David and Denz have been friends since they met at Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. Both possessing a deep understanding of music theory and composition, the two have applied their knowledge to the world of hip-hop with finesse and their hustle seems never ending. We’ve spent a good amount time in the studio together and even when there appears to be time to chill and sit back, ideas are always flowing and beat-packs are being constructed for future collaborations.

The first time we shot together was in March of 2018. The two had just finished working on the score for the new animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse movie. I’ve had this idea for a while to photograph someone upside down and figured, what better people could there be to try out this idea with than Daytrip?

We packed into their recording studio in SoHo with a makeshift backdrop and lighting setup and grabbed friend and fellow artist Rockstar Payso to help. It took a few days to come up with a good way to make it look like someone was upside down in a studio setting with no budget. Normally you’d have lighting guys and a big space and money to make things happen, but that’s not how I roll; at least for now. I landed on the idea to have one person sit on another person’s shoulders then lean back with their legs held so their head was about two feet off the ground. Then I’d have a third person sitting on the floor being handed something by the person upside down; seemed simple enough. I brought an old film camera and 1 roll of black and white film. If I wasn’t able to get the shot we wanted in that one roll then it probably just wasn’t meant to happen.

Denzel offered to go upside down and grabbed an OP-1 synthesizer to hand off to David. We knew it’d be a tight window to get the shot before all the blood would rush to Denz’s face and Payso could no longer hold onto Denzel’s legs. David had the easy job of sitting on the ground and looking pretty. As soon as Denz went upside down his feet starting knocking into the studio keyboards mounted on the wall and Payso started giving me warnings for how much longer he could hold. It was a carefully planned out circus. I fired off 5 meticulous frames before Denz’s face veins started to pop out. We let him down and called it a wrap. One of those shots had to work and for the next week we anxiously waited to get film back.

We got the shot! I knew as soon as I saw the negatives that there was something special on that one roll. I was so happy to create an image that I felt to be timeless with such amazing people. It’s been incredible to watch Daytrip progress as they have in their well-earned careers. We still continue to shoot together, but now more as a documentation of their growth with plans to set up their next creative photoshoot soon. Keep an ear out for these two and listen closely for their producer tag at the beginning of your favorite songs. Daytrip took it to 10!

Follow them @takeadaytrip