Renowned photographer T. Eric Monroe has partnered with Heavy NFT to release a series of 1-of-1 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) of his fine art photography on the first generation of HEAVY boards, the first-ever NFT Skateboard
Thrasher Skateboarding Magazine and
The Source photog stumbled upon an old photograph of Tupac Shakur which in itself was a prized possession but as he looked closer, it suddenly dawned on him The Notorious B.I.G. was in the photo as well.
“The picture was taken in 1993,” Monroe tells HipHopDX. “So 1993, I set up a shoot with Onyx to do an article in Thrasher. They were in concert, opening for either Ice-T or Public Enemy or something. So I get there around soundcheck time. We’re standing in the dressing room, talking to the guys, planning it out. We go down to the stage area because the performance wasn’t starting yet and I got our group shots that I needed from them.
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Speaking to
HipHopDX, Monroe revealed that he took the photo in 1993 when he set up a shoot with Onyx for a
Thrasher article. The hip-hop group was opening for either Ice-T, Public Enemy or someone else, so Monroe and the former four-piece went down to the stage before the performance began. “As I was packing my equipment away, someone from the other side of the stage goes, ‘Yo, come take our picture.’ I literally said, ‘Yes, give me a second.’ Then I ended up going over to the guys who said it. Literally just look at them, line up the picture and took one picture and said thank you and then went back to the dressing room to Onyx,” he said. “I got the film developed at some point and I kept remembering this giant middle finger. I remember writing the name Tupac on it, but I didn’t really understand who he was in 1993.”