Photographer Ismail “Calligrafist” Sayeed. Photo Credit: Eric Salvary/Get Fit Radio TV

Photographer, Ismail “Calligrafist” Sayeed checked in with Scoop B Radio podcast’s Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson. Press Play Below To Listen!

If you read articles on the internet then you’ve seen his work. Photographer Ismail “Calligrafist” Sayeed has photographed the latest and greatest.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama, Dwyane Wade, Jay-Z, Fabolous, DJ Khaled, P.Diddy and many more have been photographed under the keen lens of Calligrafist.

His photography is a bridge between fashion, lifestyle, hip hop and culture.

He’s everywhere!  Literally!

Homeboy’s work has appeared in reputable publications such as Billboard, ESPN, Bleacher Report, HBO, CBS Sports, Complex, Catch Restaurant, Reebok, Nike, Adidas, New York Fashion Week, DJ USA, Hot 97, Power 105.1, S.O.B.’s, Tidal, BET, VIBE, Mass Appeal, The Shade Room, Hype Beast, The Source Magazine, REVOLT, RESPECT Magazine, Bleu Magazine and Elliot Wilson and Brian ‘B.Dot” Miller’s Rap Radar.

All of that said…guess what? He’s not comfortable! 

“The kind of person that I am, I just want to do more,” Calligraist told RESPECT Magazine today by phone.

“This is just the beginning.” 

Forever Uptown… it’s a Harlem Thing. | #CalligrafistChronicles | www.CalligrafistPhotography.com

A post shared by Ismail اسما عيل Calligrafist™ (@calligrafist) on Dec 15, 2017 at 7:12pm PST

Harlem, NY bred and globally influenced, Calligrafist actually didn’t aspire to be a photographer. In fact, he fell in love with the art of graffiti and calligraphy; hence the nickname, ‘Calligrafist.’

A man of faith, the devout Muslim is college educated at Jamia Madinatul Uloom University in Trinidad & Tobago, where he studied Quranic Studies and Arabic reading and writing.

Calligrafist acknowledges seasoned hip hop photographers like Johnny Nunez and Jonathan Mannion  who have undoubtedly paved the way for on-the rise photographers such as himself. Calligrafist emphasizes that he’s glad to sit at the table with them and eat, while also gaining their respect for his skin in the game. “It’s genuinely cool to have intimate conversations with them,” he said.

“It’s more humbling that I am able to have direct access to people that I look up to like them and someone like Lenny S., DJ Clark Kent, Emory Jones, that have a name in the industry, people that have a place in the culture, for people to acknowledge me for more my work; that’s an honor. That’s more humbling. But it moves me to want to do more.”

For more information on Calligrafist and his photographic/art movement, visit www.calligrafistphotography.com and scroll up and press play to listen to our chat on Scoop B Radio! 

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The post Scoop B: Photographer Ismail “Calligrafist” Sayeed is a rising star who has stayed true to both his Islamic faith & his craft appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Jay-Z and the Notorious B.I.G. Photo Credit: REHAB Online Magazine

DJ Clark Kent drops by Scoop B Radio and discusses producing, the latest and greatest AND producing Jay-Z and Biggie Smalls’ Brooklyn’s Finest. Press Play Below To Listen! 

Jay-Z’s “Reasonable Doubt” had hits! Hov’s first album, released on June 25, 1996 and had hits like “D’Evils,” “Can I Live,” “Can’t Knock the Hustle,” “Ain’t No N***a” and “Feelin’ It.”

While the album had appearances by Mary J. Blige, Foxy Brown and Memphis Bleek, it was also graced by the presence of one of the greatest of all time, the Notorious B.I.G., on the track, “Brooklyn’s Finest.”

Get this though: Biggie wasn’t supposed to be on the track at all. Appearing on today’s episode of the Scoop B Radio podcast, legendary dj, Clark Kent said that the Brooklyn’s Finest track, which he produced was for Jay-Z. “I got to the studio to lay it for Jay, Big heard the track and he wanted it for himself,” DJ Clark Kent told me.

“But I couldn’t give it to him because it was already for Jay. But I said [to Biggie]: ‘If you come to the studio and wait downstairs, I’ll tell him that you should be on the record and we’ll see what happens.'”

Jay-Z agreed to it and so the track was created. “I brought Big upstairs and Jay thought I was a funny guy for not telling him that Big was downstairs,” DJ Clark Kent recalled. 

DJ Clark Kent. Photo Credit: Complex

According to DJ Clark Kent, Jay-Z re-did his verses on the track to accommodate Biggie.  “Everything you hear from Jay on that record was changed 20 minutes after he laid what he laid,” he said.

“So he basically set up every one of Big’s verses with a rhyme and then asked Big was he ready. Big was so blown away by it. He was like: ‘he wasn’t ready’ and said he needed some time. So he took it home and two months later, we went back to the studio and Big laid his part.”

With all of the lyrical firepower on that track, guess what? Neither one of the rappers had a hook. “I had to figure out a hook because they left me in the studio with no hook,” recalled DJ Clark Kent.

“So I was there trying to become a hook guy!” So I went in the booth and did the hook and luckily everybody was happy because otherwise the record would have never happened.”

The story is legendary. But, DJ Clark Kent is legendary too! He’s produced for any and everyone: 50 Cent, Slick Rick, Lik Kim, Rakim and Canibus.

He’s also produced for Mariah Carey. Remember Mariah’s Loverboy song?! Yup, he produced that!

Man, he sampled Cameo’s “Candy” song!? 

DJ Clark Kent talked about that, the state of the New York Knicks, Drake, 50 Cent and more in our interview. Check out our interview via Scoop B Radio by clicking here. 

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The post DJ Clark Kent details how he got Notorious B.I.G. on Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt album appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.