Hip Hop's First Photographer

June 18, 2013 8:19 PM

Old school Hip Hop photographer, Joe Conzo, captured the emerging art and culture of Hip Hop in the South Bronx during the late 70's and early 80's. Conzo's photo archive has made its home at the Cornell Hip Hop Collection, whose mission is "to collect and make accessible the historical artifacts of Hip Hop culture and to ensure their preservation for future generations." Now Scream! is the Collection's first comprehensive exhibition. It runs from April 4, 2013 to February 4, 2014. Conzo's work is part of the exhibition as well.

Some of the groups Joe Conzo photographed:

The Cold Crush Brothers. The Weekend; Fresh, Fly, Wild, and Bold; Live at Harlem World 1981.

Treacherous Three. Feel the Heart Beat; Body Rock.

Fearless Four. Rockin' It.

Grandwizard Theodore and the Fantastic Five. Can I Get A Soul Clap.

In addition:

Charlie Ahearn's Hip Hop movie Wild Style, released in 1982, will be part of the Now Scream! exhibition. Full Movie Vimeo. Better quality YT (5 Parts - the ending is blocked).
P1; P2; P3; P4; P5.

Graffiti artists from that time period (they appear in the movie):

Lee Quiñones. Art | Graffiti | Lee Quinones; Lee Quinones, Fab 5, New York Subway Graffiti from the 70's.

Lady Pink (Sandra Fabara). Graffiti Girl Lady Pink.

posted by TrolleyOffTheTracks (6 comments total)

previously
posted by TrolleyOffTheTracks at 8:22 PM on June 18, 2013 [1 favorite]

Now Scream! is fantastic. See it if you can. The juxtaposition of an exhibit on Lincoln and emancipation in the next room. The breadth of the collection- big and small things. So much great stuff- my favourite section was the collection of early spraypainting paraphernalia from Cap Matches Color.
posted by zamboni at 8:59 PM on June 18, 2013

Outstanding post.

After going through Conzo's outstanding work, I have one question: does anyone know how to do a really great posed band shot anymore? I think not. Not like those guys, anyway. Damn.
posted by kinnakeet at 6:11 AM on June 19, 2013

Oh. My. Fuck! Awesome.

Also, the influence of Disco and Funk basslines in hip hop.... wow.
posted by marienbad at 9:34 AM on June 19, 2013

Where is the rest of the "Old school Hip Hop photographer" YT video? God that was fantastic.
posted by marienbad at 9:37 AM on June 19, 2013

Was getting weird deja vu looking at those photos until I realised that I had seen half of them, drawn in colour in Brain Rot. Good to know Ed Piskor is drawing from some awesome sources.
posted by fido~depravo at 3:32 PM on June 19, 2013