Title: Hip Hop Honeys (2018)
Photographer: Brian Finke|
Publisher: PowerHouse Books
Dimensions: 10.25 x 10.25 inches
Pages: 92 pages, 61 color photographs
About the book
Women have been an essential part of decades’ worth of rap videos yet rarely get the spotlight. This volume shifts attention to these women, giving them at last the well-deserved attention.
For three years, photographer Brian Finke went behind the scenes on hip-hop video shoots for musicians, including Jay-Z, Busta’ Rhymes, and Kanye West, getting to know and photographing the actors and professional models on set, often consulting with them when choosing the best takes from each shoot.
Hop-Hop Honeys—an industry term for this role—is in keeping with Finke’s fascination of photographing people at work. Here, he employs his signature hyper-saturated aesthetic, documenting the models in their everyday work “uniforms,” capturing the imaginative hair, makeup, and styling that give the videos their distinction. But also, behind the glamour and moments of high-octane action are long, often boring hours on set. These long hours of waiting around enabled Finke to expertly capture the range of emotions that he seeks out to photograph—from excitement to tedium and focus to flirtation—“to observe and photograph the scene taking place.”
