How to Make a Rap Album Cover Art (Using an Album Cover Maker)

If you’re an aspiring rap artist, independent rap label, or an MC spitting lyrics, at some point you’re going to need a cool album cover design to promote your work.

The Placeit album cover maker app offers a wide selection of album covers that you can customise in a matter of minutes to create amazing rap album covers. This album cover art maker is so simple to use that it doesn’t matter whether or not you have any graphic design experience. I’ll show you what I mean.

Follow along with us over on our Envato Tuts+ YouTube channel:

How to Make Rap Album Cover Art Using the Placeit Album Cover Maker

Step 1

Navigate to Placeit and sign up for FREE! Then click on Designs in the header menu. Select Album Cover Maker in the sub-menu.

Step 2

Now you have two choices: Either type rap album cover in the search bar and narrow your search to the album covers designated for rap, or browse the entire catalogue of cool album covers, select the design you like the most, and use the customisation features to turn it into a rap album cover.

Step 3

Click the album cover template you like and it will open in the Placeit album cover maker app.

Start to customise your album by selecting the background image first. This will set the tone for all your other design choices.

Go to the lower right hand of the rap album cover maker app and choose an image for the background of your album cover art.

Note, that if you want to upload your own photo this is where you can do so by clicking on ‘custom image’. Alternatively, you can elect not to use a photo by selecting ‘no image’ and choosing a beautiful colour for your background instead.

Begin customisation by selecting a background photo

Move to the area above the background photo. This is where you can select an icon to use in your design. This can be the record label’s logo or a symbol associated with the artist. I’ve replaced the shoe with music waves as the record label’s logo.

You can choose a colour for the logo as well as add colour effects to the photo with the controls above the icon, but I like to leave colour work until later in the process.

Step 4

Now we move to the left side of our music album cover maker.

Starting at the top of the template, you can enter all the relevant text for your rap album cover design—name of album, name of artist, producer, etc.

Once you’ve entered your text, you can keep the default fonts or select different fonts from the dropdown menu. Again, we will select the colour of the fonts later when we select the colour scheme for the entire album cover design.

Enter your album details — Enter your album text details and select fonts

Step 5

Our next step is to adjust the various elements in the album cover creator so that they fit perfectly together. You can click on each element of the design and move it around the design or click on the corners of an element to scale it up or down.

You should feel free to experiment as much as you like, knowing that if you’ve scaled and/or moved the elements in your album cover design and you aren’t happy with your work, you can simply hit the Reset Layout button in top right of the album cover maker app and everything will be reset to its original position.

Hit the Reset Layout button if you dont like your new layout — Hit the ‘Reset Layout’ button if you don’t like your new layout

Step 6

Now it’s time to customise the colours in your album cover art. You will remember that each element we worked on—fonts, icon, and photo—all have their own colour adjustments that we didn’t touch.

Well now go back to each one of them and experiment with the colour options provided to find a combination that works for you. If you’ve used a company logo, you should make sure the colour the logo is consistent with the brand.

Customise the colours of your rap album cover art

Step 7

Look at your rap album cover design as a whole and make any tweaks to the text, fonts, colours, icon or anything else you feel is necessary to make it just right.

Once you’re satisfied with your design, hit the Download button at the top of the screen and download your design for a small fee. Alternatively, if you regularly need to create cool album covers, posters, social media banners, etc., then the monthly plan may be the best deal for you. And that’s it. You’ve got your own customised rap album cover design ready to go.

Step 8

If you want to see what your album cover art would look like in a real-life scenario, upload it to an album cover mockup on Placeit.

Test your rap album cover with a Placeit flyer mockup — Test your rap album cover with a Placeit album cover mockup

Now that you know how to use the rap album cover maker to make rap album covers, let’s take a look at some of the cool album covers you can customise at Placeit.

10 Best Rap Album Cover Design

1. Hip-Hop Hits Collection Album Cover Design Maker

First up is the Hip-Hop Hits Collection Album Cover Design Maker, which features a cool photo of the back of a vintage car with a great gradient overlay. Add your own text, photo, and colour scheme, and move the text around until you have the look you want.

2. Album Cover Maker for Influential New Wave CD

For those times when you need a more abstract album cover, there is this template. Album Cover Maker for Influential New Wave CD wasn’t designed specifically for a rap album cover, but I used it here specifically to show how easy it is to use other album covers and customise them.

3. Chill Hip-Hop Album Cover Design Template

A smoky, moody cover which obscures the face of the artist and creates a mood of mystery and menace. Make sure your text and icons pop against the dark colours of the cover by using bright text.

4. Hip-Hop Money Album Cover Design Template

If you don’t have the time or money to do a photo shoot, no worries—the rap album cover maker offers a number of super images that you can use on your cover, like this one that features a break dancer balanced on one hand. Choose the image that most appeals to you, add your text, and your cover is ready to go.

5. Album Cover Creator for Blues CD

Try this rap album cover that has been modified using the Album Cover Creator for Blues CD template. It features two bars that sandwich the image and is a good choice if you have a particularly strong image you want to focus the viewer’s eye on. Use any of the images offered or upload your own and then modify the text as needed.

6. Alternative Album Cover Maker with Fluorescent Colors

Alternative Album Cover Maker with Fluorescent Colors is a great template to customise for a rap album cover. It offers tons of terrific photos and a range of fonts that you can experiment with to find the ones that work best for your cover.

7. Hip-Hop Hustle Album Cover Design Maker

The Hip-Hop Hustle Album Cover Design Maker template with its party vibe is a great choice for your rap album cover. Just change the text and choose the font and colours you like, and your cover is ready to go.

8. Jazz Album Cover Maker with Vintage Images

Use this very special vintage Jazz Album Cover Maker with Vintage Images template to create a rap album cover with a Motown vibe. Customisation is quick and easy. Add your text and change the overlay colour from rose to whatever colour you prefer. You can upload the parental advisory warning if you need it or add your own logo instead.

9. Hip-Hop Album Design Template

Hip-Hop Album Design Template is designed specifically for rap album covers. It offers a simple, clean look with tons of gorgeous images and fonts to choose from. As with all the other albums here, it is super easy to customise.

10. Cool Alternative Music Album Cover Maker with Dim Colors

When you’re looking for an album cover with a distinct look, check out Cool Alternative Music Album Cover Maker with Dim Colors. Though it wasn’t created for rap album covers, it offers terrific abstract images for the background of your album, to which you can add the text you want. In this example, I decided to keep things minimal and modern.

Make Your Own Rap Album Cover Art Today

Now that you know how to make an album cover online, why not use one of Placeit’s wonderful album cover templates to make your very own album cover art and share it with us in the comments below. We’d love to see what you come up with.

And if you’re interested in other designs and cool mockups, check out these handy roundups of the best resources in different categories: