help please! upcoming shoot

[Village Idiot]

thanks guys, usually i don't get much response here but i'm loving this! i don't know anything for sure yet but the music is defnitely ghetto and gangsta if you know what i mean. Derrel the idea with the car is awesome! definitely gonna try that!
this isn't going to be a group shot, only one of the rappers is going to be shot.. i'm still gonna incorporate the car though!
village idiot, the idea of just going crazy sounds awesome but i wouldn't risk advising stuff like that with people i don't even know yet and because i'm kind of young in comparison with them they might take it the wrong way and see me as too goofy to be taken seriously.

these tips so far have been awesome, keep the commenting up please!

Limiting your ideas with clients based on how well you know them limits how well you do.

Do you think some one like Chase Jarvis shows up to a shoot and says, "I don't know you real well, so instead of doing this kick ass ninja shot, Imma shoot you infront of an escalade?"

Ninja rappers...how very,very likely! Why didn't I think of that! I bet they show up dressed in black jumpsuits, with throwing stars and very Asian-looking clothes. Bank on it, VI, bank on it! Or, in another idea equally as good as Ninja Rappers, how about photographing them so they look like the guy in the Cham-Wow and the the Slap-Chop infomercial? Now THAT would be wayyyyyy cooler than Ninja Rappers...Ninja Rappers are so,so played out...I mean, all the old 80's and 90's rap albums featured Ninja Rappers, and the last time I drove through Northeast at night I saw only maybe twenty-five or thirty Escalades in the 'hood, all with boyz and their posses chillaxin, just hangin', sippin 40's and admiring the hunnies they had with...

You obviously haven't seen the photos that Chase Jarvis did with the ninjas?

Chase Jarvis RAW: Ninjas | Chase Jarvis Blog

And that's exactly what I'm talking about. Who wants to be that guy that has the same album cover as any other artist from the 80's or 90's. Further more, just because not everyone in the hip hop scene owns and escalade or can be found with a 40 on their hand, they are stereo types that can put your client looking just like everyone else out there. If you want to be uncreative and blend in with the rest of the pack, that's your perogative, but then you're going to be competing against a ton of other photographers that do the exact same thing as you, follow the crowd instead of lead.

 

[rocky_bablo]

props are more important, where you shoot is more important than how you shoot. obviously try to add some creativity using props like what CAMZ said. He decided the location to be rail road track to bring out the image of oakland of his client. you just speak to your client and ask them what that inspires them and what is the image they wanted to portray when do the rap in front of the audience. From this discussion you could get some ideas and plan the location accordingly. sure you can do the brainstorm to crack good concept.

 

[GeneralBenson]

props are more important...

For sure. Props are the biggest factor here. Especially when dealing with rappers, make sure to always be giving them props. Even if the photoshoot isn't going that well and the photos end up sucking, just keep giving them mad props, and that's the only thing they'll care about. They won't even remember that there was a photo shoot. They'll just remember that cool day they spent hanging out with the guy who would stop dishing out the props.