Photographing Diddy Work at Dr. Dre’s ‘Like Going to the White Home’

“I can’t consider I went there,” says Armen Keleshian, the photographer who shot Sean “Diddy” Combs’ first studio session with Dr. Dre. “It’s like going to the White Home.”

Keleshian’s pictures captured the 2 moguls of their joyful place — recording, creating, vibing and making historical past. As Diddy himself wrote in a prolonged caption: “I bear in mind the primary time I heard @DrDre’s manufacturing. It gave me clear route on the extent of Producer that I needed to be. Final evening, I acquired the possibility to work with this man and to see his genius as he coached me via vocals. He jogged my memory of myself, however with a special fashion and far more targeted. I gotta step my focus up! lol However it was a fantastic expertise and I thank God for it. I hope sooner or later ya’ll get to have the identical expertise with somebody that you just at all times seemed as much as as a hero.”

The session was held at Dre’s home in Los Angeles, the place guests included Snoop Dogg, Kanye West and Tank, and, per the Rap Radar podcast, meant for a future Dr. Dre challenge. Selection spoke with Keleshian, who first met Diddy in 2017 at Complexcon and works a day job in IT, about being a fly on the wall in a room filled with heavies.

How did you find yourself taking pictures the Diddy and Dr. Dre session?

He reached out to me on Instagram and mentioned: “We have to make some artwork, textual content me.” And he handed alongside his quantity. Three hours later, he goes, “I’m within the studio with Dre. The place are we at?” All of it occurred that day. It wasn’t deliberate. It wasn’t like we talked for months. He shot me Dre’s handle and I pulled up. After I acquired there, I had no concept what the fuck I used to be strolling into.

What was the vibe within the room? 

I acquired there at midnight they usually had been there for a minute. I walked in, and Puff’s already on the mic. … It was a cool, catchy beat Dre had on, they usually had been vibing and feeding off one another. They had been joking round, dabbing one another up.

Dr. Dre was doing his magic, that’s his teaching. “Let’s say this or take away that half. Add this, say this phrase like that.” He’s the grasp of his craft. It was good occasions. There have been musicians there: somebody enjoying bass, enjoying guitar. There was a bunch of producers. I assumed it was his studio crew, individuals he usually works with. 

However he was on the board the entire time. It’s not like he left. He was the one saying “let’s do one other take. Let’s convey it again, lower it right here.” On level.

What else stood out from the night? 

There have been snacks everywhere in the studio. It was a really good, clear, skilled arrange. It wasn’t a type of studios the place you stroll in and there’s blunt ashes all over the place.

Dr. Dre’s work demeanor and the individuals round him is one factor that stood out to me. This man’s been doing this for a really very long time. He acknowledged the issues of different individuals, and he’s introduced it to life and made a greater factor out of it. As I’m taking pictures these photos, I’m taking a look at these guys who, sooner or later, ran hip-hop on every coast, they usually had beef with one another. And all these years later, they’re recording a music collectively, which is dope.

How did you get into images?

I grew up in Beirut, Lebanon. After I was 15 years previous, I used to be bored at dwelling and my dad had an previous digicam. I picked it up. I used to be fucking round: taking pictures landscapes, sunsets, my mates in class, simply attempting to discover ways to use the digicam.

At 16, I began interning at a radio station that threw all these festivals and acquired all these artists to return. I began taking pictures and wasn’t actually good at it, however I used to be the one man doing it. I began a Fb web page, that slowly gained traction. It’s a small nation, everybody is aware of everybody. Each occasion that was occurring, I used to be there taking pictures. I gained a bit of following, perhaps 500 individuals.

The opposite day, I actually discovered the primary live performance I’ve ever shot: a Shakira present in Lebanon in 2006 or 2007. That is 15, 16 years in the past, I bear in mind prefer it was yesterday as a result of I used to be so keen about it. 

I moved to LA in 2011, and was going to highschool for enterprise, however stored taking pictures. Quick ahead to 2017, I used to be taking pictures a Energy 106 live performance and acquired a photograph of Submit Malone backstage that blew up on Complicated. They noticed it on my Instagram and posted it. … I constructed a relationship with the social media staff, went to New York and met them in particular person. It wasn’t simply an Instagram factor, I constructed these relationships. One factor led to a different.