Respect The Architect
East River to the West is a lyrical manufactory. We design and produce individually unique, editioned, broadsides and art prints via letterpress technique, paying homage to the styles and lyrical inspiration of modern day poets, also known as MCs.
Feel This
Although letterpress is more labor intensive and time consuming than mass printing, the output from this process imbues the paper with a fresh sculptural quality, adding tactile details and visual depth to our work.
Letterpress often involves hand setting type and plates, hand cranks and inks mixed by humans. Unlike the copy/paste exact replications of the digital world, this older, analog mass production process results in subtle variations from print to print that are more commonly found in craft work and fine art.
The beauty of handprinted lyrics on heavy, cotton based paper stock from a craft-era vandercook printing press exudes an analog warmth not unlike an audiophile's love of warm vinyl.
Picasso Baby
If hip hop is an art form based fundamentally on words and pressed to wax for dissemination to the ear, we've captured those words and pressed them to paper to be distributed to the eyes. We hope you enjoy these prints as much as any of your favorite back-in-the-day vinyl deep album cuts or current YouTube club-banger singles.
