This is the Body of your next, and this is The Candid Frame.

In 1938, Columbia Records first art director, Alex Steinweiss, came up with the idea of using cover art

for the company's album covers. First, they used illustrations and classic paintings, but that

was soon replaced with photographs. This began an inseparable relationship between photography

and music. Beyond being a marketing tool to

sell records and CDs, photography documented the history of music and its evolution in pop culture,

from classical to jazz, from rock to hip-hop. Photographers like Brian Cross, also known as B-plus, became an important

part of documenting the history of music and culture. His focus on the early years of L.A. hip-hop

made him a chronicler of a music genre that was often associated with just the East Coast.

His images captured how LA artists were using hip-hop for more than simply making people dance,

but to challenge the status quo, whether it was about economic disparity or police violence.

Though the artist-born photographer loved the music and it casually

documented hip-hop concerts and events, it took a little push from his mentor, Mike Davis,

the author of the seminal book on L.A. history, Mike Davis, for Brian to finally completely

invest himself in the project.

Even before City of Quartz had come out, Mike had challenged me that previous summer

to, you know, stop making photographs in the San Fernando Valley that are too clever

and go make photographs of hip-hop. That's the thing that's, you know's most compelling for you. Why aren't you

photographing it? And I honestly, you know,

I honestly thought, well, I'm sure there's

plenty of people photographing it already.

It's not like, you know, I mean,

...