By Ethan Kapour ’27
Shannon McCollum is an Atlanta-based photographer and creative who’s been deeply embedded in the city’s hip-hop and cultural scene since the 1990s, photographing many famous rappers (Ludacris, T.I, OutKast, & Future). Raised by a newspaper photojournalist, he developed an early love for documentary photography and went on to capture moments around some of Atlanta’s most influential artists as the scene was taking shape. Beyond his own work behind the camera, Shannon is also known as the father of rapper Lil Yachty (Miles McCollum), having played a hands-on role in exposing him to music, fashion, and creative spaces from a young age.
Q: First — where did your love for photography start?
A (Lil Yachty’s dad):
“first um my my love for photography started because my father’s a photographer and I didn’t know I wanted to become a photographer. I just I just love the fact that um my dad did something different than everybody else’s dad in the neighborhood. And we always had in our house, it was like a gallery. We always had really cool pictures on the wall. And one thing I noticed is when people would come over to visit, they were all drawn to the photographs that my dad had taken on the wall. And and uh it would become a conversation piece. And I would just love to put my little two cent in because I remember when one of the photographs was taken or or I might have went with him.
He was my dad retired as a newspaper photographer and by the time I was a sophomore in college um my best friend’s friend um was a really good photographer on campus and I just loved his work and it reminded me so much of my dad’s work. Um, so, so that’s when the love started as a child and then by the time I got to college, I I saw a guy that was taking pictures.
In the 90s, Atlanta had a bubbling music scene. Um, so I was around rappers. I was around outcasts when they first got started. I was around all these Atlanta rappers. And that’s what I wanted to document. I I I really wanted to be Gordon Parks. Um, I I I loved Annie Liowitz. Those were my two favorite photographers. And my dad, um, Philip McCullum. Those three, they were they were they were photojournalists such as my dad, a newspaper photographer. So, I loved I love document doc documentation photographs.”
Q: Being in the Atlanta scene around all those rappers — did that impact Miles growing up?
A:
“Oh, 100%, man. Yeah. Yeah. 100% Ethan because Miles was born in 97 and I was so deep in the the hip-hop culture of Atlanta by that time, you know, I could go anywhere in the city and I I I can’t first off I carried my camera in my car. So everywhere I went probably wasn’t safe to have my camera to call town, but I always had my camera in the trunk and I just love shooting. You know, you know what happens is the more you shoot the better you get. the more you you you learn lighting and and you learn these different things.
So, I always just like to take pictures and and I would take him on shoots, you know. So, that’s why if you Google uh Miles and and Lil I’m about to say Miles and Lil Yachty, if you Google Lil Yachty and Ludicrous, um you see pictures of of Miles when he was like six or seven or if you Google um Lil Yacht and TI, you’ll see that. So, when he got famous, everybody was like, ‘You mean your son Lil Miles? What?’ you know, so cuz he was always around and and he liked to be around and and he knew how to conduct himself around adults.
His career is built off the back of me hauling him around in the in the early 2000s around a lot of Atlanta artists and legends actually.”
Q: When did you realize Miles wanted to do music seriously?
A:
“Well, I tell you what. He came to me at I think he might have been 17, maybe almost 18. And he was like, I kept hearing um from other teenagers that around his age that your son is going to parties and rapping. And I said, ‘Hold up, what?’ You know, they say he would go to a party and get on stage and do a song and then leave.
And I I I just he never expressed wanting to be a musician to me ever. You know, we we both have a super love for fashion and music, but him trying to be an artist. I never knew anything about that. And he he actually admitted to me and told me, he said, ‘If it didn’t work out, I didn’t want you to feel some kind of way.’”
Q: How did you help him take the first real steps in the industry?
A:
“But um but yeah, so you know the the industry, the music industry is based off relationships. Um and I happen to have a relationship with this guy named Kevin Lee. And um so I reached out to Kevin and um again relationships you know if I would have been a guy out in the city and didn’t have a good rapport with people or people was like ah you know Shannon’s work is trash or he’s not a good guy or whatever this it couldn’t have happened.
Um um but the fact that I had good relationships just Kevin picked up my call. I said yo I said hey man my my son is trying to do this rap thing again that Miles little Miles. I said, ‘Yeah, yeah.’ And so, um, I sent him a picture. Mouse had a look with the red hair, the red braids, and and um um he said um he said, ‘Hey, man, bring him by my studio.’
Now, mind you, to to to get this guy to answer your call, you know, at the time, he’s the Migos manager, and you know how big the Migos were when they first came out… and we we’re not making no we’re not signing any papers. We’re not doing anything drastic, you know. we just want I just want to get your opinion on what you think about him.
And and really Mouse had the look already, you know, he was he was in the street fashion. He was a cool kid. He he wasn’t arrogant. He wasn’t hood or ghetto. He was just a good kid. Always been a good kid. And Kev saw the potential in him immediately and said, ‘Hey man, can I take him with me to New York and LA and um um do some rounds, introduce him to some people? I think we got something here.’
Um, I I I had some influence, you know, I’m I’m going take a little credit, you know, that because I already had a name in the Atlanta music scene. Um, I was able to make some good um connections for him.”
Q: How has the industry changed from when Miles came up to now?
A:
“Um, it’s a good question. I think, you know, I think for the most part it’s the sound is progressing. You know, I I I I don’t hear a lot of autotune with rappers as much as you used to hear when he first came out… I just don’t hear it in everybody’s music like you used to hear it all the time… like what does your real voice sound like? But um but I think… I started listening to hip-hop in the 80s man and um and I was collecting vinyl… and you can hear in the production you know the production has advanced so much more and so differently. these guys are can able to make these incredible beats of their laptops…I’m just I’m just a fan of music. So I’ve always had an appreciation for um artists and art growing and and and moving into a different realm. And I just love like the the the the the newer artists that are that are on their own sound… it’s not all about lyrics… these kids like they like beats… they like to chant, you know, like like like sounds like stadium music…from the time he was probably in middle school… we’ve been sending each other music… and to this day… music is our language.”
Q: You mentioned AI — what do you think AI means for music?
A:
“…yeah, man. I mean, it’s here. You know, the AI is here. No, if you like it or not, it’s here and it’s going to continue to grow and it’s going to, you know, be the main thing in music soon.”
Q: Where do you see youth influence heading in the next 5 to 10 years?
A:
“Um, the youth dictate dictate what’s hot. You know, they they they they’re going to tell you immediately if it’s on go or if it ain’t, you know… I’m a 70s baby, man… youth… 18, 19, 20, 21… they let you know if you popping or not.…it’s not just I’m going with mainstream… it’s a love for it and you’re digging deeper into somebody that hasn’t really popped off yet…Miles went and did a whole album in in Michigan with under under name artists… Michigan Boy… he didn’t have to… they would have had to pay a fortune… and here he is doing a whole album with these guys…All it takes is somebody to start sharing your song and then they share it, then they share it…Poland… he wasn’t going to release Poland… Poland was so big for him, he went to Poland and the the the the president of Poland or like the ambassador, they gave him the key to the city…I think that’s so cool to um that how how the power of social media can really make or break you…”
Q: Can you tell the story about Let’s Start Here and his decision to pivot?
A:
“I flew out to to Texas when he was working… they were doing the mixing in uh El Paso, Texas actually… you land in El Paso and you have to drive like an hour out in the middle of nowhere… pecan farm… this guy had all these different little houses…Miles was working on a song in each room… And um he went all he kept telling me was, ‘Dad, my next album I’m not rapping. I’m not going to rap.’ …he didn’t care if it failed… He wanted to do what he wanted to do…Mark Demarco. Have you heard of him? …Miles brought him out at Coachella… When he told me he’s working with James Blake, I was like, ‘No way.’ …he was like, ‘Well, how about he’s blessed to work with me?’”
Q: What did you see in Miles early on — confidence, identity, not fitting in a box?
A:
“When he was six years old… his friend got in the car, he tried to shame Miles because Miles had on a pink polo shirt… and Miles is so confident, he goes, ‘Oh, you don’t know nothing about this.’ And it shut the kid up…he already knew who he was…that’s why we’ve seen him… leave all those guys in the dust… a lot of guys don’t know how to continue to grow. You got to grow, man…that’s why we used to always get almost a different Kanye album… he kept growing…Miles… I did a Pivot and did a whole alt rock album… and not only was it dope… they almost preferred that more than his rap stuff…I loved I love that he’s not afraid to be himself.”
Q: What’s next — new albums and direction?
A:
“…the new he’s working on two albums right now… he wouldn’t play me a lot, but he play he played me two song…Miles is really into to to horn sections… super live instrumentation sounding… not going to just sound like um, a rap album, but kind of like let’s start here…he’s growing… he’s 27… not afraid to push the buttons…”
Q: Is it releasing later this year?
A:
“I hope so. I don’t know. I hope so… after the tour… they go to Australia next month… the tour is over in September and then he’s getting deep into working on the album. So I don’t know if it’s going to be finished by the end of the year…when he’s off tour… he is locked in the studio… he likes to work…Miles is going to be around, man… pushing the envelope… we going to get a Grammy.”
Q: As a father and artist, what lessons should young artists take from Miles’s path?
A:
“be you. Be original, you know. Um and and don’t don’t don’t be afraid to um step outside of your comfort zone…you don’t get the attention of a Drake by being mediocre. You know, like Miles has written so many songs for Drake, you know. I don’t know if a lot of people know that.”
Q: If you could create a project bringing youth and OG artists together, what would it look like?
A:
“It would look like um two gen two generations listening to each other… coming together and no egos attached…really, you can learn from each other…Every every young person should have an older mentor. Even me at 55, I still have mentors…when I want to know who’s hot right now, I go to my daughter… they may make me a playlist…it it’s a give and take…”