Tag Archive for ‘Phonte’ at Rachel Crick Photography

“Born and raised in Philly
We go jam and jam and jam actin’ silly” – Fresh Prince

Imagine this. You meet up with an emcee to do a photoshoot at a Community Center in the city. The Community Center has been chosen because of the graffiti on the walls, the art is incredible! You ask said emcee where he would like to start the shoot, “Over there by the wall, over there by that wall, and on the swings.”

Reef The Lost Cauze, hopped happily onto the swings and pumped as I clicked….

Reef also killed me with his shirt. I’m not a huge fan of shirts that have words on them in general. Specifically for photo shoots, it’s a bad idea. The words can get cut off, and look funky, and they distract from the photograph. This shirt was most definitely distracting. Most likely because of the HUGE “F*CK YOU PAY ME” that ran across the shirt. I get it, it’s cool, ….and it’s the name of your label, but yo…….that’s a big one……

Reef has been mad busy; releasing several projects over the last year. He put out his latest solo album A Vicious Cycle (purchase it here), released a collaborative project with producer Stress titled The Stress Files (Cop it here), dropped two EP’s (Big Deal EP and The King and the Cauze EP with King Magnetic), as well as a mixtape with King Magnetic (The King and the Cauze Mixtape) which Reef describes in the following way: “We heard the ’80s were back but all we saw was the nerd version of the ’80s, so this is our contribution to the retro movement — the birth of gangster rap.” You can download the The King and the Cauze Mixtape for FREE here. Also, be on the lookout for the The King and the Cauze album dropping soon.

Reef The Lost Cauze “I Wonder” (Produced by Marco Polo)

Reef the Lost Cauze “Commander in Chief”

Reef The Lost Cauze “The Sound of Philadelphia”

Reef the Lost Cauze “Home”

Reef the Lost Cauze “So Sharp”

Reef the Lost Cauze & King Magnetic “The King & The Cauze”

Reef the Lost Cauze feat. Brother Ali “Big Deal (remix)”

I shot all day at the community center I mentioned before. It’s a local landmark, where the infamous B Boy BBQ takes place every summer. The walls around the center are beautiful. There’s even a few pieces by Pose2 the bummer thing about those particular pieces is that they are behind a big old fence. I tried to get Reef to jump the fence, but he wasn’t havin’ it. So, I tried again with Aeon…he was down. The photos behind the fence are some of my favorites of this up and coming producer.

Be on the lookout for Aeon’s work. He has worked with a lot of the new cats on the scene, Amanda Diva, Tanya Morgan & Mickey Factz to name a few. He also produced the first single (“Girl Talk”) from Che Grand’s debut album Everything’s Good Ugly (in stores 06/09/09). I posted some of his production work and remixes below.

Usher “Love In This Club (Aeon Remix)”

Tanya Morgan feat. Phonte & Brittany Bosco “She’s Gone (aka Without You)” (produced by Aeon)

Torae “Switch (Aeon Remix)”

Heavyweight “Ubiquitous” (produced by Aeon)

Panacea “Katana (Aeon Remix)”

Mickey Factz feat. Tanya Morgan “We Ain’t” (produced by Aeon)

Holly Weerd “Weirdo (Aeon Remix)”

I always consider the light when I’m shooting outside. What’s the weather like, is it raining etc. One thing that doesn’t usually interfere is wind. I think this is because I’m usually shooting men…..which I would love to change (Female artists! Step up!) The wind was killing me while I was shooting Zarinah a.k.a Goldie Jawn. I mean, KILLING ME. It blew her hair around like crazy. It was driving us both NUTS. I’d show you her wind blown look, but I think she’d kill me…lol!!! Look out for Zarinah’s upcoming mixtape Dope Becomes Her.

Zarinah “Touch My Body”

Zarinah & Jonifin “Dangerous”

The last shoot of the day was with producer Haji Rana Pinya of the group Dumhi. We went to his house to do the shoot, and I was just a little bit bummed when I saw the way he had his house lit. There was little to no light. Ugh. I really didn’t want to use flash, I hate flash, it makes the photos so flat. So I started looking at ways to use the available lighting and my really fast lens. We went out onto his back porch and I set him under the porch light. He pulled out a smoke, and I started clicking. I was really excited about one particular photograph of him lighting the smoke. It’s looking down, you can see the brim of his hat, and his hands cupped to keep the wind from killing the flame. Looking at the image in the camera, I thought it might be a really great image…but alas….you just can’t tell what it is….

You can find out more about Haj and his group Dumhi, as well as download his latest EP Flowers for FREE at Dumhi.com. Check out some of his music below.

Haji Rana Pinya “My Funny Valentine”

Haji Rana Pinya “I Want To Follow Rainbows”

Haji Rana Pinya feat. Sadat X “The Yoga At Home Theme Song”

Dumhi feat. NYOIL & Jermacide “94 Style”

Haji Rana Pinya feat. Sabrina Cuie & Donwill (of Tanya Morgan)“Sunny Day”

Haji Rana Pinya feat. Random & Trek Life “The Benefits of Practice”

Dumhi “Do What You Do”

Even though I didn’t photograph DJ Statik in Philly – he is from Philly, so I’ll tell you a bit about our shoot here. Statik (a.k.a. Mr. Sonny James), who is a member of The Illvibe Collective , came through Denver with Mr. Lif. They are on this huge, giant, world wide tour. From Philly to Denver to Seattle to Australia and back again. Statik was mad cool, I really enjoyed talking with him while we did the shoot. We found an old abandoned building, and just walked around the building getting different shots. We talked about Philly, (he strongly discouraged me from moving there), the public education system in Philly (horrible according to him) and the dream of living in places other than where we both live. Statik’s a mad cool person, and a very talented DJ. Below is some old footage of Statik performing at the Winter Music Conference in 2001 and a promo for the 7th year (It is now in it’s 8th) of his crew’s club night The BODYROCK

Statik Urban Outfitters DJ Set 2001

illvibe collective “7 Years of The BODYROCK”

Little Brother, David Banner, and Talib Kweli hit the Fox Theater – Boulder last week. The tour was called Hip Hop Live!, and featured a live band behind the artists – The Rhythm Roots All Stars. When I first read about the tour, I thought it was a strange combination of artists, but I’d have to say the show was fantastic…truly…an amazing Hip Hop show.

When I first saw the line up I thought it was going to be the easiest shoot to arrange. My boyfriend works with Spitkicker – Talib Kweli is a Spitkicker artist. My boyfriend also has connections with Phonte of Little Brother, AND I had Phonte’s phone number. David Banner’s record label also employees one of my closest friends. Easy. Peezy.

Or not.

Try as hard as I could, try as hard as my boyfriend could, we just could not get it together for this show. All my contacts were dead ends, Phonte’s number was disconnected, all of my boyfriends contacts were on the road – thus not responding. So the day of the show, I put up a link on Twitter asking for help. With some assistance from my long time friend Bryan Adams, and my boyfriend’s friend Tunji, I made it on the list, just about three hours before show time. Along with the ticket came the much coveted photo pass, and some rules. First three songs. No flash. Talib Kweli only.

So I drove to Boulder, got there an hour early, and sat in the car waiting for the show to start. When I got into the Fox Theater, and saw the stage….I was…flummoxed. The Rhythm Roots Allstars are a ten piece band, their instruments took up the entire stage. There was room for a few emcees at the front of the stage and that was about it. The side of the stage which usually has plenty of room for photographers, managers, body guards, and groupies was filled with equipment. There was going to be little to no room to shoot. BUT I was determined to make the best of it.

So I waited backstage for the show to begin. Here’s the thing. I’d actually never met anyone performing that night….usually I at least have some sort of contact person or know someone, but this was different, and with the way the stage was set up, and everything, I was actually a little nervous.

I set out on a mission to find Phonte and talk to him about shooting their set, as my boyfriend had brought up the possibility to him a few weeks earlier. So I went downstairs and made an ass out of myself for the first time that night.

I walked into the room, and there were two men in the room. Both obviously in their own world. Ugh…I hate interrupting people when they are in their own world….but I walked up to one and said “Are you with Little Brother?” Mind you I have Little Brother albums, there are photos of Little Brother on the covers of their albums, I’ve seen photos of Phonte…but I am HORRIBLE with picking out rappers. So I ask…then look stupid. So yes indeed, he was Phonte, and he even remembered that we’d talked on the phone a few times. I got to go ahead to shoot the show from the side of the stage from both Phonte, and Talib’s manager, so up I went.

Soo..they went on, and during the first song…..about 20 women came on stage with them. Twenty women. On the stage that’s already filled with a ten piece live band, and two emcees. Getting a photo was damn near impossible. But I did my best, got some shots, which you see here. Not for nothing, but Little Brother KILLS it live. Fantastic! See them if you can.

After the set I went downstairs, and made an ass out of myself for the second time. I’m sitting at the table, when a bunch of guys came in the room. I didn’t recognize any of them. One guy walks up to me and sticks his hand out to shake my hand; “Hello.” “Hello, I’m Rachel, nice to meet you,” I say taking his hand. “I’m David Banner.” I continue shaking his hand, and looking at him like he’s an alien. Yo. Not for nothing, but David Banner lost hella weight, and lost the facial hair too….I mean …I am bad at picking out rappers, but I had a reason this time…

David Banner was amazing live. He pulled a girl from the audience and put her on his shoulders. He dove into the crowd like he was El Steiner. He surfed the crowd to the back of the theater and climbed to the balcony. He covered a Nirvana song. He did back flips across the stage. He parted the crowd like he was Moses parting the Red Sea….and I didn’t take one photo of it. Why??? Cuz I didn’t have permission. *sigh*

It’s all good tho….he put on an amazing show, it was hella fun to watch. My favorite part of his set was the crowd reaction. They ATE HIM UP!!! And after the show he jumped in the crowd and talked with his fans, took photos, and signed autographs. He was a really cool dude.

If you can even imagine more people crowding on to the stage at the Fox…do it now. When Talib took the stage there were so many people on the stage that it was starting to get claustrophobic. From artists to sponsors to label reps to managers to groupies to body guards to David Banner’s college buddies, to me…all of us….in about 10 feet of space….it was too much. I shot the first three songs Talib did, then put my camera away. I wasn’t really getting that many great shots, as I was confined to one space, and Talib wasn’t really moving around all too much…but I was. I was getting moved by bodyguards, managers, sponsors, stage workers, artists and groupies…I was super in the way. So I watched a few more songs from the crazed crowd and headed home. It was quite the show to be sure.

Make sure you catch it if it comes through your town….here are the last of the tour dates..

10/13	Bloomington, IN	Bluebird
10/16	Ft. Lauderdale, FL	Revolution
10/18	Athens, GA	Georgia Theatre
10/19	Asheville, NC	Orange Peel
10/20	Washington, DC	9:30 Club
10/21	Philadelphia, PA	Trocadero
10/22	Closed College Show
10/24	Foxborough, MA	Showcase Live!
10/25	New York, NY	Nokia Theatre

Many thanks to Corey Smith, Bryan Adams, Tunji, Little Brother, and Talib Kweli. It was an excellent evening.

Rachel Crick Photography

Tag Archive for 'Phonte'

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