Photographer Mike Miller Joins Supra for a West Coast Connection

West Coast hip-hop was in its infancy when Mike Miller decided to pick up a camera and shoot it. Cypress Hill was rocketing into celebrity status and N.W.A was raging against the machine. For a man with over 25 years of experience behind him, he’s really got some incredible stories to tell, but the photos speaks a million words themselves. One featuring a young Eazy E with Jheri curls and all, skateboard in one hand, pistol in the other, captures California culture in a nutshell. Miller developed a unique processing style by mixing chemical baths that created a vintage tint on a black and white photo — Instagram before Instagram. Soon, the industry came calling and Miller became the go-to guy for West Coast imagery, producing almost 100 album covers in that scene.

So, what’s left to do after collaborating with Stussy, shooting high-fashion models, and creating world-renowned ad campaigns? How about heading back home to collaborate with one of the West Coast’s fledgling apparel brands, and dropping a book that showcases intimate and exclusive shots from the West’s glory days? Yup, that sounds about right.

According to Supra’s marketing advisor, Ralphie Aronowitz, the latest event wasn’t an easy task. The event originally scheduled for a week prior was canceled when Sandy paralyzed New York City and Supra’s power was shut off. Miller seemed a little fatigued but he was great with the fans, signing autographs and talking about his work. “About three weeks ago we packed up some shit, we only got two out of the three boxes that we shipped. They were stuck in a warehouse somewhere,” said Arnowitz. “Mike quickly got some photos together and stacked them in his suitcase, framed and all, and brought them to Supra in New York for the exhibit.”

“I’m doing a West Coast hip-hop documentary right now, and it’s taking all of my time,” Miller explained. He’s on a roll with his latest book, West Coast Hip-Hop: A History In Pictures, and he’s finishing up a documentary on the West Coast scene as well, featuring interviews from emcees like the Game and street style entrepreneurs like Shepard Fairey. After just getting back from Paris for the first Supra gallery event, he returned to his L.A. home and came right back to New York for the second in a series of three exhibits. The next one will be in Supra’s L.A. store. The cozy Supra location in Soho was flanked with colorful Supra sneakers and limited edition t-shirts featuring Miller’s photography. People from all types of backgrounds came to the downtown location and enjoyed the free brews and art, despite the bad weather. Black and white pictures of West Coast innovators like Snoop Dogg, Eazy E, and Tupac hung on the wall like artifacts in a hip-hop museum.

Friends, fans, and celebs like Eli Ross and Prodigy from Mobb Deep stepped through the venue enjoying a slight walk through time, and even though Miller remains humble, people have nothing but great things to say about him. Dante Ross, committed A&R for Warner Bros., and the guy who introduced Mike’s photos to Supra, said, “Many photographers were there at the right place and time, but Mike was actually a proficient photographer.” Recalling Cypress Hill’s days, he says, “He used to run with the crew. He was one of us.”

While I read through the book, Mike Miller recanted old tales of a bygone era and the process of catching flicks of rap’s biggest stars. We joked how he might have been the first photographer to capture a rapper flipping the bird at the camera. Tupac, he says, was one of his most hands-on clients. He got the call from Pac’s label who wanted to shoot his group Thug Life. “He really wanted to showcase his homies that he grew up with. He was the one who told everybody to run in that shot,” he said, barely lifting his finger above the photo. Miller still has over 70 scans in the vault that no one has seen of Tupac. He’s careful about how he wants to release the timeless photos. “I’m just very selective right now, so Supra is the first one I signed with mainly because I don’t want to overexpose my work,” he says, pushing his hair back behind his head. “It’s a long time in the making. These shots have been sitting with me for 20 years and I don’t want to just blast them.”

The photography is a vivid realization of just how diverse Cali’s hip-hop scene is and was. The book includes photos of the Alchemist during his humble beginnings as a member of The Whooliganz, a young will.i.am before the Black Eyed Peas found their superstardom, and even MC Hammer. “He came to me and I made him look hard,” recalls Miller. “But then he made ‘Pumps and a Bump,’ and I was like, aw, man.”

Miller’s book, West Coast Hip-Hop: A History in Pictures, is more than a spread of old photos. It’s a pictorial dialogue of the golden era in hip-hop. “It was just like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, in the sense that it was the beginning of this whole gangster movement,” says Miller. Though it’s an era that’s passed, we still have these photographs and music to relive it. It’s truly a beautiful thing.