Tag: the orange county observatory

I missed Yasiin Bey‘s set at Smokin’ Grooves over the summer and deeply regretted it, so when the opportunity arose to see him perform in an intimate setting like The Observatory, I was elated to redeem myself for one of my biggest FOMO moments of 2018. related content: Black Is Beautiful: Smokin’ Grooves Festival At The Queen Mary Before Yasiin made his way out, his DJ spun iconic songs that have since been sampled in modern day hip hop, Joe Simons “Before The Night Is Over”, which you may remember was sampled in Outkast’s “So Fresh So Clean”, was one of many. Perhaps to signify love and his soul’s active presence in creation, Yasiin prepared the stage by sprinkling rose petals all around it, he then spray painted the word “Oysters” on a white sheet as he began his set. During his first song, Yasiin Bey took one look at the two of us in the photo pit and requested for the house to dim the lights. The photo journalist in me accepted the challenge to “get the story” regardless of the lighting situation, however the human part of me struggled with the inherently dirty feeling of photographing someone who