Hip-hop and Halloween don’t necessarily seem like a natural fit. But when local urban artist/graphic designer Eric Nine and Studio 8 photographer Mike Moore began bridging the gap between monsters and MCs by manipulating photos of rappers, DJs, rock musicians, writers and other creative-minded locals, a beast was born.

• Mike Moore
• Eric Nine and his beast

Featuring black-and-white images of local artists such as DJ Kemit, Coathangers drummer Stephanie Luke, journalist and beer connoisseur Dennis Malcolm Byron (aka Ale Sharpton) and rapper 4-Ize, all turned into classic monsters and mythological creatures, the collaborative efforts of Nine and Moore have resulted in a Halloween-themed art show called I’m A Beast.

Taking place the night before Halloween, the opening party will feature performances by DJ Kemit, 4-Ize, Kaos and Floyd the Locsmif, as well as appearances by the artists and subjects and other creatures of the night. Limited edition prints and T-shirts will be available from Nine’s own Vintagelimited.com, as well the 12 pieces of art depicting some of Atlanta’s finest creative talents as mad scientists, mummies and other ghouls.

Nine, Moore and Byron took a moment to talk about I’m A Beast before the month-long show opens this weekend.

How did the I’m A Beast concept come about and how did you all get involved?

Moore: I met Eric when we collaborated on what became the first in the I’m A Beast series with my man 4-Ize for his Illuminated Animals album cover. We shot the image, Eric took it and did his thing, and it was an instant classic. From that, we got the inspiration to continue the series, finding different creative people with different talents in Atlanta and transform them into these ultra evil characters or show them in a light most people probably wouldn’t expect from them. I loved the idea when Eric presented it to me, so we just ran with it.
It was just like minds coming together. Me and Eric just clicked instantly. We’re both creative people with similar ideas who think a lot alike. To be able to give back to the creative community in Atlanta was one of the strong points of this whole event and concept.

Byron: It was such a pleasure and learning experience to be one of the beasts looking in and seeing it actually go throughout the whole creation of it. To see how well Mike directed them to be these monsters, and to see what Eric did with all that, it was phenomenal how these guys turned people into monsters. It’s a beautiful idea and really embraces the talent that Atlanta has. And it’s an honor to be commemorated for being a writer by him making me a beast.

• Mike Moore/Eric Nine
• Dennis Malcolm Byron (aka Ale Sharpton) as the Mummy

Are monsters normally part of your work or did you do that just for this show?

Nine: In the light that the monsters are being shown, it is definitely unique to this show. I wanted to keep the images black-and-white and I wanted it to have this classic monster vibe. Me and Mike decided a long time ago we were going to do this on Halloween. We’ve actually had the idea for a while and this is the only time you’re going to see me doing this type of stuff. If I do more monster shows, it will definitely still be under the I’m A Beast label. I definitely consider myself a spiritual person and I know there’s more to life and existence than what we see, so I think everybody has an alter ego and inner energies and strengths that they call on when needed.
I live in an imaginary world. I’m probably the closest thing to a living cartoon you’ll ever meet. So everything I do is very imaginative and from fantasy. I try to keep the subject matter related to real life, but you’re never going to see me doing something that looks like a real scene without switching it up one way or another.
The monster thing just worked out perfectly. The main motivation was making it a tribute to other creative forces here in Atlanta and everybody that I included in the show, I respect in so many ways and I look at them as beasts at what they do. If I ever needed anything in that genre, I would go to any of them first for it.

How did you go about choosing which monster each person would portray?

Nine: The whole I’m A Beast idea sprung off of something I was doing for someone else. They didn’t show any interest, but I loved the idea, so I kept it. But once me and Mike committed to doing it, we took a lot of time deciding which monster each person would be. 4-Ize was the first one and my focus with him was his mouth because he’s a rapper and he’s a witty character. So I made his mouth all crazy.
After talking to Dennis and finding out that he writes about beer, he gave me some history on where beer came from and the whole ancient Egyptian vibe, I was like, “We’ve got to do a mummy.” Then with Kemit, he’s like a chemist, a mad scientist, mixing up the good shit for your ears. So he’s naturally the mad scientist. We’ve got D.R.E.S. tha BEATnik, who is known for his hat. So I just thought it would be cool to show what’s under his hat and I had this vision of him with this grave scene bursting out of his hat. With all of them, we tried to stay true to their characters and personalities. And with a lot of them, we talked to them and said, “What monster are you?” and some of them knew what they were.
The title of the show is I’m A Beast, but the last thing I wanted to do was make people think that I’m coming out saying that I, Eric Nine, am a beast at what I do. These are people that are beasts at what they do, that’s why Mike and I didn’t include ourselves. We wanted to keep the focus on the underground scene of Atlanta that keeps the city thriving, keeps people motivated to come out for good music, good visuals, good writing. It’s all the things I fell in love with when I came to Atlanta. It was very inspiring to me and I’ve got to give it back to everybody involved in the underground scene in Atlanta. The rock, punk rock, rap, DJs — I’ve fallen in love with so many things about Atlanta that I wanted to give something back and kind of plug myself into that scene.
As we continue to do these events, we’re going to continue trying to get rid of the segregation with different genres of music. It’s not about a type of music, but a type of energy and feeling that we’re looking for. And it’s that real feeling that you can’t explain, you can just feel. We’re mostly about people doing their thing for the sake of self-expression.

• Mike Moore
• Limited edition I'm A Beast T by Nine's own Vintagelimited.com

How much of what we’ll see in the finished work was part of the original photograph and how much did you add after the fact?

Nine: Once we had the right people and had decided what we wanted to turn them into, we brought props and told people to bring whatever kind of attire they might need. We shot all the shots at Studio 8 and Mike and I directed them to get the beasts out of them. Mike had Kemit screaming at the top of his lungs so loud it almost scared me. Then Mike would show me the images he was happy with and I would take them back to the lab and do what I do with Photoshop, airbrushing and just tweaking it until I was happy with it.

I’m A Beast opens Oct. 30, 9 p.m. $5; free before 11 p.m. The Sound Table, 483 Edgewood Ave. 404-835-2534. www.ericnine.com. www.studio8atl.com. www.alesharpton.com. www.thesoundtable.com.