New York City Rapper RMBDell came up to the farm with his photographers and music crew. None of them had ever seen a sheep or donkey before, but it was a lovefest at first sight.

RMB (Remember My Brilliance) is an NYC correctional officer when he isn’t rapping, and he hopes his music will get him to give up that work. That is universally considered one of the toughest and most difficult jobs on the planet.

RMB has performed all over New York City and some of his work is on YouTube.

RMB (a/k/aMardell Colas) is a sweet and gentleman, and so was his crew. We shook hands about five times, thanking me and Maria me for welcoming him to the farm.

The animals took to our visitors right away. Even standoffish Lulu loved RMB and kept presenting her head for scratching.

Asher and Issachar, our two black sheep, seemed to know exactly what to do. RMB’s next album will be called “Black Sheep,” this the photos.

RMB’s brothers Ray is also our UPS driver right now, he lives just outside of Albany. While delivering a package, he saw our black sheep in the pasture. He asked if his brother and a photo crew could come up and shoot an album cover.

Ray is the only member of the family who has been to the country.

Two photographers shoot Cherokee, and his assistant Rajh showed us their work on Instagram and their iPhones. Cherokee (white shirt) and I talked photography,

He is using a Canon 5D, the same model I just traded in for my Leica.  We exchanged cameras and bored everyone with camera talk.

I took some portraits of Cherokee that I’ll put up tonight or tomorrow. They both did a terrific job of keeping Ashar close and turning towards the camera when he got distracted.

The photo crew to know what they were doing and took some great photos, especially since the setting was strange. Cherokee picked the perfect backdrop, and we all flipped over the Amish Hat RMB put on and didn’t take off again. I can’t wait to see what Moise makes of this.

RMB told me he was going for a sort of country, the farmer looks, and I gave him some straw to chew on suggested he try on my Amish Hat, which is three times his size. He went wild over it, and so did Cherokee.

I sent him homewith my Amish Hat and some sweet corn, which he had never had.

RMB, Cherokee, and Asher, out in the pasture, going over photos. Asher followed RMB wherever he went.

The cultural interaction around the farm was awesome  – a fiber artist, a writer, a rapper, an Amish hat (and carriages trotting by the farm), and people from New York City falling in love with donkeys and sheep.

The afternoon had Bedlam Farm written all over it. We loved having visitors, in a way, this is what we are about.

RMB and Cherokee, his photographer, were very gentle with the animals. It was hard to believe they weren’t around donkeys and sheep all the time. The animals responded by posing as often as they wished and cuddled for as long as people could stand it.

Even though they had never seen donkeys or sheep, they seemed to know just how to approach them, talk to them, and win their trust.

RMB professed to be an intense animal lover. Clearly, he is.

I think we all had a blast on the farm today. When I came out to welcome the crew, I said this was any rappers’ first visit to the farm. I think the bugs and the rain and all the manure gave them some pause about country life.

I was much impressed at the way Cherokee blocked out the photo he and RMB wanted, despite the rain, the animals, the manure, and all the dogs running around. He taught me a few things about exposure. He was always calm and focused.

We joked about the challenges of doing a black and white portrait of an African-American man with a monochrome camera on a cloudy day. He’s focusing his photography on portraits of models and singers, and musicians.

He and I talked for a good while about his job as a correctional officer and how brutal and dehumanizing it is. I hope his dream comes true, and the music gets him to a better place. He’s dead serious about it.

I pushed the idea of a blog on him, it rattled him. He said he didn’t have time.

RMB loved my Amish hat so much he wore it for almost all of his pictures. His gentleness and thoughtfulness touched me. I wish he and Cherokee lived closer, we all just clicked and laughed, and the farm came through, as it has always done.

I have a sinking feeling I’ll never see RMB again, but I hope I’m wrong. We traded cell phone and email data. I admire people like RMB who are pursuing their dreams. They work hard and face long odds.

I loved the feeling of the farm today. RMB He is a good person with a big heart.

I wish him every success and I’ll never forget him either.