Hip-Hop Sculptor for Jay-Z Kanye West, Nicholas Gates | Player Watch | SOHH.com /

Hip-Hop Sculptor for Jay-Z Kanye West, Nicholas Gates

Monday - December 18, 2006 by Jane e Bolden

, Jay-Z and Tupac Shakur with his remarkable ceramic figures. His one-of-a-kind sculptures have also appeared on BET's Rap City and graced videos by Nelly and Chingy, making this East St. Louis artist a Player to Watch in 2007.

Growing up, Nicholas Gates was heavily influenced by his family. In fact as a child, hip-hop was a part of his legacy. Gates' father, Jim Gates, a disc jockey at WESL, is credited as the first DJ to play a hip-hop record on the radio.

When Nicholas was five, his parents divorced; his mother Zandra Gates worked three, and sometimes four jobs so that he and his four siblings could attend private school and take part in arts programs. What really helped me through was my mom. She helped me in so many ways and believed in me at times when no one else did.

After my parents divorced she acted as the male and female parent, Gates told SOHH. My mom taught all of us to think outside the box. Nicholas admits that growing up he often felt empty inside, thinking he had nothing special to offer the world.

He was often comforted by his mother, as well as his maternal grandmother. Nicholas' grandmother passed away in 1996, when he was in high school. Her death would inspire him to tap into the talent that had been hidden within for so long.

I was taking a basic Art 1 class my junior year of high school - the class presented this project for a final grade - an empathy vessel to show how we felt. My grandmother had passed and I wanted to do something to show my appreciation for her, that sadness and the celebration, Gates recalled. Nicholas elected to create a three dimensional sculpture - a pair of hands representing love, family and togetherness, and a grave sitting in the middle of the hands.

Perched on the hands would be a figure in his likeness looking down at the grave. Huge into hip-hop, Nicholas chose a drawing of Babe-B-Face Kaos from Da Bush Babees' Ambushed cover as a model for his figure. Although he was cautioned by his art instructor that the project was too ambitious for a beginner ceramics student, he was determined to take on the task.

Within my first week I created the hands, they were plaster molding, so it was simple. The grave was pretty simple. Sculpting Babe-B-Face Kaos - that three dimensional form, it hit me like 'Oh my God where do I begin?

' Gates remembers. Something came over me - I don't want to seem freaky or paranormal - but it felt like something entered my body. That moment I remember as clear as yesterday.

With a renewed determination, over the remaining days Gates successfully pieced together his project, to the final amazement of his instructor and classmates. From that moment on he was determined to pursue his unique talent. Since discovering his talent, Gates has amassed dozens of hip-hop influenced sculptures.

Some are created in a style that he describes as graffiti cartoon character meets Japanese anime and others in a more realistic Renaissance or Baroque style influenced by Rodin, Michaelangelo and Bernini. Created from clay and often ornamented with gold leaf glaze, Gates sculptures range from 7 inches in height to 3 feet. His materials often cost upwards of 250, and his figures can take anywhere from 1 to 6 months to complete.

After years of frequenting hip-hop shows - sometimes as a spectator, sometimes as a hip-hop dancer, Gates portfolio has won praises from artists like Erykah Badu, Questlove and Big Tigga. Texas rapper Lil Flip purchased three Gates sculptures after meeting the artist on the set of Chingy's Balla Baby and he is currently working on a sculpture commissioned by Ice T. I feel like I put a new spin on it.

I've never seen a sculpture of a black male with waves in his caesar like the way I made my Jay-Z figure, Gates admits. Every single piece is my favorite. They all represent a timeline in my progression and a unique thing that was happening in my life.

They're all pretty groundbreaking to me.