Hilarious Hollis
Hilarious Hollis
Contrary to popular belief, Run-DMC and Jam Master Jay routinely brought the fun.
Hip-hop music in the early nineties was all about tough-guy, bad-ass personas. Few badder than Hollis, Queens’ own Run-DMC. They perfected that scary-dude front, releasing songs about their guns and bling. They always affected a diffident, snarling embrace of the camera’s gaze. When the first of what would later be many encounters with the seminal rappers happened I was nervous. Nervous because of their perceived personas (Would they arrive armed? Be super difficult?), but also because my set for shooting them was tiny and claustrophobic. All four of us, yes four. Weird, Run-DMC was named after two of the band members, but the third, Jam Master Jay, was an integral part of the group. In fact, they insisted he be given equal visual space in any compositions; shooting the band with only the two titular members was right out.
They were, every time I worked with them, super professional. But also funny. As in, freakin’ how can they be so hilarious? kind of nonstop joking and creating of ridiculous rhymes and freestyle raps on the darndest of things. OE800 for one. There was this malt liquor, Olde English 800, that was apparently the strongest brewed adult beverage one could buy before getting into distilled liquor. Not only strong, OE800 came in these giant cans, like a can of oil for your car or those Australian lagers or 40 ounce (more than a quart!) bottles. Those dudes were into it. They not only had insisted I furnish the shoot with a pail full, they also brought their own, then sent someone downstairs to the deli to procure more.
The entire time they were rapping at each other about OE800, the goal being to crack each other up. The moment the camera went on it was game faces all around. But as soon as I stopped to change a roll someone would bust wise about this weird beer they were into and they’d all crack another one and escalate the rhyming some more.Jay was quieter, but seemed to be the fulcrum or judge the other two tried to win over. And they were all savvy enough to quickly realize my camera made ten pictures before we had to pause to change rolls so they got the rhythm from BAD ASS RUN-DMC as we shot to freakin’ hilarious and irrepressible clowns while no cameras were on.
The trio's success was due to many factors, not insignificant that they worked hard as hell. Showing up at eight or nine in the morning for a shoot was part of the deal they gladly bought into. Even more, trusting some dude they just met to not make them look ridiculous was due to their canny understanding of what the market wanted. White kids in the suburbs were fascinated by these black men and their weaponized lifestyle. Improbable as it was, this trio of comedians had to sober up and put on their game face for media.
One time they showed up for a shoot each with a giant personal can of spray deodorant. “Shower in a can,” was the theme for that day’s off-camera shenanigans. I can’t imagine any body odor was worse than the miasma generated by three dudes warring with long blasts of deodorant to accompany every sick beat and ridiculous rhyme. Probably not as dangerous as the preshow ritual of a hair-metal band but nasty enough. So comical you just couldn’t help breaking out and laughing along with them.
For another photo session they asked if they could bring their cars. Of course! They were awesome guys, when they made money they all bought houses for their moms. But their second purchases were these enormous black Mercedes and BMWs. OK, cars were third, Moms first, bling second, cars third. Amazing as it was, all three of those guys wore those thick gold chains worth serious bank. My friend Tonjua had gotten me this fake gold rope chain that my dog Otis used to sport but it seemed disrespectful so I took it off him when Run-DMC was in the house. Except that one time I didn’t, and of course, they thought it was yet another hilarious thing white people were probably into and so laughed and laughed. This was at my old Meat District studio on West 14th Street so we put the cobblestone streets and still functional meat processing backgrounds to good use. I remember being psyched by the outdoor nature of that shoot, and being able to use such big cool props like cars. I almost always shot indoors, and had a personal quirk of moving in and shooting so tight it was great for art directors but lousy for revealing some of the amazing spaces I photographed in and then made look like a studio.
That first shoot ended up being my first cover of SPIN. It’s a cool shot of cool dudes. I once saw a kid wearing a bootleg t-shirt (‘cause I certainly never saw any money) with that cover, badly but enormously printed all across the front. Tried to buy it from him but he wasn’t selling, no how no way. And now they tell me SPIN itself wants to sell t-shirts with my Run-DMC cover on them. Probably nicer shirts, for a whole lot more money, wonder if I’ll see any of it this time?