Small-town hip hop as seen by photographer Jared Soares
- Text by Jared Soares
- Photography by Jared Soares
In this regular series, My Sweet Shot, we ask photographers to zone in on a single photograph from their archives that they feel best embodies the questions they’re broaching, generally, with their work.
Jared Soares is a portrait and documentary photographer based in Washington DC. Through his Small Town Hip Hop project he learned the importance of community and that to do work that mattered to him, he needed to be more than just an dispassionate observer of his surroundings.
My Sweet Shot
By Jared Soares
When I started working on Small Town Hip Hop, the photographs I was making were in the tradition of witnessing candid moments in the lives of individuals as they unfolded in front of my camera. The early work from that project was hollow and a carbon copy of work done by other photographers that had been marked in my psychology as classic and successful. Since this was my first self-initiated project, I was figuring out my voice, trying to get comfortable with who I am as a photographer and attempting to develop my own way of seeing.
It wasn’t until two years into the project that I realised I was making a self-portrait through the people I was photographing in the hip hop scene in Roanoke, Virginia. This became apparent while I spent time with Poe Mack, a rapper from Salem, Virginia on a couple tour dates in 2011.
Before hitting the road to Atlanta, Georgia for a concert, where Poe Mack would be the opening act, the longest I had spent with him was maybe an hour. Roanoke, Virginia is a small place and the number of rappers is even smaller, so everyone with a serious interest in hip hop knows each other. I had met Poe Mack in passing at his home studio, where he was recording a rapper that I happened to be following around for the day. Poe and I kept in touch and when I found he was going on a small East Coast tour, I proposed the idea of tagging along. In generous fashion, he obliged.
Nine hours in a car is a long time but it’s a great opportunity for conversation. While bombing our way down Interstate 85 through the Carolinas, Poe shared his creative process, motivations for his music and how he treated every aspect that goes into song-craft. As I listened, I kept seeing similarities with what I was doing with photography. Poe and I were much the same, two young men, trying to develop their skills and to push themselves creatively with the hope of reaching a goal. Our journeys as artists paralleled each other.
Though I’ve moved on from Small Town Hip Hop, the project was a catalyst for exploring my backyard, wherever I happen to be living. The concept of community is a cul-de-sac that I’m wandering around and seem to come back to with each project, big or small. I’m immersed in the idea of showing a specific group and how they identify themselves to depict traits that can be read as universal. I’m no longer a fly on the wall, just looking for differences.
Photo caption: Poe Mack tries to grab a quick rest after driving for several hours to from Virginia to Georgia in order to open for 9th Wonder. He was tired. I was tired. But he was excited for the opportunity to get to introduce his music to larger audience and I was happy to be a part of the journey.
Find out more about Jared Soares.
Latest on Huck
Clubbing is good for your health, according to neuroscientists
We Become One — A new documentary explores the positive effects that dance music and shared musical experiences can have on the human brain.
Written by: Zahra Onsori
In England’s rural north, skateboarding is femme
Zine scene — A new project from visual artist Juliet Klottrup, ‘Skate Like a Lass’, spotlights the FLINTA+ collectives who are redefining what it means to be a skater.
Written by: Zahra Onsori
Donald Trump says that “everything is computer” – does he have a point?
Huck’s March dispatch — As AI creeps increasingly into our daily lives and our attention spans are lost to social media content, newsletter columnist Emma Garland unpicks the US President’s eyebrow-raising turn of phrase at a White House car show.
Written by: Emma Garland
How the ’70s radicalised the landscape of photography
The ’70s Lens — Half a century ago, visionary photographers including Nan Goldin, Joel Meyerowitz and Larry Sultan pushed the envelope of what was possible in image-making, blurring the boundaries between high and low art. A new exhibition revisits the era.
Written by: Miss Rosen
The inner-city riding club serving Newcastle’s youth
Stepney Western — Harry Lawson’s new experimental documentary sets up a Western film in the English North East, by focusing on a stables that also functions as a charity for disadvantaged young people.
Written by: Isaac Muk
The British intimacy of ‘the afters’
Not Going Home — In 1998, photographer Mischa Haller travelled to nightclubs just as their doors were shutting and dancers streamed out onto the streets, capturing the country’s partying youth in the early morning haze.
Written by: Ella Glossop