Hip hop photographer’s don’t come much more celebrated than Chi Modu, who sadly passed away earlier this year. His legacy lives on through his work, and there’s nothing he produced that is more noteworthy than what he did alongside Tupac Shakur.
Modu was born in Nigeria, but a civil war would force his family to make a move to the United States when he was only two years old. He spent his childhood in New Jersey and then graduated from Rutgers University with an economics degree in 1989, before receiving a certificate in photojournalism in 1992.
His step into photojournalism collided with the hip hop world exploding, and it made them perfect bedfellows. Modu’s first job was with the New York Amsterdam News in Harlem. However, his best work came when he was director of photography for the hip-hop bible, The Source.
He shot more than 30 covers during his time with the culture-defining magazine, and Modu was at the forefront of the golden age of hip-hop, seeing it develop before his eyes. Apart from Tupac, he also did famous shoots with Biggie Smalls, Snoop Dogg, LL Cool J, Diddy, Ice Cupe, Mary J Blige, and more.
Furthermore, his work is remarkably featured on album covers for Snoop Dogg, Method Man and Mobb Deep. However, nothing is more celebrated than his famous shots of Tupac. Chances are, whenever you see a picture of the rapper, Modu was the man behind it.
“He understood the importance of visuals,” Modo told The Hundreds in 2019 about his relationship with Shakur. “And I think what’s happening now, as you’re seeing with technology today, people are really starting to understand visuals a bit more.
“So, think about that: that was 24 years ago that we did these 4×5 portraits in a studio. That’s a long time ago, and a pretty high level of quality. He knew enough about how it works and the importance of it, to make sure to be documented properly.”
Furthermore, in discussion with Pulse, Modo said, “Tupac is a good dude, that’s my homie. He always showed me love and that is why I have such a big body of work of him because we had mutual respect for each other.
“He saw me as someone who could help him, and he took full advantage of it, and that is why he lives to this day because by allowing that access in helping me create those images of him, he’s been gone 20 something years, but with these pictures, it is like he never left.”
See a collection of Modu’s work with Tupac below.