Eddie Otchere - The Spirit Behind The Lens

Once A DJ is brought to you by:https://www.vinylunderground.co.uk - 10% off your next order using code onceadjhttps://www.sureshotshop.com/ - Record adapters (including customs) & accessorieshttps://myslipmats.com/ - Custom and off the shelf Slipmats, dividers and more.Once A DJ is a https://remote-ctrl.co.uk productionOther ways to support the showFollow the show on Spotify or Apple PodcastsAny feedback or questions? Hit up the Once A DJ Instagram PageSubscribe to the Once A DJ PatreonBuy your Once A DJ Sureshot 45 adapter clampsThis week I'm joined by Eddie Otchere — a name that might be new to some, but his work absolutely won't be. Eddie is the photographer behind some of the most iconic images of 90s hip hop, jungle and drum & bass, garage and grime. He was Metalheadz's official photographer, shot Wu-Tang Clan, Aaliyah, Biggie, Jay-Z, So Solid Crew, Estelle, Chronixx, and pretty much every rapper you cared about coming up. His work is currently exhibited at the V&A East, and he's spent the last 30 years documenting London's black music and dance culture.Eddie grew up in Brixton, Stockwell and Vauxhall, falling into record collecting at Groove Records in Soho when he was so small he couldn't see over the counter. He picked up his first camera in the late 80s — a Praktika left behind by a friend's granddad — and went on to build one of the most important visual archives of UK club culture. This is a long, deep, wide-ranging conversation, and one I came away from genuinely feeling like I'd learned something. I hope you do too.Topics covered:Growing up in South London and the village mentality of the areaEarly days at Groove Records, Red Records, Dub Vendor and the record shops of SohoGetting online in the mid-90s via Direct Connection in Stockwell — and how hip hop became the global languagePicking up a Praktika camera and falling into photography alongside record collectingWhy being analog matters in a "post-fact" world of remastered records and retconned historyThe Canon EOS 10 and learning to shoot in pitch-black clubsShooting jungle raves, Metalheadz, and protecting young people from tabloid demonisationHow Red Bull, smoking bans and changing crowd behaviour shifted the look and feel of clubsThe art of the loop — Alchemist, Dilla, No I.D. and chasing perfect samplesWorking with Wu-Tang as teenagers and learning to build a body of workPhotographing Aaliyah, Biggie, Jay-Z, Estelle and ChronixxAround the early days of grime and why he gravitated toward So Solid in South LondonDrum & bass being run by women, and the importance of Chemistry and StormThe General Levy "cancellation", gatekeeping, and protecting a cultureThe V&A East exhibition and the tension between DIY scenes and academic curationLee Scratch Perry, dub museums, and what music history should look likeMeta glasses, AI as a personal agent, and digital asset management for photographersHis advice for new photographers: intention is everything