<img src="https://c1.staticflickr .com/1/523/18996774666_2f63f1d4a0_c.jpg” width=”800″ height=”586″ alt=”Kate Tempest @ U St Music Hall”/>
Shot UK rapper/wordsmith Kate Tempest for the Washington Post. Good show, was expected to not be too interested in her music but was pleasantly surprised by this one. Those are the best assignments- when you go in blind and find something cool that you didn’t expect.
SEE ALL THE KATE TEMPEST AT U HALL PHOTOS HERE | READ THE WASHINGTON POST REVIEW
The other week, I shot Baton Rouge rapper Kevin Gates at Fillmore. I was expecting to be underwhelmed, as most hip-hop shows I go to lately have been fairly disappointing… a lot of the younger artists haven’t been playing shows that long and seem to lack the showmanship you used to see. Not Gates, though. After a slow start, I was pleasantly surprised as he burst into life, stalking back and forth on stage, calm one moment, barely contained energy the next. The crowd ate it up, too. Good show, fun to shoot too, as he kept interacting with crowd members.
See all my Kevin Gates at Fillmore Silver Spring photos here!
Read the Washington Post review here.
Finally clearing the vaults of the last of my SXSW 2012 photos… to see more shots of A$AP Rocky and/or Spank Rock (plus plenty of others), click here.
Continue reading
A few weeks back, Rye Rye and Say Whut did a video shoot at Metro Gallery in Baltimore for the Baltimore Sun. It was streamed live on the internet by a huge camera crew, as part of the promotions for Rye Rye’s debut full-length, which should be out soon (We’ve been waiting for it to drop for like a year or so!)… it was a great time, and while at first it felt a little weird, with all the lights and cameras, as soon as Rye Rye got going, the crowd loosened up and enjoyed the show… really getting into it and even taking the stage. It’s great to see her career taking off lately, and I am excited to see what happens when the album comes out! Click below to see the rest of the shots!
A little while back, I had a chance to shoot BIG K.R.I.T.’s sound check at the awesome DC venue, the U St Music hall. I love shooting here, the staff is always great. They have a policy that we have to shoot the sound checks, not the show itself, which is real different from most clubs, and has it’s good and bad points. The good is we get to shoot portraits of the artists, if they are down, like the quick one I shot of Big K.R.I.T. above. He was really chill and his soundcheck sounded great. Check the links below to see more photos and read a review of the actual show!
NYC rapper Prodigy, best known as half of the influential hip-hop duo Mobb Deep who created such classic records as …The Infamous and Hell On Earth in the 90s, spoke last night at Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Free Library. On tour supporting the release of his autobiography, My Infamous Life, Prodigy had quite a bit to say during the roughly 60 minute Q&A, hosted by AJ from 92Q’s Rap Attack.
I’ve been a fan of Mobb Deep since 1995, when I moved to NYC and was exposed to their sophomore album, …The Infamous. I still consider this to be one of THE classic records of the 90s and it’s one of my favorite albums of all time. He also has a successful solo career as well with albums such as HNIC and 2007’s underrated Return of the Mac. In recent years though, Prodigy is more well know for a series of beefs, an abortive signing to 50 Cent’s G-unit label, and his 2007 gun possession conviction which led to him being incarcerated for 3 years.
Prodigy talked about this all, and more. Some highlights: Continue reading
This show made me realize I am getting old. I didn’t “get” this band. I liked aspects of their set/performance but… as a whole, just didn’t get how they gelled together. But the kids there to see this band seemed STOKED, so whatever. I’m old.
Detroit rapper Black Milk.
Outlaw country star David Allan Coe.
California pop punk band Vanity Theft.
Rosie Ledet & the Zydeco Playboys.
Arboretum & Secret Mountains @ the Ottobar.
I scored the assignment of shooting the up and coming hip-hop collective Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All’s sound check at the U Street Music Hall. This was the same day as the announcement that XL Recordings would be releasing Tyler’s next record. It was pretty funny to watch these guys soundcheck… whatever greater success is coming their way, at this point you can tell the whole thing is just a huge amount of fun for them. They raced around the empty venue goofing off, played almost a full set during sound check, and generally horsed around the whole time. Fun experience, cool kids.
Sunday I shot the Wu-Tang Clan show at Sonar… awesome time. I wrote a little mini-post for BYT, I’ll update this when that is posted (today, hopefully!) Til then…
Check out the whole Wu-Tang Clan at Sonar photo set
UPDATE: here’s the BYT story
This was a lot of fun. Wale, Doug E Fresh, Trina, Choppa, Mr Vegas, the beautiful Lola Monroe, Black Cobain, and about a million more artists performed. I had to file twice from the event, which was a wild experience fraught with bad wifi connections and dying laptop batteries, but I did it. At one point a mini stampede of people literally jumped over me, on girl kicking my laptop (where I was filing photos), but I made it through and on deadline! I won’t be able to review the show better than Chris Richards, so check out the two stories from the Washington Post:
Read the Washington Post Review | Read another Washington Post blog post
Tuesday night I saw Mos Def, Talib, and Jay at Sonar. Packed house. Talib was the highlight for me, but Mos Def is always fun… seen him a few times now though, so I was more interested in Talib’s show. Check out all the shots from the show!
The other day, I checked out Lady Sovereign’s show at Sonar with Hollywood Holt and Chester French. It was pretty fun, I actually though the standout of the night was actually Hollywood Holt… that dude seems like he is gonna break soon, at least judging by his stage persona.
They started late, but they seemed in good spirits and like they were having a good time. I was worried that, with all the rumors of strife inside the group, this would be a somber affair, but they were all joking and smiling, Method Man stage dove several times, all in all it was a pretty great New Years present for me!
And, in the Club and VIP Lounge, Taxlo was holding it down as well… Adam Gonzo, Cullen Stalin, Blaqstarr, Sri Aurobindo and more…pictures of all that in the set as well.
This sunday I went to Rock the Bells, a big travelling hip-hop festival. It was awesome… I got to see so many of my favorite artists… Nas, Ghostface, Raekwon, A Tribe Called Quest, as well as check out some artists from the old school I had never gotten to see like Mos Def, Dead Prez and Tha Pharcyde. I would say that Nas was the highlight of the night for me… that and seeing my friend Blaqstarr come out on stage during Mos Def’s set! That was amazing.
