Mike Schreiber

Courtesy the artist

Schreiber, Mike. "Meet Mike Schreiber: Hip-Hop's Illest Photographer." Interview by Wilbert L. Cooper. Vice (July 13, 2012). https://www.vice.com/en/article/jmvbwb/meet-mike-schreiber-is-hip-hops-illest-photographer.

Named "Hip Hop's Illest Photographer" by Vice Magazine in 2012, self-taught, New Yorker Mike Schreiber is behind some of the most intimate images in Hip Hop.

With an aesthetic defined by the use of natural light and black and white film, Schreiber's work has been featured in Esquire Magazine, Rolling Stone, Trace, New York Magazine, Lurve, Vibe, XXL, Slam, Spin, and Arise.

Schreiber was raised in a photographer's family—his grandfather, mother, and father were always taking photos throughout his childhood. Growing up, there was no point in Schreiber's life when he did not have access to a camera, and photography quickly became a preferred mode of interacting with the world around him. As early as five years old, Schreiber remembers hiding in inopportune places around his house, waiting to jump out and surprise his family members with a Polaroid snapshot.

A New Yorker from outside of the city, Schreiber's first introductions to Hip Hop culture were actually on screen, through movies like Beat Street (1984) and Breakin' (1984). While Schreiber never did become the b-boy he desperately wanted to be in 5th grade, photography would eventually become his entrée into that world. Working at an agency that sold syndicated celebrity photos taken at concert venues, Schreiber quickly realized that it wasn't too hard to get a photo pass. He started faxing publicists, telling them he worked for a German magazine and suddenly—Schreiber was on the scene. Eventually fired from the agency when they caught on to his side hustle, Schreiber decided that he never wanted to get another job again.

Dedicating himself entirely to his craft, Schreiber became a concert photographer in earnest before placing his first shots in Source and Vibe magazine that would lead him to become one of the most sought after Hip Hop feature photographers of the late 90s and early aughts. Schreiber's first photo collection, True Hip-Hop was released in November 2010 with Mark Batty Publishing and has had solo show in New York, London, Atlanta, Chicago, and Miami.