A documentary about hip-hop culture as it was seen through the lens of legendary cameraman Estevan “LA Originals” is available now and it is a rare gem where 25 years of archive footage are commented by people who made them count.
Among multiple stars who took part in this production is Marshall Mathers himself.
He first described the famous studio in LA downtown where Estevan and Mr. Cartoon resided:
I remember walking in though and being like, “Damn, you guys made it”. ‘Cause it was like fucking incredible. It seemed like it should be a tour museum. Like people need to see this shit! You guys gave us the tour. Showed us a bunch of shit. When I walked out and I saw Too $hort, and then I saw Darlene. Ice-T’s old wife, right? I saw her walking in, and I’m like, “Oh, this must be the spot”. He tatted me there. You guys still got that place?
The film is masterfully edited, at times it looks like Eminem from our time converses with his younger self. There is a shot of Em jokingly complaining about Mr.Cartoom charging too much:
This guy is the best in the world, but he costs an arm and a leg. He’ll tattoo your arm and he’ll take it with you.
Just to be interrupted by Marshall from future sagely stating:
Hey man, it’s worth it.
Later Marshall reminisced about a tattoo session with Mr.Cartoon:
He came to Detroit and he said: “We should do a mushroom”. He said, “I can do a big-ass mushroom”. He did all. My whole sleeves. I don’t know, I got them removed since then. I’m kidding. One of the things was Hailie, I wanted to put her on my arm.
There is a scene where Mr.Cartoon is discussing this Hailie tattoo with Em, pointing out binding elements and the style. And shots of Eminem taking it into his skin.
Estevan recalls being the only person to shoot this process and realising that he documents history:
That shit trips you out.[…] I was the only person there documenting Cartoon tattooing the biggest artist in the world at that time. I remember getting those shots of the greatest of all times in our lifetime, the number one celebrity, artist, anything in the world.
It was a fascinating scene completed by the reaction of today’s Marshall who was shown the footage.
It was certainly not the last time when Estevan was shooting Eminem. He also directed music videos, including D12 “Shit On You”. Marshall remembers how it was going:
Estevan did the first D12 video we ever shot. It was supposed to be a gritty, grimy-looking video and Estevan captured that perfectly. I know we shot outside of the house, the Dresden house, but I’m pretty sure we shot inside of it too. I’m like, “Yeah, that’s the bathroom”. It wasn’t really a lot of fun dressing up like Richard Simmons. But, hey, man, at that point in time I was doing whatever it took.
The documentary is an extraordinary package of history that is still pulsing, it is full of energy that makes the entire hip-hop culture moving. Do yourself a favour, find it on Netflix and give it a watch.
In “LA Originals” Eminem Talks About His Tattoos and What It Took To Shoot First D12 Video from ePro
