Cover Story - Eric B. & Rakim's "Follow the Leader", with photography by Drew Car
In the words of the photographer, Drew Carolan (interviewed December, 2007) –
“I had photographed Eric and Ra for Interview in 1987 and, as an 'inner-city white kid on the hip-hop tip'*(Ed. - see translation, below), I was down with their first record, Paid in Full, as that was a big club record. I had worked with several artists at Def Jam - artists such as LL Cool J – and was already doing editorial pieces for magazines like Interview and SPIN.
For a special Interview Christmas issue, I did a series of photographs which featured the best and brightest rap and hip-hop artists of the day, including Schooly D, Davy DMX, DJ Hurricane and Eric B and Rakim, and so when the Follow the Leader record was being put together Robert Smith, who was the creative director at UNI/MCA, called me to do the covers for the album and the 12-inch single. Robert knew me from the music biz as I was beginning to make packages which included photography and music videos for MCA R&B artists such as Brenda K. Starr and Bobby Brown. Initially, we met with Lyor Cohen and Bill Adler at the Def Jam offices down on Elizabeth Street. They just wanted to make sure that their artist would look as 'fly' as possible and, using the clothing designed by Dapper Dan, that wasn’t a hard thing to do.
You have to understand that Eric is a large, quiet gentleman who does his talking by way of the turntables, whereas Rakim is a person as complex as his rhymes. The antithesis of Eric, Rakim is like caged heat waiting to boil over. His thoughts and feelings can be read on his face - but not for long. Like his lyrics, as soon as you think you have him sussed, he’s moved on. They were the perfect compliment for a brand of music that was both rhythmic and deep at a time when no one else was doing what they were doing. Essentially, they were leaders in the school of Rap - and they knew that - so there was no lack of confidence there.
I thought it would be cool to shoot down by the bridges in Lower Manhattan since they represented the connections between the other boroughs and then beyond. The album and title track were called ‘Follow the Leader’, so basically I wanted to present the two of them as ‘leaders’. To do that, I’d shoot them from a low 'heroic' angle, being sure to incorporate the design of the car into the shot. I like to keep things graphic and minimal when it comes to design and I like to compose in camera as much as possible. The open sky allowed me to feature the artists against it and, since they were wearing dark clothes, it worked perfectly as a silhouette (so to speak), with the hint of the bridges augmenting the expanse and vibe of New York City.
The morning light would make for a perfect set-up for this cover, so we timed the shoot that way. Photographers always love the early light and, being on the East side of town, we would have a window of opportunity until 10:30am and, after that, it was anybody’s guess.I had rented some 4 x 4 silver reflectors to bounce any ambient light around since the riverfront and the bridges could create lots of shadows and obstructions. On location for a shoot like this and on a limited budget, you have to be clever and economical with the way you work. My background working with several master photographers taught me how to deal with all of that. Annette Daniels was the stylist (she and I had worked on a bunch of project together. She was friends with Living Colour when I photographed them before they were signed and then again when I did the Vivid album photography, their 'Cult of Personality' video, and so on) and I had a couple of assistants with me to work the reflectors and call out the light readings but other than that the only other thing I needed was a ladder.
