On Friday, December 2nd Rae Sremmurd gave a special performance at the “Hip Hop Through the Lens of Photography” after party presented by 1800 Tequila and Billboard.
The exclusive event took place at Up & Down at the Nautilus Beach tent and as part of Art Basel. It celebrated the music, art and hip-hop scene. The exhibition showcased original works from renowned hip-hop photographers Cam Kirk, Gunner Stahl and Places + Faces. Exhibited on three walls built in the center of the pop-up tent right on sand, their photographs captured Kanye West, Andre 3000, A$AP Rocky and Tyler, the Creator, among many others.
Cam Kirk, whose shot and directed photo shoots and music videos with Young Thug, Gucci Mane, Rae Sremmurd and more stated, “The photographer, in this day and age in music, is honestly almost equivalent to a DJ. Nowadays, music is being consumed visually and audibly. There are people who have favorite rappers because they love the way they look, the image, the style, the vision. That’s something that me as a photographer feeds to the public, the same way you have people that love the artist’s music and the DJ is the one that feeds that to the public.”
Places + Faces, Ceisay says “Photographers are the new rock stars in the sense that it’s like, the artist is only as big as the photos or the visuals. Some people will take photos just for the sake of it, but I want [to be like] Chi Modu, Jonathan Mannion, what they did in their time. In 20 years, I want kids to look at my photos and be like ‘Oh, from 2013 to 2050, this is what the culture looked like.”
Rae Sremmurd began “Start a Party” and performed other favorites such as “No Flex Zone”, “No Type”, “Look Alive” and “Black Beatles.” The event was DJed DJ Brittany Sky and DJ Ohso. It was a night not to be missed.