Dimensions
238 x 287 x 26mm
In the early 80s, suburban America first laid eyes on Run D.M.C. and boogied to the beat of the Sugarhill Gang, but gang leaders and hustlers in outer-borough New York had been delighting in hip-hop beats for years – beats that would be sampled by virtually every other major hip hop artist to follow in their fat Adidas footsteps.
Born in the Bronx presents the previously unpublished work of first hip-hop photographer Joe Conzo, the improvisational artwork of street flyers, playbills, and album covers of that era, interviews with funk fathers such as Tony Tone and Charlie Chase, plus a CD of rare recordings first captured on vinyl by such rap legends as Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, Cold Crush Brothers and Grand Wizard Theodore.
Why one of the most powerful pop cultural influences in the world has its origins in the harsh ghettos of 70s Bronx is a fascinating enigma, one that musicologist Johan Kugelberg has painstakingly researched for the last several years of his life. His efforts to track down records of a movement that never really had its eye on posterity, as well as photographs lost for a time in a crack addict's grandmother's basement make this a truly experiential introduction to an incredibly explosive and experimental period in music history.
