From 2Pac & Biggie To Big L & Gang Starr, T Dot Eric Photographed Hip-Hop’s Biggest Legends. He Talks About It

T. Eric Monroe is one of Hip-Hop's all-time great photographers. In the 90s, he took iconic photos of Tupac, Biggie, Guru, Big Pun, Lauryn Hill, D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Puff Daddy, Dr. Dre, Mos Def and Talib Kweli, De La Soul, Big L and so many more. In episode 40 of AFH's What's The Headline, T Dot discusses the following:  0:00​ Intro 3:24​ On being in the front row at The Source Awards when The East Coast/West Coast Beef started 8:18​ On photographing Tupac and Biggie when they were friends 21:12​ How Big L’s music improved over time  24:45​ Photographing Guru, Roy Ayers and Donald Byrd together 25:50​ Working with Nas to capture one of his most iconic photos 27:30​ How he took his rare photo of Mos Def and Talib Kweli 31:40​ What Tupac was like when the cameras weren’t pointed at him 33:34​ His first impressions of Mos Def when they met 35:14​ How Tupac changed when he was around kids 36:40​ Hearing unreleased music by The Roots in the studio 39:00​ The importance of respecting artists’ boundaries 40:45​ Why he stopped doing Hip-Hop photography 44:00​ The amazing chemistry he saw between Raekwon and Ghostface Killah 46:15​ His experience working for The Source 48:20​ Taking one of the few photos of Lauryn Hill and D’Angelo together 51:35​ The uniqueness of The Roots’ Malik B 55:38​ Photographing Big Pun at home with his family 59:20​ Being on set for Missy Elliot’s first video shoot 1:01:50​ What he learned from doing his Rare & Unseen Moments Of 90’s Hip-Hop books 1:06:18​ What he’s learned about himself through is photography career