Bun B Answers "The Questions" For OKP TV--Behind The Scenes At His Photo Shoot w/ Jonathan Mannion

Okay, here's the story: Bun B--Underground King, Texas OG and Trill lyricist par excellence--has been our list of rappers to bombard with "The Questions" probably since we started this series--at the very least since we named our Read A Book column  after his immortal line in "Big Pimpin'." We finally got our shot when Bun was on a recent New York jag, thanks to Okayplayer contributor and Trill ambassador Sama'an Ashrawi. Only problem was, Bun's window of New Yorkness was extremely narrow and not surprisingly he was super busy. But he graciously agreed to fit us in before catching his 3pm flight back to Houston, so in the end he had us conduct our interview with him while he got his photo taken by ghetto-celebrity photographer Jonathan Mannion. As with many things the universe hands you on a silver platter, what at first appeared to be handicap was in fact a serious blessing, because it came about that this portrait of Bun happened to be the very last shoot Mannion would ever stage at his historic Manhattan studio before it was demolished to make room for condos, meaning our OKP TV cameras were on hand to record this little moment of industry history for all time.

We could not be more amped to be sharing this video with Okayplayer's readers today, which just happens to be Bun B's birthday! All things happen in their proper time, kids, and the moral of the story here is: when life gives you lemons, squeeze 'em until they bleed and then put all the profits into Manhattan real estate. Like any great story, however, it leaves you with countless discussion questions and in this case, "The Questions" are: What's it like being homies with Black Thought? What did Nelson Mandela mean to you? Did you color inside the lines when you were a kid? What advice would you give your 21-year old self? And--possibly our favorite--Prince who?  To get Bun's answers (and be a fly on the wall for his historic portrait shoot with Mannion) just press play on the latest episode of Okayplayer TV below:

Videographer: Allison Swank

Sound: Sama'an Ashrawi

Editor: Imani Lindsey