william cordova began "me against the world (power radio mix 12)" in 2004, the year he received his MFA from Yale University, and completed the work in 2022. The monumental graphite and photo collage work on paper is one of the most comprehensive visualizations of cordova’s interest in music and vinyl records, within his larger exploration of cultural production across time and place. Music, as a channel of social and creative memory, maintains an indelible power in communicating history and political ideas. The title of the work refers to a song by the groundbreaking rapper Tupac Shakur; cordova is fascinated by his life and genius artistry, along with the transcultural origin of his name, after Tupac Amaru II, a descendant of the last Incan ruler who led a failed revolt against Spanish rule in Peru in 1781.

The vinyl record is also representative of history and transmission. As a physical medium, the record itself holds its own inscriptions of ownership and usage, whether played over and over again or scratched to produce a singular new sound. In me against the world, cordova stacks these emblematic discs in towering columns, forming what he calls “vernacular architecture.” The rounded forms of the records coalesce upon one another, evoking the image of coiled pillars or even votive candles. Drawing on the composition of ancient monoliths and modern cultural symbols, cordova constructs his own monument to humanity, and the perpetual histories of sound, story, and revolutionary memory.