The accolades for former Leaders of the New School lead man Busta Rhymes have been piling up lately. Another indirect one recently appeared in North Carolina after an artist drew a mural inspired by a photo taken of the recording artist kissing his college-bound son several years ago.
According to Durham, NC’s The Triangle Tribune, the mural in downtown Raleigh was
revealed at a local restaurant. “Irregardless” shows Busta embracing his son as a tribute to Black fatherhood. (In the bottom right-hand corner “I hope you turn out better than me” is painted.) The artwork was commissioned by the restaurant owner, Lee Robinson, and the building’s owner, David Meeker.The mural was painted by Dare Coulter, an award-winning professional sculptor, artist, muralist, and illustrator who constructed the mural on the wall outside of “Irregardless” restaurant, which is located at 901 W. Morgan St.
The inspiration for the drawing was taken from a post that the Long Island-bred rapper placed on his Instagram account in 2017. Busta was dropping his then 18-year-old son, Trillian, off at Lincoln University. He acknowledged his son by writing: “Another young King of mine, off to begin the next chapter. Congrats @originaltrillian. The World is Yours, young King. #LincolnUniversity.”
“All of my work focuses on positive imagery of Black people—depictions of joy, depictions of family, depictions of love,” Coulter said. “For me, that photo is the epitome of that.”
She is no stranger to getting her work noticed. Coulter has nine children’s books that she illustrated, including Kwame Alexander’s An American Story. She also commissioned a painting of jazz singer Nina Simone for the National Trust for Historic Preservation to raise funds to restore Simone’s childhood home in Tryon, North Carolina.
You can also see a 200-foot mural in Greensboro that she drew that honors Black cowboys.