Ten years before Yeezus, the self-appointed Louis Vuitton Don was photographed for the cover of The Fader’s Inaugural ‘Now’ issue. These previously unreleased photos are outtakes from that shoot with Hip-hop photographer Jonathan Mannion (who famously photographed Jay-Z’s cover for Reasonable Doubt). Jonathan reflects on the experience of meeting and photographing Yeezy that day:
“At that point Kanye was already building his legacy. Already at that point all eyes were on him. Cause even before dropping that first album, heād claimed it, he wasnāt accepting no for an answer. I think The FADER showed a lot of foresight by saying, Okay, youāre our guy, youāre on the cover, letās go.
Kanye styled himself that day, there wasnāt a stylist. I remember he wanted props, things that represented his style. A Louis Vuitton bag showed up and he told a story, āI tried to get a bunch of Louis stuff and they wouldnāt send it to me, so I just bought it.ā Whether it was that bag he bought or a big clump of Louis Vuitton luggage he wanted to stand on, he wanted it to be LV to show what he appreciated. I remember his āIf I want it, Iām just gonna get itā attitude. The brick phone heās holding in some of these dates the photos, but thereās nothing else about these to make them seem like they werenāt taken yesterday. Iām sure that phone, at that time, was the freshest, greatest, nobody had it. It was always about being ahead of the competition. His style then was impeccable and thereās nothing about it that wouldnāt apply today.”
New Yorkers can check out an exhibition of Mannion’s poloroid work entitled ‘Rough around the Edges’ at Milk Studios from Jun 18th to July 7th. The opening reception is tomorrow from 7PM-10PM.
Images via The Fader
