TOUR MADNESS: DEAD PREZ
The day after I came back to Hamburg from New York, Dead Prez came to town to perform at a local club called Logo. Julian, also known as InkDifferent in the Tattoo world, told me about it and asked me to join him. Dead Prez been to Hamburg before, back in 2010, and last time they been here, I went with them to the studio and we shot a couple of photos for a german clothing line called “Mahagony”. I took those photos to print some canvas as a present. Julian, his girl and myself got to the venue kind of early, Dead Prez wasn’t there yet. After they walked in they went straight to the Backstage room, I gave them a couple of minutes and went right in there. Thanks to security (there was none, just a sign to keep the door shut) I got in pretty easy.
“Good evening Gentleman!” was my approach when I walked in, DJ Mikeflo recognized me straight away (at least I think so). I told them that I shot them 3 years ago, they clearly remembered and that I now have some prints for them. I pulled out the canvas and passed them along. All three of them were super happy. M1 told me that nobody ever done that for them in there 20 years in the music business. After all the happiness I asked them to give Julian a drop as a tattoo artist. Before they agreed they asked if he is dope, because they are really thinking about getting some art done. I showed them my arm and they were blown away. At this point the show had to start and they went on stage.
After a great show (!!) M1 and Mikeflo spent some (endless) time with the fans, signing stuff, talking to them and selling their new album. After the club calmed down again, I introduced them to Julian, and Dead Prez decided to get tatted … on this tour stop! So we made an appointment for next morning 8 am since they had to leave town by noon. 8 am comes … nothing happened. I been into the hip hop world, so this is normal. I thought they not going to come past … but then 30 minutes later my phone rings. Mikeflo and Stic are ready! I passed them the address, they jumped in a cab and we met at the photo studio where we shot the photos 3 years ago. From there we walked over to “Alte Liebe Tattoo” where Julian works. After Mikeflo took a look at the sketch that Julian made over night, he decided really quick what he wants to get.
In the meantime I went back to the studio with Stic to shoot some more photos. Due to the fact that my girl is from Ethiopia, he told me a lot of his trip he wants to take there at the end of the year and take part of a marathon. We shot a couple of photos and went back to the tattoo studio were Julian was finishing up. After that I took Mikeflo back to the photo studio to do a little session. After we finished, we all went to a place in the area to get some soup and from there on it was time to leave and jump straight on the bus.
Stic told me they had a great tour stop, and here are some of the photos I took during the stop from the shoot and in-between. Thank you to Jim Gramming for Assisting me during the shoot … and thank you to Dead Prez. I got some more photos for the next time … until then.
