Devin the Dude, Jean Grae and others put it down last weekend at the Scoot Inn. Big thank you to Matt Sonzala for putting together a great show.

Matt Sonzala

Eyeris

Staci Russell

Invinsible

Jean Grae

Devin The Dude

Destiny by Design - Click to Watch

I recently completed my latest documentary. This recent vision focuses on the Destiny by Design junior high after-school program. Originally, I planned to create a photo-only project documenting the Fall 08 semester, but this time around I chose to merge my photo work with video to better communicate this amazing story. I was blessed to have the opportunity to be involved with this program yet again and single handedly witnessed the inspiration music is capable of providing.

Destiny by Design, in cooperation with Citizen Schools, focuses on culture and career development opportunities within hip-hop. Teaming with volunteers, the Destiny by Design kids were able to utilize their creativity to produce, write, and record their own song.

The Destiny by Design media project can be viewed online at…

http://destinybydesignproject.com

If you haven’t already voted, please do so today. You can use this Google Maps Tool to find your local poling location.

Austin, Texas is definitely the place to be from March 12th – 16th. The 2008 SXSW Music Festival will see performances by Ice Cube, Bun B, David Banner, Dizzee Rascal, Clipse, Talib Kweli and so many more.

As I have for the past few years, I will be photo documenting much of the hip-hop portion, so there will be plently of images to see. A full list of performers and showtimes can be viewed here courtesy of AustinSurReal.com.

Hip-Hop Journalist, Matt Sonzala recently made a new transition, moving from Houston to Austin, to work with SXSW. In addition to running his popular HoustonSoReal site, Matt has now also created AustinSurReal to document the various happenings in the city. It’s a definite plus to have even more passionate and creative individuals here in Austin, and as he has done for many years, Matt will continue to put on some great shows. The first of which will take place on January 20th at the Flamingo Cantina and will feature Grimy Styles, Gerald G, PPT and more.

For those who are unaware. Rap legend Chad Butler aka. Pimp C passed away today. There are no exact details at this time. It’s truly another loss for Hip-Hop and Texas.

I was fortunate enough to capture and document a number of PIMP C and UGK performances over the years and even had plans of a future photo project which included him and other artists. He always kept it real with me and I have always appreciated it.

REST IN PEACE PIMP C… UGK FOR LIFE.

I had the opportunity, last week, to cover the 2007 Hot 93.3 Meltdown concert in Austin, Texas. The Meltdown 07′ lineup included Three 6 Mafia, Rob G, Twista, Mims, Baby Bash, and more. Each performer put on a great show. The Hot 93.3 staff did a nice job on putting this event together.

As always, I was able to capture some intense backstage and performance photographs. You can see the images from the 2007 Hot 93.3 Winter Meltdown here…

http://www.luxurymindz.com/lmevents

I was in San Antonio over the weeked to cover The Beat 98.5’s Beat Bash II. The concert was held at AT&T Center, home of the Spurs. The performers included Chamillionaire, Rob G, Mims, The Shop Boys, Baby Bash, Paula Deanda, Sean Kingston, Huey, Amanda Perez, Soulja Boy, DJ Unk, and more. Cindy Hill and the entire Beat staff did a great job putting this event together.

My photographs from the event can be seen on the LM Events page.

My latest photo assignment subject was Famous of Chamillitary. Famous has been around the Texas underground music scene for a number of years and now he’s about to come out strong with the backing of Chamillitary. New images of Famous were needed so they could be incorporated in his new Myspace profile I would be designing.

My team and I did the shoot in San Antonio the day following the Dress Code Party he had hosted the night before. It was raining hard all over San Antonio and much of Texas that week, but we were still able to continue with the schedueled shoot and get the the results we were after.

You can see Famous’s Myspace here.

Bravo Hip-Hop Special, a Bauer Publishing company, is Germany’s largest hip-hop magazine. A few months ago I was contacted by the editor in regards to a photograph that I had taken of Chamillionaire at The 98.5 Beat Bash in San Antonio last summer. They wanted to run my photograph as a two page spread for an upcoming issue in which they were going to be doing a story on Cham and all of his major label success. Since the magazine is only available overseas, the good people at Bauer sent me over a few copies for my portfolio.