B+ (photographer) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
B+
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| Born |
Brian Cross
1966 Limerick, Ireland
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| Occupation | Photographer, filmmaker |
Brian Cross (born in 1966), also known as B+, is a talented photographer and filmmaker from Ireland. He lives in Los Angeles, California. B+ is famous for taking pictures of the hip hop music scene in Los Angeles during the 1990s. He also helped design album covers for many popular artists. Some of these artists include Q-Tip, Eazy-E, Damian Marley, DJ Shadow, and J Dilla. He also co-founded a company called Mochilla, which makes films and music.
Contents
Discovering Hip Hop: B+'s Early Life
Brian Cross grew up in Limerick, Ireland. In the late 1980s, he fell in love with hip hop music. He especially liked artists like Schoolly D and Public Enemy. In 1989, he finished college in Dublin, where he studied painting. A year later, in 1990, he moved to Los Angeles, California. He went to the California Institute of the Arts to continue his studies. He quickly became very interested in Los Angeles' underground hip hop scene.
Capturing the Hip Hop Scene: B+'s Photography Books
In 1993, B+ released his first book, It's Not About a Salary: Rap, Race and Resistance in Los Angeles. This book was a collection of essays, interviews, and his own photographs. It included talks with and pictures of artists like The Watts Prophets, Toddy Tee, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Cypress Hill, and Freestyle Fellowship. In 2014, Complex magazine named him one of the "15 Rap Photographers Every Rap Fan Should Know."
In 2017, he published another book called Ghostnotes: Music of the Unplayed. This book featured pictures of many famous musicians. Some of these artists were J Dilla, Brian Wilson, Leon Ware, George Clinton, and The Notorious B.I.G..
Exhibiting Hip Hop History: B+'s Museum Features
In 2018, some of B+'s early hip hop photos were included in a book. The book was called Contact High: A Visual History of Hip-Hop by Vikki Tobak. In April 2019, this book became a full museum exhibit. It was shown at The Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles. B+ also took part in group discussions and talks about the exhibit. His photos in the book and exhibit showed artists like Goodie Mobb and Ol' Dirty Bastard.
B+'s Published Works
- It's Not About a Salary: Rap, Race and Resistance in Los Angeles (1993, Verso Books)
- Ghostnotes: Music of the Unplayed (2017, University of Texas Press)
