Jonathan Mannion- photographer

"I'm just a messenger, and I've been given a talent to document an extremely important era of music history. I have a love for hip-hop that goes back to when I was a teenager, and I feel blessed to have had the chance to shoot the artists I've worked with. I've had the opportunity to grow with them and the photos I've shot over the years have become visual bullet points of their creative evolution and mine."

- Jonathan Mannion

THE ART OF JUSTIN BUA CELEBRATING URBAN CULTURE

Justin Bua's work inspires me. His interpretation of his subjects are insane to me.

Jay-Z ft Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind

NANCY BOTWIN your my friend...(sigh)

Art Of Tha Grustle- LUDACRIS

Grindin + Hustlin= Grustlin

Bay Area's Own... ERIC BAILEY

Eminem, Mos Def, Black Thought Freestyle Cypher!

If you missed the BET Awards on Sunday here is Eminem, Mos Def, Black Thought Freestyle Cypher! EMINEM kills it!

the older the berry , the sweeter the juice

I've been a Jay-Z fan since '96. That was the year that 'Reasonable Doubt' came out. By far, that had to be one of his best albums. PERIOD! Then came out In my lifetime Vol.1, Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life , Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter, The Dynasty: Roc La Familia,The Blueprint,The Blueprint: The Gift & the Curse,The Black Album,Kingdom Come, American Gangster and now Blueprint 3. I've seen and experience Hova's jiggy era, his boss like tycoon era, the dynasty break up era, his retirement era, his comeback era, and now his corporate 'imma run my own shit' era.

Let's put this Jay-Z thing aside for a little bit and say that I Love HIP HOP. I fell in love with the culture when I was in Kindergarten when I suddenly heard THE BEASTIE BOYS- BRASS MONKEY. From then on, my ear was tuned in to 106 kmel, here in San Francisco. So when you grow up to people like Rakim, KRS-1, Run DMC, WU-Tang, you set high standards. Now-a-days you here Soul jah boy and you begin to think that Hip Hop got whored out.

Now with Jay-Z's new album, it had mixed reviews. Some people like it and some people hated. I, on the other hand loved it. The album show alot of where he is now and the pride of him coming from New York. which was a great collabo with Ms. Keys. It showed an example on how his flows matured. The album is definitely geared to a maturer crowd and definitely a banger for my ear drums. Listen to the album and let me know what you think..

im out