They were dreamers on the come-up before the spotlight found them.

The portrait series titled The Ascension Years unveils the largely unseen archive of photographs, captured during the 1990s by British photographer and documentarian Tee Max.

Three decades in the making and selected from accumulated works, chronicling hip hop and R&B’s rise to mainstream prominence, these portraits show artists before the world knew their names, as they carved their place into music history.

About the Artist

The photography journey of Alder White, more commonly known by his contemporaries as Tee Max, began with a trip abroad, aged 11. A camera loaned to him by his mother offered a new outlook on the world.

By the early 90s, he would be shooting for urban lifestyle magazines and documenting the rise of iconic names of the time, while also capturing the spirit of London’s vibrant youth scene. Three decades on from that…