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Eric Johnson has a narrative for each {photograph} he’s taken. The Newark, New Jersey-born photographer is answerable for capturing photographs that got here to embody ’90s and early aughts music tradition—from the quilt artwork for Lauryn Hill’s era-defining album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, to the eerily angelic portraits of Aaliyah shot simply months earlier than her demise (lately, Johnson shot Doja Cat for the quilt of Interview’s September concern). “Each time I shoot somebody,” he says, “I wish to ensure I present some new aspect of them to the world.” Over the course of his 4 decades-long profession, Johnson has spent numerous hours uncovering and immortalizing the hidden aspects of a few of our tradition’s greatest stars, from Biggie Smalls to Missy Elliott, and miraculously, not one shoot slips his thoughts. Right here, the long-lasting photographer shares a few of his favourite on set recollections with us, from Erykah Badu buzzing her head in a stranger’s house, to making an attempt to arrange studio lights whereas chatting with Biggie.
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BIGGIE SMALLS, 1995
Biggie was about 23 after I shot this, so he was sizzling and I used to be sizzling. We had been developing on the identical time. This was my first cowl, and it was in all probability simply the second time he’d ever achieved a photoshoot out on location as an alternative of within the studio. We shot in Brooklyn, as a result of Biggie represents Brooklyn. He was like just a little boy the entire time we had been on set. Think about you’re at work, busy making an attempt to get lighting and every thing in place, and you’ve got Biggie following you round chatting continuous, like, “Is that is the place they dump the useless our bodies?” It was so humorous, as a result of in these pictures he appears so robust, and his rhymes are too, however Biggie was a sweetie pie. I’d shot Religion for Interview by this level, we’re each from Newark, New Jersey.
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PATRA, 1995
The entire world doesn’t know Patra, as a result of the dancehall neighborhood isn’t as large as hip-hop. She’s from Jamaica, so we determined to shoot in Miami to get that sizzling really feel. She appears like a road walker on this photograph. So fucking sizzling. After I gave the crew these pictures, they had been shocked. They had been like, “Eric’s going to be blackballed. He’s by no means going to work for anybody once more.” I used to be like, ” I’m not blackballed. I’m cute. I’m having a second.”
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FOXY BROWN, 1996
I imply, who doesn’t love Cunning. I wished this shoot to have just a little vibe. Our Black artists and our rappers are at all times shot in the identical methods. I believe my curiosity in non hip-hop issues made my hip-hop pictures really feel totally different. This was when she first got here out, so she was 18 or 19 right here.
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MISSY ELLIOTT, 1997
“After I first met Missy, all I knew is that she was on the radio. I didn’t know she was such a robust songwriter. I can’t bear in mind after I took this one or who it was for, however you may inform she’s already acquired coin by this level. She will need to have already had writing credit by this level, as a result of she’s blinged out within the photograph.”
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ERYKAH BADU, 1998
Up till this level, we’d solely seen Erykah trying all regal, in her head wrap and make-up. This was the primary time you bought to see her stripped down. The inspiration got here from my homies in jail, who at all times wished me to ship them pictures of the celebrities I used to be capturing. However they’d be like, “don’t ship the polished ones, ship those that make it seem like Erykah is sitting in your couch.” I used to be like, “Oh shit, is that what the children are into?” That impressed a complete collection of very spontaneous photograph shoots. I’d heard about this girl in Harlem, referred to as Miss Mimi, who had this tiny, nice house in Spanish Harlem. Plastic on the furnishings, very Latin, you already know what I’m saying? So I introduced Erykah there, and a complete totally different aspect of her got here out. She got here by herself, she shaved her head on set, and he or she did her personal make-up. That’s one factor that’s totally different from artists now: all of them have so many individuals round them.
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LAURYN HILL, 1998
Lauryn’s from Jersey too. My mother used to do her hair when she was younger. She nonetheless got here by my mother’s magnificence salon, which was deep within the hood, even after she was well-known. So once we did the shoot, her mother and my mother got here alongside, since all of them knew one another. Everyone knew this was going to be an enormous album, as a result of she was so sizzling with the Fugees at this level. We shot this at Lauryn’s old style, as a result of it tied the theme of Miseducation.
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AALIYAH, 2001
“This shoot was the primary time I met her, a few months earlier than she handed away. I might have shot Aaliyah for anyone, as a result of she was a foul ass. All of us simply thought she was the good. Again then, after I wasn’t capturing, I used to be hanging out within the hood within the Bronx and Brooklyn. I wasn’t actually an trade particular person, so I often met individuals in the course of the shoot. As of late, you join beforehand on social media, however then, none of us had exchanges like that.
I like the thought of exhibiting well-known individuals in a totally totally different gentle. She began so younger, however this photograph exhibits Aaliyah as a grown up, stunning girl who was not making an attempt to be stylish or something. It’s simply clear. It felt vital for me to indicate her that approach. These pictures had been used to memorialize her in TIME.”
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NAS
“I shot Nas a few instances again within the day, and I simply had a lot respect for him. He’s so clever that generally we’d simply cross time in silence as a result of I didn’t know what to say. That is proper on Broadway and Nice Jones. We didn’t have the finances to make use of a studio. He appears so younger right here. ”
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CAM’RON, 2002
All of us cherished Cam’ron, as a result of he’s so impolite and simply cool, you already know what I’m saying? I didn’t actually assume that I used to be an excellent match for him, due to how artsy I used to be. I believed it was cool that he wished to work with me, versus a traditional hip hop photographer, and truly it labored out rather well—these are among the best-known pictures of him.
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