CD cover need opinions

My friend is a Dj and he just finished making whats going to be his biggest cd so far. Hes promoting this one all over miami and i designed the cover for him. He loved my design but my friend whos happens to make alot of stuff in photoshop made his own rendition. long story short i ported them both on the site. I made the first picture to load and he made the second one. I need to know which one you guys like better and If there is anything i can do to mines to make it better. constructive criticism appreciated thanks.

Mines
my friends

** fixed i hope

after talking to him he deosnt need the desing for another week. which gives em time to make a new cover i initially wanted to play around with 3d lettering but i dont know any good programs for that. Any of yo have any recomendations? thanks

the second doesn't load.

Really don't like either too much. I think a different image is in need.

I think 3d lettering would make it extremely gaudy and tacky. I'd recommend finding some idea to go with the skyline in the background

Yeah, this feels wrong to me. Both efforts lack a cohesive design.

Now, I don't know S1 personally, but I'd be willing to bet my dollars to your doughnuts that there's a better picture of him somewhere. This picture just isn't ... what I think it's supposed to be. Frankly, he looks like a pissed of guest-of-honor at a bar mitzvah.

The textual elements are getting way over treated in both versions.

If you want yours to stand out from your friends you should go in a whole different direction.

The skyline thing is, in my opinion, about as trite as you can get. If you're stuck with these elements, however, you're going to have to work harder to integrate them. They're too disparate.

HTH! Good Luck!

Actually i wanted 3D lettering so i wouldnt have to use any of these elements and use only his picture.

I am not fond of either, I might try to mock something up later if you would like.

Can i get that picture of him and then i will fool around with it, see if you can get a little more inpiration.

You are using bad fonts, and to many layer styles IMO.

yea....
the picture of him needs fading or cutting out better