Oh please as a fellow designer; get over yourself and get some context.

Holy shit, he asked if we really care and I just said that these things matter to me because I work in graphic design.

It's almost as if mixtapes have been ripping into their own style[1] and other[2] games[3] for over a decade.

Did I ever say they weren't? Maybe you should take a look at the context and get over yourself. But now that you have brought examples, it is important to point out that the examples you have presented are still original designs created to emulate the cover of video games, as opposed to the example in the post where the "designer" literally traced over the model in the original. You can actually see in the hand especially that it is not a recreation of the pose but and exact copy of the original design. You seriously couldn't see that? And you are a designer? And you think that is ok? And you think that your examples are the same as the design in this post that is literally a trace of another design?

He's not trying to shift an album and be original, the entire point is that it's a shitty rip of the cover to suit the long-running theme of free mixtapes that hip-hop artists put out there for their fans.

You claim to be a designer, but you say that these design trends don't matter to you? You threw insults at me for saying that these things matter to me, and the only explanation that I can gather is that you either rely on copying other people's work as a designer and are trying to justify that to yourself, or you are just a shitty designer. I have never in my life met a real designer who would ever criticize another designer for being interested in design trends and what ideas are being copied in the industry. This is definitely the first time I have met a designer who is against being interested in design trends. I am really curious what the designs look like from a designer that is not concerned with design lol.

Edit:

/u/literal_reply_guy has edited his comment.

His unedited comment was:

Oh please as a fellow designer; get over yourself and get some context. It's almost as if mixtapes have been ripping into their own style[1] and other[2] games[3] for over a decade. He's not trying to shift an album and be original, the entire point is that it's a shitty rip of the cover to suit the long-running theme of free mixtapes that hip-hop artists put out there for their fans.