The story behind Gunna’s amazing Drip Or Drown 2 album cover

When Gunna shared the artwork for his new album, Drip Or Drown 2, the online reaction was immediate. The image features the Atlanta rapper underwater in head-to-toe designer clothing, holding an open umbrella as naked models floats in the background. Some loved it, some hated it, but Spike Jordan, who shot the cover, is just happy people are talking. "I think the reaction amazing," Jordan said over the phone. "Any time you're able to get people speaking about some shit, even if it's negative, you did something right."

Jordan shot the cover in between takes on Gunna's "One Call" video, which he also directed, and he it only took 15 minutes to capture the image. "[The concept] came to me pretty quick when I heard the album was going to be called Drip Or Drown 2," Jordan said. "While I was shooting, I was thinking about the Nirvana cover but I'd seen a bunch of people trying to recreate that shit. I was like, Let's do something different. I didn't really look at any references."

Many wondered if the cover image had been manipulated, considering the difficulty of opening an umbrella underwater, but Jordan stressed that the entire thing actually happened underwater. The only part that was photoshopped, he said, was combining the photos of the models with the image of Gunna in the foreground.

"On the full image, you can see the shit is really underwater," he said. "A lot of people were questioning whether it was photoshopped but in order for us to fit that frame for the album we had to cut off the top. Gunna wanted people to see his leggings — I think it was some Ferragamo leggings that he had on."

Though Jordan had never shot underwater before, the biggest challenge was navigating Gunna's comfort in the water. "He doesn't really know how to swim like that so it was kinda funny," he says. "I really had him doing some shit that he'd never done before."