This was one of those shoots I always talk about when people ask if I’ve ever been star-struck. Getting the opportunity to photograph Rakim was simply unreal. I was nervous from the moment I arrived. The shoot was for Reebok’s Classic campaign, sometime around 2005, at a recording studio in Los Angeles. We kept it simple—a gray muslin backdrop and Rakim’s vintage boombox as a prop. What I remember most, though, wasn’t the shoot itself. It was getting the chance to chop it up about Follow the Leader, one of my all-time favorite albums. At one point, he asked if I knew the lyrics. I think I made it as far as, “With rhyme displays that engrave deep as X-rays…” before he burst out laughing and gave me props. That was a day I’ll never forget. This image was shot using my Mamiya RZ67
This was one of those shoots I always talk about when people ask if I’ve ever been star-struck. Getting the opportunity to photograph Rakim was simply unreal. I was nervous from the moment I arrived. The shoot was for Reebok’s Classic campaign, sometime around 2005, at a recording studio in Los Angeles. We kept it simple—a gray muslin backdrop and Rakim’s vintage boombox as a prop. What I remember most, though, wasn’t the shoot itself. It was getting the chance to chop it up about Follow the Leader, one of my all-time favorite albums. At one point, he asked if I knew the lyrics. I think I made it as far as, “With rhyme displays that engrave deep as X-rays…” before he burst out laughing and gave me props. That was a day I’ll never forget. This image was shot using my Mamiya RZ67
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