Like DMX: I was given the title of for his second album, Flesh Of My Flesh, Blood Of My Blood, and I came up with the concept for the shoot. He let me do whatever I wanted, and I was like, “Okay, get in that blood.” [Laughs]

DX: [Laughs] How long did it take you to convince him to actually do that?
JM: Man, like 20 minutes. I basically was standing in front of about 15 people and took off my pants because he didn’t want to get in with his own jeans on. I was basically walking around in my boxers until the end of the day [Laughs].

DX: Something a lot of people probably don’t know is that you helmed the covers of Jay-Z’s first eight albums. How did you score an opportunity like that multiple times over?
JM: This woman worked for the Fugees as a PR person, and she’d left that job to work for Roc-A-Fella. She asked me to come over when they were working on the cover for Reasonable Doubt. I talked to Dame [Dash, former CEO of Roc-A-Fella Records], and he asked how much I was going to charge. I told him, “Whatever the expenses are, which will be minimal, I’ll do it for $300 less than your lowest bid.” The money didn’t matter: once you get your foot in the door the money’s going to come. After that, it was a wrap. From that album on, Jay was hugely loyal because he saw how hard I went to be able to work with him.

DX: Speaking of artists, what were among some of your favorite targets to work with, so to speak?
JM: It’s endless, man, but it’s especially the ones with those who aren’t with us now that I hold dear to me. Jam Master Jay, Left Eye, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Notorious B.I.G.. Aaliyah, I did her last ever photo shoot, so that was a real treasure and a real gift. I look back all the time and think, “Wow, I really must be doing something right because I keep on getting these gifts.”

DX: And what was your worst ever shoot you’ve ever done? And feel free to drop any names.
JM: [Pauses] I'll be honest: Akinyele was my worst shoot. [Laughs] It was all bullshit: I shot him in the Warehouse District in New York, and in the past the district was known for hookers, drugs, all kinds of alternative lifestyles. So I took him down there because of the textures of the walls, but he just thought I was taking him down there. He was just really uncomfortable and a little on edge, and it just made the shoot a little difficult the entire time. [Laughs]

DX: Do you have anything bubbling in the near future?
JM: I have a book deal now with Simon & Schuster, Inc. called Signature. Basically throughout my journey of taking pictures, at the end of every shoot I have the artist sign Polaroid picture. Everybody that I’ve ever shot has signed one, from Puffy to Busta Rhymes to David Beckham to Dave Chappelle. It’s a compilation of these Polaroids. Obviously there will be bigger, larger, coffee table-style books, but this one now is going to begin the brand and begin awareness, and really allow me to start telling my stories.