For the better part of a decade, Ralph McLittle has been the proprietor of Franklin's first, and thus far only, hip-hop shop — named, appropriately enough, The Hip Hop Shop. Not just a clothing store or place to pick up the latest mixtape — and more than a swagged-out oasis in this otherwise Cheeveresque enclave — the establishment serves as both studio and gallery for McLittle, a prolific airbrush artist.
If you drive past the storefront at 735 Columbia Ave., you can sense a restlessly creative personality at work. One month a portrait of John Lennon and Yoko Ono popped up in the window. Another month it was Marilyn Monroe. For a time the sun ate away at an outdoor mural of Lil Wayne's tattooed face.
"I'm a New Age pop artist," says McLittle, who cites Andy Warhol as a key influence. "If I see a good picture in a book or a magazine, it haunts me until I paint it."
Step inside the small store and you'll find canvases depicting everything from The Jetsons to a commemorative group portrait of departed rappers Tupac Shakur, Ol' Dirty Bastard and Eazy-E.
McLittle, a Detroit native, found his calling when a fifth-grade teacher let him borrow an airbrush set for the summer. He says he does a brisk trade in customized T-shirts, baseball helmets and high-heel shoes.
But he draws a sharp distinction between art and commerce.
"A lot of people, when they think of airbrushing, they think of your county fair, something quick," says the soft-spoken McLittle, who sometimes goes by the nom de guerre "Kingpin." "I hand-draw everything. A lot of people come to me for the portraits. You really have to know your flesh tones."
Franklin, he adds, does differ from Detroit in some key respects.
"I get so many country music people here," he says. "They come in and I put the Swarovski [crystals] on their cowboy boots. I painted a piano for Byron and Missy Gallimore [who work closely with Tim McGraw]. She had the idea when the dude from Coldplay had his piano painted with graffiti and stuff like that. It turned out great, man."
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