The Artist and the Bad Rap : O.C. Enterprise: Brea designer took heat for cover work on Ice-T album with infamous song ‘Cop Killer.’ Now young entrepreneur’s hot.

David Halili isn’t shaken by a little controversy. In fact, it has aided his short career as a graphic artist.

The first time the 26-year-old Orange County native realized he was doing something noteworthy was when he saw then-Vice President Dan Quayle and actor Charlton Heston on television holding up examples of his art.

But Quayle and Heston were not fans. Rather, they were criticizing “Body Count,” a hard-rock album by a group led by rap music star Ice-T. Halili had designed the cover of the 1992 release.

One of the album’s songs, “Cop Killer,” prompted a call for a boycott of Ice-T’s record label, Time Warner, because its lyrics advocated violence against law enforcement officers.

Time Warner, after first supporting its popular rapper, bowed to the growing protest and ultimately removed “Cop Killer” from the album. Halili, owner of Halili Style in Brea, said that even his cover was a victim of the corporation’s censorship, as it was electronically altered.

Halili said he may also have been responsible for the rapper-actor’s eventual decision to request a release from his Time Warner contract.

Halili had designed the cover for Ice-T’s next album, “Home Invasion,” and just before its release Time Warner notified Ice-T that it planned to change the album cover to a single, solid color because Halili’s proposed designs were likely to spark too much controversy.

Halili’s painting was of a suburban youth listening to rap on a Walkman. Sitting on a table next to him was a copy of the autobiography of Malcolm X. And in his mind he sees images of inner-city realities--homes invaded by burglars, people assaulted on the street.

The depiction of white youths being influenced by a black rap artist was timely because increasing sales of rap albums in suburbia fueled conservative groups’ concerns that violence in white communities would grow as a result of the popularity of rap.

That was when Ice-T asked to be freed from his contract with Time Warner and released “Home Invasion” on his own label--and with Halili’s artwork on the cover.

Since then the relationship has grown. Ice-T is now a music industry entrepreneur, and Halili is a major part of his operation. His Rhyme Syndicate company has its own line of Halili-designed, hip-hop-style clothing that is sold through the mail, at concerts and in the Rhyme Syndicate’s store in Osaka, Japan.

The partnership between the Orange County artist and the Hollywood rapper has been forged by mutual respect and a great working relationship.

“We think David is a phenomenal artist,” said Jorge Hinojosa, Ice-T’s manager. “He is talented and very professional, and we are constantly being unreasonable and demanding things in two days. He always delivers, and it is always great.”

Halili said orders from retailers for the Rhyme Syndicate clothes line are growing, with most of the demand coming from outside the United States. Hinojosa said Ice-T continues to work with Halili because he has succeeded in creating images and drawings that accurately reflect the message of Ice-T’s work.

Halili’s art career started at Ladera Vista Junior High School in Fullerton. Students were required to cover their textbooks, and he earned extra money making book covers out of heavy-duty construction paper and customizing designs on them for $2 apiece.

“When I was a kid, my role models were those guys on PBS who banged out paintings of mountains,” he said.

At Fullerton High School, Halili extended his business to taking orders for custom-designed T-shirts from classmates. But his popularity with classmates did not translate into success in the classroom. Halili nearly flunked out of his art classes in high school, he said--not because he could not keep up, but because he found the assignments boring and simplistic.

“They would do things like put a plant at the front of the room and make us draw it,” he said. “It was a letdown and a disappointment.”

Despite his obvious talent and love of art, Halili said, he never imagined being a professional artist and never planned on starting his own company. But while he was a student at Fullerton College, he started to get jobs.

Among the first was an order in 1989 from the television show “Married . . . With Children.” The show’s executive producer, Michael Moye, had the choice of using T-shirts supplied by Columbia Television or having his own made.

Moye’s assistant found Halili Style through somebody who had seen the shirts Halili made in high school and set up a meeting. Moye, according to Halili, was an important contact early in his career because he was able to get him work with other television shows such as Fox’s “Pump It Up.”

Moye said Halili created exactly the design he wanted and succeeded in delivering an order of 1,000 shirts under a nearly impossible deadline.

So, at the age of 20, Halili made the decision to open his own studio. “I kept asking myself if it was a good idea to spend all this money getting a place and renting the equipment,” Halili said. “But it has worked out.”

That $4,000 investment has paid off well. Last year, Halili’s gross revenue was “in the six figures.” And as his reputation has grown, so has the amount he can charge for his work. Halili’s album cover designs now cost between $5,000 and $10,000 each.

Besides his work with Ice-T, Halili has designed logos and shirts for well-known bands such as Stone Temple Pilots and is currently making preliminary designs for the cover of Black Sabbath’s next release, a reunion album titled “Illusion of Power.”

Despite his big-name clients, Halili said, he does not want to shun his Orange County roots. Halili Style continues to produce logos and promotional items, including shirts, for small, regional bands like the Skeletones in Riverside and No Doubt in Anaheim in the hope that some of them will hit the big time.

“Nobody ever wanted to claim to be from Orange County because nobody knew where it was,” Halili said. But the success of bands like Cypress’ Offspring and Fullerton’s Social Distortion, he said, is forcing those in the industry to take Orange County seriously as an incubator for musical talent.

And Halili seems to have a knack for spotting--and cashing in on--such trends. After all, he said, he got his start in the music industry working for Los Angeles rap artists more than six years ago, and getting in on the ground floor has been part of his success.

“It is important to be involved with other artists and to watch the scene as it develops,” he said.

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O.C. Enterprise: Halili Style

ABOUT THE COMPANY

* Location: Brea

* Owner: David Halili

* Business: Graphic design

* Founded: 1989

OWNER’S REFLECTIONS

* How did you get started? I have always been an artist, so it was a natural progression. I wanted to become an artist who could make a living out of it.

* Where did you get financing? Saving money. I saved about $4,000, and that was enough to rent a studio and some equipment.

* What was your biggest challenge? Knowing exactly what direction to take my work. I do so many different things. It is hard to know where my potential is its greatest.

* What was your biggest mistake? I should have taken out more loans to improve my credit rating.

* What was the best advice you received? Don Hendricks (a Fullerton-based painter and painting instructor) told me that I had both talent and drive. He said the talent won’t let you down and the drive will further the talent. Basically, he showed me that you can use your gift to make a living.

* What advice would you give someone starting out? Make a personal evaluation of what you are willing to sacrifice. If you are willing to make the sacrifices, you can do it.

Source: Halili Style; Researched by HOPE HAMASHIGE / Los Angeles Times