Drake, Kanye... meet the man who's shot hip-hop's biggest stars

For American rappers, photographer Jonathan Mannion is the go-to-guy for a dope album cover. For Mannion, the job goes beyond money and accolades. The 45-year-old from Cleveland is on his way to South Africa with his "Beyond the Covers" exhibition as part of the Hennessy artistry series. 

Born to a mother from London and a father from Brooklyn - both artists - Mannion grew up in the Midwest and studied art and psychology at Kenyon College in Ohio. Photography formed part of his last semester but it captured his full attention. Two decades later his work has graced more than 300 album covers for rap stars like Drake, Kanye West, Ja Rule, Eve, Notorious B.I.G., Nelly and Eminem.

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I signed up for a class in photography in my senior year because everyone was like: "Photography is a fluffy class; we don't have to do any work." I took a picture of a basketball player on my school team. I was sitting on top of the back board shooting down through the rim as he was throwing down slam dunk and I was like: "This is playtime." At the same time I felt I really understood the importance of the image. Then the darkroom ... you put a piece of paper in some water with chemicals and this image just emerges. It's magic. You couldn't get me out of there afterwards.

The year I graduated, Richard Avedon - one of the greatest photographers ever - held a master class for the top 10 photo students. He looked at my work and said it was a failure, that there was no life in it because I wasn't shooting portraits. I was adamant to prove myself to him - I moved to New York in 1993 and worked for Avedon for a year, doing everything from Versace campaigns to the Pirelli calendars. We were shooting Stephanie Seymour, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington ... That was my first job out of college. I was 23.

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Avedon was doing fashion, but my pure love was music - every different kind and genre from alternative to classic rock and '80s. I fell in love with hip-hop in 1988 with N.W.A., Big Daddy Kane and all that stuff. In New York, there was amazing access to these people because it was an emerging scene. At the time there were no bodyguards, nothing crazy. Everybody was accessible. I would work from 7am to 9pm, go home and have a slice of pizza because it was all I could afford, then head to the clubs at around 11pm and shoot till about 3am. That was how I got some of the pictures like Biggie shot on stage in 1995.

Heavy D was one of the first to give me a co-sign: "This kid is great," he said. He would bring me to video shoots. Things started happening while I worked magazine jobs shooting Tyra Banks, D'Angelo and Tyson Beckford. Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt was my first album project. It was a first kiss and a first time and it's how I got into the industry. People started asking, "Who did that?" and work started pouring in.

I've done over 300 album covers: Eight for Jay-Z; four for Rick Ross; five for The Game; three for Ludacris. DMX's cover for Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood is probably the most important image in my archive, because I really took a risk - I am a white boy from Cleveland and I put a black man in a pool of blood. People always have to say it's violent. Why could he not be covered with the blood of Christ? I was able to defend my position and I think people got it. A lot of it was a metaphor.

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I've been privileged to photograph a lot of people who left us too early, like Aaliyah. I shot her I Care For You cover in 2002, an experience I was honoured and blessed to have. It was not a typical shoot for me. I was shooting a lot of men, mostly rappers, so to get a moment with this R&B beauty was a treat. I went back to my fashion roots; I do love working with women. She was so amazing.

The biggest challenge - which was also a joy - was shooting Ol' Dirty Bastard. He showed up seven hours late, he had his own vision and wanted to control the whole show. It was hilarious. I am patient, so it worked out. I applied all my psychology studies that day to be able to get six or seven images. 

Digital shook up the industry a little bit, but to somebody with vision it doesn't matter what tool you use. I can still take a better picture on my iPhone than a lot of people could take on the most expensive camera. It's about confidence, skill and understanding - there are certain cameras that work better than others for certain scenarios.

If you are trying to achieve a certain look, then you need to understand your craft enough to know what camera will yield what you need. But the best camera is always the one you have in your hand.

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Of my recent work, DJ Khaled's new album Major Key is pretty important. He wanted a lion to be in it ... You can't tell a lion where to stand or when to pause but we managed to get the shot. When I did Gucci Mane's Victory and Strength, he couldn't leave his house so we brought stuff there.

On 2Chainz's ColleGrove album, he wanted to pay homage to Lil Wayne who gave him a lot of support and a break, so he put all of Lil Wayne's tattoos on his face for different shots and through the power of digital and retouching we made that happen.

There will be 30 pieces at the exhibition in South Africa. Most of them are the real classics, the heavy hitters such as Jay-Z, Aaliyah and DMX. I want people to know what it smelled like, felt like, sounded like, to be there face-to-face as a storyteller, articulating the moment in a way that it can be felt and not just seen.

I have been everywhere else but this is special for me; this is a first.

 • 'Beyond the Covers: Portraits of Hip-Hop Artists & Stories Behind Classic Sessions, from USA to SA' will show at Thirteen, 73 Juta Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, November 2-5.