atlantic and spent decades frozen in a block of ice in a state of suspended animation; Dilla, after rising to prominence following his works with Common, The Roots, Erykah Badu, Slum Village, and many others, passed after suffering a cardiac arrest due to complications from lupus). And both have been revered since being “reintroduced” into the public’s consciousness (Captain America has gone on to star in several successful films, J Dilla has become one of the most respected and admired artists in music, with several celebrations throughout the planet and his Minimoog Voyager synthesizer and Akai MIDI Production Center 3000 Limited Edition sitting in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture).

Now, Marvel Comics will pay homage to both with another forthcoming variant cover. With the launch of a new series, Captain America: Steve Rogers, in May, the book will mark the return of Steve Rogers to the titular role following Sam “Falcon” Wilson replacing him in 2014. Artist Jeffrey Veregge marks the return with this reinterpretation the alternative cover of J Dilla’s final album Donuts using Cap’s famous shield.

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Speaking to Marvel Comics Editor-In-Chief Alex Alonso, he tells the DopeHouse, “We wanted our tribute to the late, great J Dilla — whose spirit lives on on his music — to be something special. BAM! Welcome back, Steve Rogers.”

View the cover below.