“I hope to be remembered as someone who opened doors to the next generation”

-Miri Ben Ari

Hip-hop and classical music, the Middle East and America. A few things you might imagine to be very different all come together in the complex, imaginative, unique being that is Miri Ben Ari.

Ben Ari, who grew up in Israel, is the pioneer of an entirely new sound. She mixes classical, the genre she was initially trained in as a young girl, with jazz R&B and hip-hop making her the first ever hip-hop violinist. She has worked with Kanye West, Jay-Z and Wyclef jean among many other greats to help sell millions of world famous records. Ben Ari has been recognized with a Grammy, the Apollo Theatre has named her an “Apollo Legend” and her song “Symphony of Brotherhood” was the first instrumental single to make it on the Billboard R&B/hip-hop charts.

View some of her collaborations and personal work below.

You might not realize it, but you know Chris Robinson. He’s a film director who creates music videos and television commercials, and he has helped define hip-hop culture with his iconic images, all of which spring to life through his inimitable lens.

Robinson’s videos employ strong imagery and unique locations to help explain the true meanings behind the songs, showing the artist as a real person beyond all of the expensive jewelry and fancy cars. His vision shatters boundaries and, more important, helps break new artists.

His clients make up a who’s who of hip-hop royalty, including Jay-Z, Nas, Alicia Keys, Lil Wayne and, of course, T.I. As a matter of fact, T.I. is debuting his new video for “Got Your Back” (featuring Keri Hilson), which was directed by Chris Robinson right here and right now. And as an added bonus, our friends at K-Swiss were able to turn the lens around on Robinson and ask him some important questions about his life and career.

By: Lauren Schwartzberg

Cookin’ Soul remixes have left us with a little something special to celebrate the summer heat that is now upon us. They’ve mixed Hello Brooklyn vocals from Jay-Z and Lil’ Wayne with Quincy Jones’ Summer In The City and put it all together in a video highlighting both the fantastic visuals of Brooklyn and timeless typography. The font is Helvetica, the same now used on New York City Subway signs. Production, sfx, animation and editing was all done by Greg Solenstrom.

We’re pretty sure this isn’t a new video, but it’s new to us. So there.

Directed by Danny Clinch.

We just came across this post from sheCHIVE, which features a smattering of Michael Lavine celebrity portraits, including Notorious B.I.G., Outkast, Eminem and Jay-Z. There’s also a link to their “Hot Men with Cameras” tribute, which doesn’t feature actual photographers, but does have at least one member of Jimmy Kimmel’s Handsome Men’s Club, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Former Roc-A-Fella A&R head honcho Lenny Santiago recently sat down with the.LIFE Files and let them peek into his iPhoto library, where he has exclusive behind-the-scenes shots of Jay-Z, Notorious B.I.G., Kanye West, Mary J. Blige and more.

We love Lenny and would love to peruse his archives, but if he was charging $300 a photo twelve years ago, he could single-handedly throw us into a personal recession.

ALSO: Jay-Z: A Photo History

(vi@ the.LIFE Files)

In June 2005, Clay Patrick McBride—who’d done innumerable projects for magazines, dozens of album covers and print campaigns for multinational conglomerates—orchestrated the photo shoot which may be his defining set. “It’s still some of the best work I’ve made,” says McBride. “It’s the bar that I measure everything up against. Like, when will I do work that’s as good, better, that’s as well-executed and conceived as that work?”

On the surface, it seemed routine: to capture then Def Jam Records president Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter and his morphing Roc-a-Fella roster for the cover of XXL magazine. “I can photograph a big group like nobody else,” McBride says. “That’s my strength. I take control of situations.” Challenging himself, the photographer decided to imbue the shoot with gravitas and played up the “President Carter” angle by re-creating classic portraits from John F. Kennedy’s administration. “I’m always looking to photojournalism as a way of telling stories, because they tell stories all the time. They’re always bringing us the information.”

He thought to use the Oval Office set from the TV drama The West Wing, but in the end decided to build his own from scratch. The detailing was extravagant, down to the Roc-A-Fella logo in the carpet. Two “giant” studios were rented, one just for talent and crew and entourages, partitioned off with foam core. LeBron James showed up because, in Jay’s words, “I got reach.” Camera crews from national entertainment news outlets showed up. There was a lot of pressure. “But then you had Jay there kinda running the show,” recalls McBride. “As much as it was my photo shoot, he was the one cracking the whip, telling everybody to hustle.”

The photographer focused on capturing the perfect images; visuals that were both sacred and blasphemous—destined to inspire and infuriate. “I have to think of the people who those images might have pissed off, like any of those confederate flag–wearing, Ku Klux Klan, white supremacist, weird skinhead people,” he says. “I hope the pictures made some people think, because that’s what its intention was. It wasn’t just another picture of hip-hop. I think it was saying something about what a person’s potential is.”