This photo essay is fictional and yet factual at the same time. I have been inspired by urban culture and the sub-cultures of graffiti, tagging, skateboarding, surfing, fashion, and music. I have specifically chosen a soundtrack to accompany these photos. For those of you not familiar with Kanye West, he has become an international hip-hop/rap sensation defining musical style and urban culture.

When shooting graffiti in Berlin of a section of the remaining Berlin Wall, a group of kids approached me and asked me if I was a famous photographer. I explained to them that I was continuing a series of photos that I presented at the MTV Movie Awards gifting suite last year. The first thing they asked me was if I knew Kanye, in their excellent English. Sadly in a pitiful attempt at German, I explained that I didn’t know Kanye. The cold hard shine of my 15 minutes of fame quickly evaporated.

The track I chose, “Heartless”, represents an excellent example of Kanye’s style and also lends a semi-autobiographical narrative to the photos. This is where fiction enters the frame. The lyrics tell their own story which I have also tried to mirror with images. The autobiography comes from the fact that I end up in this place in many of my relationships, and the slow, painful and bitter realization is that I am the common denominator amongst all the variables.

All of the subjects, places and events depicted are real and represent the photojournalistic side of the essay. As a reflection of the hip/hop and rap culture, bling is always prominent, however Kanye’s level of sophistication borders on luxury. In the animated video of “Heartless”, we are allowed a glimpse into his pad, adorned with Andy Warhol soup can prints and a Louis Vuitton steamer trunk. Despite the money, success and fame, Kanye wishes he was a “real boy” in his song “Pinocchio Story” in which he laments the trappings of fame and money, taking hip-hop, to a higher evolutionary level of consciousness. If we can keep the groove and funk, and take it to a new level, then this is culturally significant in today’s current economic reality. I would rather go deaf by def grooves and dropping back beats than by gunshots and dropping bombs. The people in my shots are real, with or without the bling.

The series starts after the initial opening of the store Livestock, the source for hard to find and collectible hip-hop inspired footwear in Toronto. The owner, SKAM is a renowned graffiti artist who has gone mainstream and taken commission for his pieces from the likes of Louis Vuitton, and other corporate sponsors looking for a piece of street. The guys getting tickets in my images were waiting in line since 6 am at the store and had traveled to Toronto from Buffalo, NY to get dibs at buying a pair of Nike Air Yeezys designed by Kanye. He has also designed another sneaker line for Louis Vuitton. SKAM can be seen behind the Yeezys in the window in between the peace fingers.

The skaters represent another aspect of urban and youth sub-culture. Props go to Danny pictured in one of the skate shots who is also the graffiti artist who did the piece in the background and the silhouettes of skaters along the boards. Sadly these pieces have now been painted over by the city. Props also to Good Vibes (wielding his fan on the subway) for keeping it real. The military jacket with a lion graphic depicts clothing from the Parish Nation clothing line designed by Evan Davis and Tony Shellman.  The founders of Parish Nation also founded Enyce and sold it in 2003 to Liz Clairborne for a cool $114 million. The Warrior International line (seen on the backpack in a street scene) also represents a renowned brand in the Mixed Martial Arts scene. This breakthrough sport is set to rival mainstream sports for viewership and mass appeal.

The shots at Bombshelter (a store selling spray paint and tagging supplies) center the essay where graffiti found its beginnings in the tagging culture sparked by TAKI 183  a foot messenger in NYC who wrote his ‘tag’ everywhere he went in the city in the 60s and 70s. People started to take notice and copy cats were soon trying to out do each other in extension and reach of their tags, which later blossomed into the graffiti movement as we have come to know. The phrase “Bomb” comes from the act of bombing or jamming the official transmission of main stream culture with an alternative voice of the streets that will assert itself where ever it can. Props go to Tofu for his piece and kindness in taking me into his world for a moment.

The OBEY tag and sticker phenomenon that was started by Shepard Fairey also appears in the essay and has crossed over from underground to the mainstream with Shepard’s famous poster of Obama. The prints for the Obama posters go for $800,000 and are now at the center of a copyright dispute between the Associated Free Press and Fairey (the photographer has made no claim on Fairey). Fairey also now sports a clothing line with his tag and graffiti now acting as his own media campaign. Fairey was recently arrested in Boston in connection with his sticker campaign on the way to his opening where 700 people in attendance stood waiting in anticipation of his arrival.

The last shots of graffiti by the tracks near the junction in Queen West also surreptitiously bring another layer to the story of graffiti. Free Shawn Brant can be seen as a plea for the First Nations resistance fighter/agitator as he was arrested and held without bail for a confrontation with a convoy of army student drivers at a native protest on contested lands near Tyendinaga, Ontario. He was subsequently released without charge after a long and noisy and public battle with the Provincial Police and court system. This piece of the story highlights Canada’s long history of abuse and human rights violations with the First Nations people of the country.

My goal is to continue to explore urban youth subculture and to put together a book working with SKAM to document his life and culture. As a photojournalist I am not of this culture although I do take pieces from it that I admire (flattery is the highest form of compliment) and integrate them into my being and persona. I would like to thank a few people for their inspiration and help, Rayburn Ho who first turned me on to hip hop and rap back in the day.  To Ray and Joe Hsu who I know have my back to this day.  To my subjects who have allowed me to capture moments, now frozen in time, and to my mom who always said that my big mouth would always land me into shit. With that I will say no more other than to say thank you and respect to David Alan Harvey for making Burn possible and also for his mentorship in his workshop in May of this year in Toronto. These pieces were shot after the workshop to date and represent the creative leap that David has helped me to achieve.

Thank you,

Frank Michael