Wynwood Portrait Of Elvis Gets "All Shook Up"
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Elvis Presley's career was marked by several comebacks, but his latest comeback to a wall in Wynwood may have you doing a double-take.
Painted on a bright green wall that's wedged between an art gallery and a wall of hedges on Northeast 29th Street, "MC Elvis" stares out east towards the area where Art Basel was held.
With his black and white striped sweat suit, gold rope chain, and the Kid 'n Play inspired high-top fade, the re-imagined Elvis Presley is ready to rock 'n roll.
Pete Kirill, a neo-pop artist, began painting the pop-culture icon on the week of January 8 in honor of Presley's 78th birthday.
"I just thought this would be a cool idea," he told CBS4's partner The Miami Herald while peeling off green bits of paint from his hands.
The "hip-hop head" mural of the King was also inspired by the 1980s/1990s scene where music icons like Run D.M.C., Big Daddy Kane and BDP topped the charts.
"I wanted to mix the ideas of an American icon with the hip-hop culture, making a statement about how black music influenced Elvis and black music is influenced by rock 'n' roll," Kirill told the paper.
Kirill, 38, raised in Connecticut grew up in the era where shell-top Adidas sneakers and Kangol hats dominated the streets. Now he uses those same influences to shape his work.
Kirill's "MC Elvis" joins other famous mural DJs including MC Assad-Thug Life and MC Arafats.
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