A photographer discovered GEM, but at the time, he didn’t realize it.
Photographer T. Eric Monroe found a rare photo he took of hip hop treasures, The Notorious B.I G and Tupac. He found the picture nearly two decades after taking it. Monroe told Hip Hop DX that the picture was taken in 1993. He said,
“So 1993, I set up a shoot with Onyx to do an article in Thrasher. They were in concert, opening for either Ice-T or Public Enemy or something. So I get there around soundcheck time. We’re standing in the dressing room, talking to the guys, planning it out. We go down to the stage area because the performance wasn’t starting yet and I got our group shots that I needed from them.” He continued,
“As I was packing my equipment away, someone from the other side of the stage goes, ‘Yo, come take our picture.’ I literally said, ‘Yes, give me a second.’ Then I ended up going over to the guys who said it. Literally just look at them, line up the picture and took one picture and said thank you and then went back to the dressing room to Onyx. I got the film developed at some point and I kept remembering this giant middle finger. I remember writing the name Tupac on it, but I didn’t really understand who he was in 1993.”
Take a look at the photo:
Back then, platforms didn’t really post pictures with people flipping their middle finger, which is why the picture went unnoticed. Monroe said,
“It’s 2Pac with the finger, but there’s nothing to it. I can’t do anything with it. So when I got that picture, I just put it with the rest of my slides and stored it.”
In the photo, everyone is rocking a Bad Boy shirt, which is pretty cool. Share your thoughts with us about the photo!