Legendary Hip-Hop Photographer Ricky Powell Has Died
Written by SOURCE on February 2, 2021
Legendary hip-hop photographer, author, and honorary fourth Beastie Boy Ricky Powell has died, his manager and business partner Tono Radvany confirmed.
“I just want to let everybody know he was a very special man, and he will be sorely missed,” Radvany said.
Though he’s done a lot throughout his career, he was best known for the work he did with the Beastie Boys, in addition to capturing a number of iconic images of a range of celebrities that included: Madonna, Run DMC, Andy Warhol, and Laurence Fishburne, among others. You can see some of those in tribute tweets if you continue scrolling down. His resume could accurately state that his work was featured in: The New York Times, The Village Voice, TIME, The New York Post and Rolling Stone, plus lots more.
On top of that, he authored four books, hosted a public access show called Rappin With the Rickster that frequently brought on guests way above the public access pay grade, was immortalized in the Beastie Boys’ “Car Thief” via the line “Homeboy throw in the towel, Your girl got dicked by Ricky Powell,” and also got a documentary about him released last year called Ricky Powell: The Individualist.
Questlove took to IG to pay his respects, as did many others.
If we get any additional info we’ll be sure to update.
RIP.
