Photographer and Director Jonathan Mannion Reflects on His Illustrious Career in Hip-Hop on XXL’s Inside Track Podcast
Jonathan Mannion’s work as a photographer and filmmaker speaks for itself. Over the course of two decades, he’s shot some of the most legendary album covers in rap history. Jay-Z‘s Reasonable Doubt, Eminem‘s The Eminem Show, OutKast‘s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below and DMX‘s Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood are some of the classic covers the photographer has captured. Mannion has shot more than 300 of the biggest album covers in the genre. On this episode of XXL‘s Inside Track podcast, he discusses some of his biggest moments with rap’s biggest stars and explains his career trajectory from a rookie photographer to rap’s go-to tastemaker.
After being exposed to the sounds of Big Daddy Kane and Slick Rick, Mannion moved to New York City in 1993, to become an apprentice to Richard Avalon, one of the most celebrated photographers of all time. After learning the ropes from one of photography’s G.O.A.T.s, Mannion saw an opportunity to take his talents to a world that hadn’t been exposed yet to high-end photography.
“I was so excited to give the highest level of photography the art form, and storytelling to the people who had, in my opinion, the richest stories that I’d come across at that time,” Mannion tells XXL. “What they were saying about their own journeys, like, how do you make that a visual? There’s a parallel universe that was being untapped.”
Mannion developed a close bond with some of rap’s biggest icons, including the late DMX. The visual artist fondly described X as a bit of a daredevil when it came to getting the perfect shot. Mannion also said he connected to DMX very quickly when they first met.
“These things happen for a reason and you just kinda go and trust the process,” Mannion recalls of his time working with DMX. “I photographed him for the first time at the ‘4,3,2,1’ music video…and he was kinda just floating around outside waiting for his appearance. They were shooting other scenes…and I was like, ‘Hey, man, can I borrow you for a minute?'”
DMX lit up when Mannion suggested hopping a fence. “I was like, ‘Yo ,would you hop this fence with me and climb up there?’ He was amped because I was willing to, one, do something illegal, and two, I wanted time with him. Three, I wanted some sort of execution of a vision, and I think that just began to build trust.”
XXL is back with another episode of Inside Track, a biweekly podcast that spends time with some of hip-hop’s most influential industry executives, entrepreneurs and more. Hosted by XXL Editor-in-Chief Vanessa Satten and music executive Courtney “Courtney CL” Lowery, each episode will continue to explore hip-hop through the eyes of people who have lived and breathed the culture.
Watch or listen to the third episode of XXL‘s Inside Track podcast below. The podcast can be found on xxlmag.com, XXL’s YouTube page and on most podcast platforms: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and XXL Live.