Hollywood, image: © Mike Miller

At first glance Mike Miller appears to fit the profile of what a slightly older poster-boy for Los Angeles should look like. Complete with a seasoned beard and a checkered shirt, the type made famous by the city’s native Latino’s. It is about midway through his fourth sentence that I assure myself that this middle-aged man has seen most of it, if not all. Name dropping hip-hop heavyweights such as Eazy-E, Tupac and Cypress Hill could not have been any easier as this filmmaker/photographer made it seem.

Cypress Hill, image: © Mike Miller

Tupac, image: © Mike Miller

Pamtera, image: © Mike Miller

His clientele list could well bring peace to the Middle East. After studying film at UCLA, Miller’s first gig was as assistant director on a Warner Brother film set. During a short-lived hiatus from film, Miller made a transition to photography, after which he went on to shoot album covers for hip-hop groups who sprung up from the inner city.

It’s only when you tight with the band, you start to click with them and you see them developing, then they always put you down (Miller)

It’s evident that Miller’s ability to rise up in the industry grew from his familiarities of the West Coast scene together with the subcultures it prided itself on. Behind him – in what seems to be Miller’s editing suite – sits two monitors along with a dozen of hard drives dedicated to commercials and short films. At that moment, Miller withdraws a black and white portrait of Jack Nicholson of which he thankfully reclines mentioning too much about, the mystery in which it now lingers in is appealing.

Jack Nicholson, image: © Mike Miller

© Mike Miller

© Mike Miller

‘I have a book I’m working on now, it’s about living in New York Miller,’ says Miller. Since this interview, the book – titled West Coast Hip Hop: A History In Pictures – was published (February, 2012) with an exhibition that followed in April.

It is on that notion whereby I label him as a truly gratifying artist considering that Miller’s bread and butter was the City of Angles. Miller is also currently working on full length feature film. I’m uncertain as to whether or not Mike Miller prefers to continue his work incognito or if he’s doubtfully still trying to catch a break. Because not being mainstream is mainstream right?

West Coast Hip Hop: A History In Pictures

Mike Miller archive

Badazz, image: Mike Miller

words: Kurt Mullins

source: juxtapoz.com, youtube.com, estavanoriol.com, michaelmillerphotography.com

images: © Mike Miller | michaelmillerphotography.com

Self-Made Shoot from one small seed on Vimeo.

Screenshot

Screenshot

Assistant Photographer: Jakub Fulin

Stylist: Justin Jurd

Assistant Stylist: Bianca van Rensburg

Hair and Makeup: Talia Barak

Models: Katerina @ m1 models
Daniela @ base models

Filmed at FLASH Studios

‘midnight with slabofmisuse’
‘midnight boogie’

compliments of o’ltak
‘radio matana’
el son

Produced by: one small seed

Shot by: Jaco Lambrechts
Giuseppe Russo

Edited by: Jaco Lambrechts

To see more of Rene’s work, go to her profile page.

At the end of each week, we add two more images to that month’s gallery collection and feature the images in our weekly newsletter, sent straight to your inbox (which you can sign up to on our home page). All images are the featured works of members of one small seed network, our creative online community. To have your work featured in this series, simply sign up as a member and start uploading now!

We hope you enjoy our first collection for the month of April 2011.

Week 04

5905 by Ashleigh Tasker

Emma by Jane Patterson

Week 03

Grimis by Conrad F de Jong

BEAUTIFUL BOUFFON2 by Janine van der Tuin

Week 02

The Bone Collectors by Elsa Bleda

This Institution by Kian Vegas

Week 01

It's Rainy Out by Ilse Moore

Lest We Forget by Neil Acid