Barron Claiborne was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. He is a self-taught photographer and began taking photographs at the age of ten after receiving a camera as a gift from his mother.

One of Claiborne’s most significant achievements in the urban music community is a series of portraits of The Notorious B.I.G wearing a plastic gold crown in front of a deep red backdrop. The pictures were made in Claiborne’s New York studio in March 1997, only three days before the rapper’s untimely death in Los Angeles, resulting from a drive-by shooting. The most known image from the series, entitled The King of New York, is one photograph from a couple of dozen images of the rapper from the photo session. Most of these other photographs from the session had never been seen by the public before being included in the 2018 book Contact High: A Visual History of Hip-Hop. In a 2019 exhibit based upon the book (hosted by The Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles), an entire installation of this memorable photo session was constructed. In addition to a 100 cm x 150 cm print of the principal image, the museum exhibit installation of The King Of New York featured one of The Notorious B.I.G’s music videos playing on a small screen alongside two enlarged contact prints, as well as the original two-dollar plastic crown that Claiborne had purchased specifically for the shoot, displayed in a glass jewel case as if it was made of real gold.

In an interview given to undiscovermusic.com in 2019, Contact High‘s creator and curator Vikki Tobak described The King Of New York image as “the Mona Lisa of hip hop,” adding, “It is a defining photo when you think of Biggie.”

On September 15, 2020, the plastic costume crown that Claiborne had purchased for six dollars to use in the King Of New York photo series was auctioned at Sotheby’s in New York City as part of a hip hop auction collection. The crown was sold for $594,750. The photo shoot featuring the crown had originally been made for Rap Pages magazine. Having purchased two crowns prior to Biggie’s arrival at the studio, Claiborne discovered that both were too small for the rapper’s head, though he was able to use one by removing its foam padding. Sean “Diddy” Combs, then CEO of Bad Boy Records, was also present at the 1997 photo session. Combs voiced concerns that the photographs would make the rapper look like an ad for Burger King, but both Claiborne and Biggie Smalls disregarded his comments and proceeded with the pictures.

In 2022, Claiborne revisited this pivotal moment in hip hop and photographic history by producing a limited lenticular edition based on one of the lesser-seen frames from the 1997 session. In this new work, Biggie’s regal expression subtly shifts depending on the viewer’s vantage point, revealing a skeletal visage beneath the surface—a striking visual metaphor for legacy, mortality, and transformation. Editioned at six, this lenticular piece not only reanimates Claiborne’s original image but also deepens its resonance, bridging memory and myth through a contemporary lens.

Claiborne works primarily in large format. In 1990, he moved to New York City. For the past three years, he has worked on a project involving 8 x 10 Polaroids of the body, women (Venus Aurea), saints, and goddesses (Sanctified). The inspiration for his work is both historical and mythological. The symbolic imagery represents dreams, stories, and the oral traditions of his Southern and African ancestry.

His work has appeared in numerous publications including Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, and Interview, among others. His photos are featured in museums and private collections throughout the world.

Materials: Museum archival color print

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