Hunder: “It’s not just about the music, it’s everything”

Music journalists Mikey Cahill and Sosefina Fuamoli uncover the music that hits different for music photographer Michelle Grace Hunder.

Music photographer Michelle Grace Hunder has seen many of the industry’s biggest music acts, but nothing beats when she first got into West Coast rap music.

There’re many acts that have blown Hunder away during her time getting up close and personal with performers, but she revealed on Hit Different it was Snoop Dogg who first dazzled her.

“It was the first time I ever heard ‘What’s My Name?’ by Snoop Dogg, I remember seeing the video clip at the same time,” Hunder explained to Mikey Cahill and Sosefina Fuamoli.

“I was like, ‘Wow what is this? This is the best thing I’ve ever heard in my life’, and I became obsessed with West Coast hip-hop from that point onwards.”

Starting with Snoop Dogg, Hunder was taken through a musical journey on the other side of the world, becoming “very serious about the East Coast/ West Coast rivalry”. In fact, she took it so seriously that she refused to listen to East Coast music until the turn of the 21^st century, and is still “catching up on such an amazing era”.

Yet when the rivalry cooled down and the music stopped flowing, Hunder struggled to discover the meaningful hip-hop that she yearned for. The early 2000s hip-hop that emerged never really hit her to the core. It took until the 2010s for Hunder to discover her next great musical hero.

“It was a long time before I was really kind of rocked from a hip-hop perspective after the late 90s, until I heard Kendrick Lamar,” Hunder said.

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We covered it on Hit Different, a weekly podcast that puts music culture in context.

Her involvement with the famous rap star began in 2012 when Hunder told two friends at a club that she was “really disillusioned with hip-hop”. Both turned and told her to go and look up Kendrick Lamar, and before long she was a self-confessed “diehard tragic”.

“When I heard him, I had no words for the impact and the artistry,” Hunder said.

“He’s an artist on a level that’s difficult to articulate, because it’s not just about the music, it’s everything – it’s the message, the visuals and literally every aspect of it is so inspiring.”

Outside of the rap and hip-hop sphere, Hunder turned to Australian artist Jarryd James as another performer who has hit different for her.

“What has floored me is Jarryd James, his album came out not that long ago, and it’s just so, so beautiful,” Hunder said.

“I am obsessed with his music, he just soothes my soul.”

But when it all boils down to it, Hunder’s dream photograph opportunity that she is yet to accomplish reverts back to her West Coast roots.

“I’ve actually never photographed Snoop Dogg, so that would be a nice little full circle moment,” Hunder said.

“I feel like he’s really the person that got me into hip-hop.”

Hear the full story on Hit Different, a free weekly podcast that puts music culture in context.