NOTORIOUS BIG KONY CROWN

Every time I thought of Biggie, I always thought of him as a big, fat West African King (laughs). Puffy wasn’t so into it, he kept saying that he worried Big looked like “the Burger King.” So Big was trying to reassure Puffy and it turned out fine. From the contact sheet, I chose the one photo I thought was most poignant. The images are all pretty similar. I usually don’t give photo editors a lot of choices.

At the time, hip hop images were pretty stereotypical for the most part. A lot of it wasn’t beautiful. Boring…people being in jacuzzis. Imagery made for teenage boys. Not this one. The shot is the shot, and it’s iconic.

Barron Claiborne

NOTORIOUS B.I.G.

The image of Biggie Smalls in this this crown may be the single most iconic photo of hip hop. Photographer Barron Claiborne shot these photos just 3 days before Biggie’s death for the album King of New York. It was recently sold in auction for $595,000.
This was really simply about photographing Biggie as The King Of New York on his throne. I was hired by Rap Pages for a cover shoot. This photo is about hip hop, but it’s also beyond that. His eyes alone tell the story. He is like a saint-like figure.

I used to love Richard Avedon and Irving Penn and how disciplined their photos were. I really planned out this photo, and I had a definite vision for what I wanted. I had already photographed Big one time before in a white suit for Rolling Stone Magazine. I generally didn’t shoot a lot of rappers because the aesthetic wasn’t my thing. For this shoot, I told Big’s team that I wasn’t interested in photographing if he was just gonna wear sweatpants. And I liked the symbolism of the crown. So, when I told them the overall idea, Big was up for it. When you asked him to do a picture, he never complained.

Every time I thought of Biggie, I always thought of him as a big, fat West African King (laughs). Puffy wasn’t so into it, he kept saying that he worried Big looked like “the Burger King.” So Big was trying to reassure Puffy and it turned out fine. From the contact sheet, I chose the one photo I thought was most poignant. The images are all pretty similar. I usually don’t give photo editors a lot of choices.

At the time, hip hop images were pretty stereotypical for the most part. A lot of it wasn’t beautiful. Boring…people being in jacuzzis. Imagery made for teenage boys. Not this one. The shot is the shot, and it’s iconic.I still have the crown, too.

I used a Mamiya RB67 on Fuji film, and I cross processed the film (Cross-processing, also known as ‘x-pro’, is the procedure of deliberately processing one type of film in a chemical solution intended for another type of film.)

Someone called to tell me that the image was being carried throughout Biggie’s funeral procession in Brooklyn. The photo was posted all along the route. That was important to me. This photo is about hip hop, but it’s also beyond that. It’s people perceiving you as the best. When people die young, they are mythologized.

Barron Claiborne

ABOUT BARRON CLAIBORNE

A self-taught photographer and cinematographer, Barron Claiborne received his first camera at the age 9 from his mother, Betty Lou, and has dedicated much of his craft to the creation of images that represent the dreams, stories, and oral traditions of his Southern American and African Ancestry. After moving to New York City in 1989 from his hometown of Boston, Claiborne began assisting photographers such as Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, and Saint Claire Born; since then has been highly prolific in the field of photography and its many arenas including commercial, documentary, and fashion. Claiborne’s photographs have been internationally recognized, and his work has appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Esquire, and Interview, among others. Claiborne’s photographs are in permanent collections around the world including the Polaroid Museum Cambridge, the Brooklyn Museum, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, and MoCADA.
Description
[THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G.]; BARRON CLAIBORNE

[BIGGIE’S CROWN]. THE FAMOUS CROWN WORN BY THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G. FOR THE ICONIC “K.O.N.Y” [KING OF NEW YORK] PORTRAIT SESSION, SHOT BY PHOTOGRAPHER BARRON CLAIBORNE ON MARCH 6, 1997, IN HIS NEW YORK STUDIO.

Plastic crown, adorned with multi-colored plastic gemstones; SIGNED BY BIGGIE SMALLS, AND SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY CLAIBORNE “Crown from Biggie KONY Shot. 3-6-97.” Remnants of interior foam cushioning, one point broken off, some general light wear and abrasions.

Offered Together With
(1) Barron Claiborne, Notorious B.I.G. as the (K.O.N.Y) 36 x 40 in chromogenic print, number one of an edition of one, signed verso, (2) Barron Claiborne, K.O.N.Y. shots contact sheet, 36 x 40 in chromogenic print, number one of an edition of one, signed verso (3) Barron Claiborne, Notorious B.I.G. as the (K.O.N.Y) Tunz-O-Gunz, 10th anniversary print, 36 x 40 in chromogenic print, number one of an edition of one, signed verso.

The content in this page is for demonstrative purposes only.