Documentary Photos By Peter Beste

Despite the national publicity and the millions of records sold by some of Houston’s rap artists since the early 1980s, these pockets of Houston remain for the most part hidden and closed to outsiders. It is in this environment that Peter Beste and myself have spent the last 6 years earning the trust of this community, gaining exclusive access during one of the most transitional periods of the last century. This collection of perspectives through photographs and interviews provides a window into an autonomous culture that so few understand, even within the city from which that culture is sprung.
The photographs speak as independently as the words. We have gone to great lengths to maintain a transparent narrative, with first person quotes and overly candid photographs accounting for the bulk of what you see here.