Another totally awesome piece from Respect Magazine. This time on shooter Mike Schriber a Jewish dude from Long Island who just hustled his way into being a magazine quality photographer. My favorite quote is when he says people ask him, “How do you go from shooting your friends to shooting for magazines?” He replies “…I always just say, ‘I never shot my friends’” classic!

HERE’S PART TWO TO RESPECT MAGAZINE’S INTERVIEW WITH PHOTOGRAPHER CHRIS BUCK. RESPECT MAG GIVES THE WORD SUBSTANCE IN HIP HOP PRINT A NEW MEANING. GET UP ON MAGIC!

“In Part 2 of our discussion with Chris Buck, he shares his memories of shoots with 50 Cent, Chuck D, Nas and Missy Elliott. Which includes meditations on African-American manhood, the history of slavery in America, and why he was kicked out of a New York restaurant.”

Part 1

50 Cent

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Chris Buck: When we did that shoot with him, he was promoting his new record—I guess he was kinda promoting the movie, too—the movie based on his life. The movie I think had more sensitivities to his vulnerabilities and his background, so I think that was one reason he was open to doing something that was less tough-looking. But also his new single, I think it was actually called “Lollipop” [ed note: "Candy Shop"], so that’s why we suggested this picture, ’cause it was a way to show him being a little more vulnerable, a little more playful, but also it would tie into something of his work, so we knew he’d be kinda cool with it.
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I find it a little bit limiting that especially African-American men are shown as being tough and threatening all the time. Obviously they have a whole range of emotions and experiences and I want to show more of that in my work. I find it much more interesting. When I deal with African-American men, I don’t find them threatening. I find them all kinds of things: I find them friendly or vulnerable or curious or whatever—all kinds of emotions and experiences with them, so I want to show that in my work. As an artist, I feel like that’s kind of important.

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Chris Buck: This was taken in 1991. I’d actually photographed Public Enemy twice before that. I was a big fan; I was a pretty obsessed fan when they broke. I had their album Yo! Bum Rush The Show, and then their second album came out which was It Takes a Nation of Millions [to Hold Us Back], which I was so surprised to have the subsequent album to be so much better even than their first album. I was super-excited and I became a totally obsessed fan. In fact, I did a photo session with the band at the time in ‘88 when they played in Toronto and it was a super privilege and I was super excited about it. I photographed them a couple of times after and the third time was in Washington, DC and we’re shooting in the hotel room. There was a line about “they crucified me like Jesus” in one of the songs [Ed. note: "Crucifixion ain't no fiction/ So called chosen frozen/ Apology made to who ever pleases/ Still they got me like Jesus" from "Welcome to the Terrordome," 1990] and I was like We should go and shoot at the White House. Flavor Flav said, “It should be the Black House!” And Chuck was like, Nah, this actually a good idea. Let’s do this. So we all walked over, the whole group and me. It was only a couple of blocks from where we shooting so we all walked over and we were on, I guess that’s the South Lawn, I’m not sure. We went to shoot there and we shot the whole band first and I say “Chuck, I want to shoot you alone as if you’re being crucified on the fence.” He kinda looked at me and he was like, Okay. He started posing there and he started counting because he was like, I’ll give you 15 seconds. He started counting and as I’m shooting the frames, I had to shoot when his mouth was closed because he was actually counting out loud. It was pretty funny. As we were shooting, I was giving him direction like, Put your head down a little more—’cause obviously I’m trying to make him look like Jesus, how Jesus would have his head down on the cross. I’m giving him more direction like, Raise your left hand a bit. Literally, he counted off 15 seconds and then he was done.
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I guess because it was pre-9/11 that probably made it a little easier. People are walking around the White House and taking pictures all the time. As along as you’re not trying to climb the fence or break the security zone, I think you’re totally fine. The police might have come by, but I think there’s an aspect of free speech that even the police understand—you’re allowed to make a statement and they’re okay with that.
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I went home and I had to print it really, really carefully because I had to burn down the background a lot to get the rich tones to match the tones on him and everything. And the funny thing is that he was kind of giving me a hard time when we were shooting it but he loved it and he actually used this picture on the back cover of his biography so I was really pleased that he liked it. And I was really proud of it. Often times people take pictures of hip-hop artists that are just very straight forward but I like to do something that a little more conceptual and obviously I like it to be appropriate and I thought this really was in terms of the politics of Public Enemy and what they’re all about. I was really excited that he kinda felt that I understood what they’re doing.
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Read the rest of this amazing interview @ Respect-Mag.com

Eminem covers the up coming issue of the ILLEST hip hop print in America RESPECT MAGAZINE. Which is hugely ironic since the magazine covers artists from the view point of photographers who are of course artists as well. They are the manipulators of image and as such have huge influence in the media crazed entertainment world we live in. Although it looks like in this issue they deviated away from their photographer only format to include hip hop’s dopest white boy ever and arguably one of the best rappers alive. GET UP ON MAGIC!

Photographer Ryan McGinley took some amazing photos of M.I.A for her now controversial Lynn Hirschberg written New York Times piece (Read It Here). Pitchfork did a write up on the negative fall out from the interview and M.I.A’s objections HERE. Seems like M.I.A really disliked the way she was portrayed. Lynn Hirschberg definitely took a small bite out of M.I.A’s ego. Ryan McGinley’s photos are extremely flattering of M.I.A though.

Respect Magazine has the most apropos name in the world. All of the photographers they feature are folks that are unknown to the wider hip hop world but have had demonstrable impact on the faces hip hop fans love so much. This time they get up with Clay Patrick McBride. GET UP ON MAGIC!

Pt:1

Pt:2

Clay Patrick McBride Website

Via: Respect Magazine

Respect is the hardest thing to earn in this cannibalistic culture of ours. Every man has to be Duncan Macleod. He has to chop heads and snatch his slice of the ever diminishing cake on the table, but that’s doesn’t get him respect. Respect has to be given and earned. To do that requires one to have a spirit not of selfishness but sacrifice.  Those that receive respect and those that give it know that it’s deeper and more delicate than fear, and that makes it precious comparable to the value of love. That’s why respect and the eponymous magazine I recently copped @ Boarders is so damn fresh. In it’s pages are photos by some of hip hop’s most fantastic shooters that never made it past the editor’s table but are telling, and historic none the less. Check the excerpts from Respect’s premier issue below, it’s a spectacular magazine that you should buy two of simply because almost every page will be cut out and end up in a frame. GET UP ON MAGIC! (And check out Respect’s web site , and shout out Kris Ex the mag’s Editor on twitter if ya feel it. )

Shot Below By: Danny Clinch

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