STYLEISKING Posted August 14, 2004 Share Posted August 14, 2004 http://images.amazon.com/images/P/3937946004.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg'> new york post: From Here to Fame Publishing and powerHouse Books have just released “Hip-hop Files: Photographs, 1979-1984,” a collection of shots by famed hip-hop shutterbug Martha Cooper. The book documents the culture both at home and abroad, with insightful quotes by over 70 hip-hop icons, including Fab 5 Freddy, The Rock Steady Crew, Dez aka DJ Kay Slay, Bobbito, Grandmaster Caz, Dondi, Duro, Blade, Seen, Quik, Lady Pink, Run DMC, Afrika Bambaataa, and others from henxs: On the 21 of August Martha Cooper will come to Holland to promote her latest book "HIP HOP FILES." Martha Cooper is considered the first and foremost photographer of emerging Hip Hop culture in New York City. Her new book, HIP HOP FILES--Photographs 1979-1984, makes a significant part of her extensive and unique archive accessible for the first time. will be on tour around europe,so keep your eyes out!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE CORONER Posted August 14, 2004 Share Posted August 14, 2004 cool but id like to see some new school shit tho not a bad book tho id prolly by it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
why write? Posted August 14, 2004 Share Posted August 14, 2004 looks good..old school flavor biatch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STYLEISKING Posted August 15, 2004 Author Share Posted August 15, 2004 Martha Cooper exhibition in Copenhagen from 3rd to 17th Sept about her new book Hip Hop Files featuring all her classic 80's photographs. On the 3rd she will be appearing in person at the gallery and later that night ZebRocSki will do a lecture on hiphop in the 80s followed by a screening of Wildstyle at the FilmInstitute. After the film there is a clubsession at Rust nightclub. More info in danish at http://www.byfornyelse.net/ Looks like this will the sequal after Henry Chalfant visit last summer. newerschool book?look for broken windows!!!!! http://www.graffiti.org/index/brokenwindowscover2x.jpg'> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FR8HOUND Posted August 16, 2004 Share Posted August 16, 2004 definitely, another classic for the shelves... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STYLEISKING Posted August 22, 2004 Author Share Posted August 22, 2004 ”This book is the most definitive schematic look into the origins of a global cultural voice.” LEE "This book is destined to become the Bible for the Hip Hop Nation!!!” PATTI ASTOR "This is Hip Hop culture at its all time best. A monumental photographic achievement for the world. It doesn’t get any better than this!” FAB 5 FREDDY Dear partners, friends & media: after 5 years of seemingly endless work and many ups and downs (EFA bankruptcy...) MZEE Records, as well as Carharrt, Graco & 12 Medien, our partners in this project, are proud to present our first photo book which has already been termed the “Hip Hop Bible” in the U.S. ! You are invited to celebrate the coming release with Martha Cooper, Zeb.Roc.Ski &us!!! Please register via email as capacities are limited. Best regards Christina, Promotion Press Information ZEB.ROC.SKI presents MARTHA COOPER HIP HOP FILES PHOTOGRAPHS 1979-1984 Key Note: HIP HOP FILES— Photographs 1979-1984 shows a selection of early pictures of Hip Hop culture as it emerged from the streets of New York in the 80ies. Facts: 240 pages / 400 colour photos and 50 b/w photos / Format: 300x225mm / Hardcover Versions: German / English / French Price: 39.99¬ Release: October 2004 On the occassion of the book release, author Akim Walta and photographer Martha Cooper are touring through Europe and NYC to present the HIP HOP FILES. We would like to invite you to the presentation to discuss your questions with the photographer and the author and to celebrate with us 20 years of Hip Hop culture in Europe -1984-2004: Programme: HIP HOP FILES—Photographs 1979-1984 will be represented in a multi- media lecture and photographer MARTHA COOPER and Author AKIM WALTA aka ZEB.ROC.SKI will personally answer your questions. A selectio from her pictures will be exhibited and we will also represent some exclusive 8mm- and video footage from the early 80ies. Requests for Interviews please email to: {mailto:promo@MZEE.com }promo@MZEE.com {mailto:var@MZEE.com }Guestlist for Afterparty please email to: var@MZEE.com Website: http://www.hiphopfiles.de From Here To Fame Publishing Vitalisstraße 379 a 50933 Köln Tel: 0049-(0)-221-202 35 33 Fax: 0049-(0)-221-202 35 35 promo@mzee.com { http://www.MZEE.com }www.MZEE.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STYLEISKING Posted August 22, 2004 Author Share Posted August 22, 2004 the tour dates....coming to your town! .......................................................................................... Carhartt presents: HIP HOP FILES -BOOK LAUNCH TOUR EUROPE WITH MARTHA COOPER & ZEB.ROC.SKI INCL. BOOK SIGNING, LECTURE, PRESS CONFERENCE, EXHIBITION & AFTERPARTY !!! 18.08.04: BERLIN / GERMANY 19.08.04: LONDON / UK 20.08.04: MANCHESTER / UK 21.08.04: AMSTERDAM / HOLLAND 22.08.04: COLOGNE / GERMANY 25.08.04: STOCKHOLM / SWEDEN 26.08.04: OSLO / NORWAY 27.08.04: BRUSSELS / BELGIUM 28.08.04: HANNOVER / GERMANY 29.08.04: VIENNA / AUSTRIA 02.09.04: PARIS / FRANCE 03.09.04: COPENHAGEN / DENMARK 04.09.04: BOLOGNA / ITALY 05.09.04: ZÜRICH / SWITZERLAND 08.09.04: NYC / USA Dates (excl. German-speaking countries): 19.08.04: LONDON Schedule: 1.00 pm - 4.00 pm: Time for Interviews 4.00 pm - 6.00 pm: BOOK SIGNING PART 1 At (unit G1) Kingley Court / Carnaby Street / London W1 6.30 pm - 9.00 pm: EXHIBITION AND BOOK SIGNING PART 2: At (unit G1) Kingley Court / Carnaby Street / London W1 9.30 pm - 2.00 am: AFTERPARTY at Ruby Lo / 23, Orchard Street, London, W1H 6HL 20.08.04: MANCHESTER Schedule: 1.00 pm - 4.00 pm: Time for Interviews 4.00 pm - 6.00 pm: BOOK SIGNING PART 1 Magma Book Store / 22 Oldham St. / Northern Quarter / Manchester M1 1JN 7.00 pm - 9.00 pm: EXHIBITION AND BOOK SIGNING PART 2 Northern Quarter Arts Ltd Gallery / 61 Thomas St. / Manchester M4 1NA 10.00 pm - 12.00 am: AFTERPARTY Basement Club / Rossetti Hotel 107 / Piccadilly / Manchester M1 2DB 21.08.04: AMSTERDAM Schedule: 4.00 pm - 6.00 pm: BOOK SIGNING Waterlooplein Market Henxs / Graf Store / St Antoniebreestraat 136 / 1011 HB Amsterdam 9.00 pm - 10.00 pm: PRESS CONFERENCE ELEVEN-11 / Oosterdokkade 3-5 / 1011 AD Amsterdam 10.00 pm - 12.00 am: BOOK SIGNING & AFTERPARTY @ ELEVEN 25.08.04: STOCKHOLM Location: Nitty Gritty Shop / Krukmakargatan 26 / 118 51 STOCKHOLM Schedule: 04.00 pm - 06.00 pm: BOOK SIGNING 06.00 pm - 07.00 pm: PRESS CONFERENCE 07.00 pm: OPENING OF EXHIBITION 26.08.04: OSLO Location: Barbeint / Drammensveien 20 / 0255 OSLO Schedule: 06.00 pm - 09.00 pm: BOOK SIGNING / EXHIBITION 27.08.04: BRUSSELS Location: 34, Quai des Charbonnages / 1080 Brussels Schedule: 18:00: PRESS CONFERENCE 19:00: BOOK SIGNING with Martha Cooper &Zeb.Roc.Ski 20:00: EXHIBITION & AFTERPARTY 02.09.04: PARIS 03.09.04: COPENHAGEN Schedule: 04.00 pm: OPENING OF EXHIBITION at NORSE, Teglgårdsstræde 6a 07.00 pm - 08.00 pm: MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATION 09.00 pm - 11:00 pm: FEATURE FILM 23.30 pm: AFTERPARTY at RUST, Guldbergsgade 8 (www.rust.dk) 04.09.04: BOLOGNA Location: Carhartt Store / Via San Felice 13 / 40100 BOLOGNA Schedule: 06.00 pm - 06.30 pm: BOOK SIGNING 07.00 pm - 08:00 pm: PRESS CONFERENCE 08.00 pm - 10:00 pm: INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEWS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STYLEISKING Posted August 22, 2004 Author Share Posted August 22, 2004 PRESS INFORMATION: ZEB.ROC.SKI presents MARTHA COOPER HIP HOP FILES—Photographs 1979-1984 ”It’s been a long time…” since the individual elements that later became known as Hip Hop found their way out of the Bronx to Manhattan and were sent around the globe as a package to Europe, Japan and the rest of the world. In the early ‘80s you were able to recognize the first signs of this new culture in Europe in form of newspaper articles, music appearances and rap tours. Early movies like WILD STYLE and documentaries like STYLE WARS were shown on TV. The real boom and the spread of its cultural assets took place in the summer of 1984. Hip Hop, including MCs, DJs, writers, and b-boys appeared in numerous TV shows and the music and dancing were everywhere on the streets and in the discotheques, and clubs. Hollywood movies like BEAT STREET and BREAKIN’ catapulted the message into the mainstream media. More than three decades after its birth, Hip Hop has made a quantum jump forward. It’s had, and continues to have, a major influence on global culture and our society, on music, fashion, art, advertising, design, language… Hip Hop has grown to be the most influential youth culture on earth. Description: MARTHA COOPER has the reputation of being the first and foremost photographer of emerging Hip Hop culture in New York City. Her new book, HIP HOP FILES—Photographs 1979-1984, makes a significant part of her extensive and unique archive accessible for the first time. The book documents the beginning of the phenomenon, now known as Hip Hop. The publication of many of her photos in the early ‘80s, disseminated the culture both at home and abroad. Along with the photos are quotes and statements from the people appearing in them. AKIM WALTA aka ZEB.ROC.SKI, well-known German Hip Hop head and founder of MZEE Records, tracked down the subjects in the photos and conducted numerous interviews. Insightful quotes and statements by over 70 Hip Hop icons accompany the shots including LEE, FAB 5 FREDDY, the ROCK STEADY CREW, DEZ aka DJ KAY SLAY, BOBBITO, GRANDMASTER CAZ, DONDI, DURO, BLADE, SEEN, QUIK, LADY PINK, RUN DMC, AFRIKA BAMBAATAA, STEPHAN EINS, RUZA BLUE, MICHAEL HOLMAN, RAMMELLZEE, FUTURA 2000 and many others. ZEPHYR: Hip Hop’s street components emerged from an environment of extreme deprivation and decay in the South Bronx, New York City. The concept of pure invention—of creating something from nothing—was in full effect at the end of the 1970s as graffiti ("borrowed" spray paint), breaking (cardboard as dance floor) and outdoor jams (electricity source: the base of street lights) captured the attention of urban youth, coalescing into new forms of artistic expression. MARTHA COOPER's willingness to travel with cameras in risky areas placed her in the centre of the Hip Hop movement. Her dramatic photos are a testament to her courage to carry her cameras into dangerous areas in order to get the shot. Cooper photographed kids in their own world: playing, exploring, being creative. Fortunately, Martha was at the right place at the right time to document young people creating the music, dance, and art that became known world-wide. She followed people who would one day become icons. The book includes a thoughtful introduction by ZEPHYR as well as essays by CHARLIE AHEARN, PATTI ASTOR, and POPMASTER FABEL, participants in the early Hip Hop scene. "MARTY’s pictures capture the exact moment when Hip Hop travelled from the Bronx uptown, downtown to the Manhattan night-club and gallery scene. The photos and movies were suddenly in the works and "discovered" by the press (through her pictures) and then seen by the rest of the world." CHARLIE AHEARN CHAPTERS: A: INTRO incl. an introduction by ZEPHYR 1: WRITERS 2: B-BOYS 3: DJs & MCs incl. an essay by Charlie Ahearn 4: DOWNTOWN 5: GRAFFITI ART incl. an essay by Patti Astor 6: MEDIA 7: STYLE incl. an essay by POPMASTER FABEL Z: OUTRO incl. an epilogue by ZEB.ROC.SKI Author and contributors Information MARTHA COOPER is a documentary photographer who has specialised in shooting urban vernacular art and architecture for over twenty-five years. Her photos have been extensively exhibited and published worldwide. She received her Diploma in Ethnology from Oxford University, England. In 1967, COOPER returned to the United States and began working at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., before becoming a curatorial assistant at the Yale University Museum. She later went on to serve as a staff photographer for the New York Post for three years before leaving her job in 1980 in order to spend more time photographing subway graffiti and breaking. In 1984, in collaboration with HENRY CHALFANT, she published SUBWAY ART (Thames and Hudson/Henry Holt), the classic book showcases the best painted trains of the era for viewers to study at will, often referred to as "The Bible" by graffiti aficionados. In 1990, her photographs of New York’s painted memorial murals, which were painted for the victims of tragic and untimely deaths, resulted in a book, R.I.P.: MEMORIAL WALL ART (Thames and Hudson/Henry Holt), with folklorist JOSEPH SCIORRA. MARTHA is the Director of Photography at City Lore, the New York Center for Urban Folk Culture. AKIM WALTA aka ZEB.ROC.SKI from Germany is an active b-boy and writer since the early ‘80s and well known in the Hip Hop world for his contributions to its growth, globally. He is author of GRAFFITI ART GERMANY (Schwarzkopf, 1994), and publisher of Hip Hop magazines like MZEE & ON THE RUN. In 1993, he founded MZEE Records, and FROM HERE TO FAME, a Hip Hop network based in Cologne. He is a Hip Hop historian and involved in many projects regarding Hip Hop culture. ZEPHYR is a world-renowned graffiti artist and painter, whose work is part of the permanent collection in the Groningen Museum, Netherlands and the Museum of the City of New York. He is also frequent contributor to Juxtapox and While You Were Sleeping magazines. He is author of the 2001-released book Dondi White - Style Master General (Regan books / Harper Collins). Currently, ZEPHYR is a graphic artist and resides in New Jersey./ Harper Collins). Zurzeit arbeitet ZEPHYR als Künstler und Illustrator in New Jersey. Reactions: ”Like a New York City subway ride back to the early 1980s. This is Hip Hop culture at its all time best. A monumental photographic achievement for the world. It doesn't get any better than this!” FAB 5 FREDDY "Marty Cooper was the first Hip Hop photographer and she remains the best." STEVEN HAGER, author of Hip Hop: The Illustrated History of Break Dancing, Rap Music, and Graffiti ”Forget the limos and the bling-bling and take a ride back to the real deal. This book is destined to become the Bible for the Hip Hop Nation—don't miss the train!” PATTI ASTOR, founder FUN Gallery ”Martha Cooper’s latest book is way beyond Hip Hop. It captures New York, as well as creation, desperation, and exhilaration. Hot buttered popcorn!” BOBBITO aka DJ CUCUMBER SLICE, author of Where'd You Get Those?, columnist for Vibe Magazine "Gripping, broadly documented cultural record of Hip Hop's audacious, street-smart, and hyper-creative early years. Cooper’s photographs brim over with energy, passion, and a raw stylishness. Hip Hop Files is a richly celebratory tribute." GEORGE PITTS, director of photography of Vibe Magazine ”Young'uns who think that Hip Hop is what they see on MTV need to pick up Martha Cooper's Hip Hop Files today. Her beautifully-composed photos put you right in the thick of the action, New York City-stylee, 1979–1984. BILL ADLER, author of Tougher than Leather: the Rise of Run-DMC owner of Eyejammie Fine Arts Gallery "This book is the most definitive schematic look into the origins of a global cultural voice." LEE ”The best of New York street art of the past twenty-five years has been kept alive by the brilliant photographs of Martha Cooper.” JEFFREY DEITCH, Deitch Projects ”Marty's curiosity and insight about cultures world wide has made us all want photographs that teach as well as entertain. Without her unique photographic collection, this culture might have been ignored, overlooked or misunderstood. Marty bravely and tirelessly dedicated herself to recording the Hip Hop world by becoming part of it. Here you have an insiders view.” SUSAN WELCHMAN, photo editor, National Geographic magazine ”Martha is so awesome to have documented our movement and our culture. With all of the obvious photos she took, capturing time and history with every click, I feel her passion for us. Her contribution to the expansion and influence of the urban art form becoming a global phenomenon cannot be understated. Martha Cooper was an (embedded) photographer with the troops on the frontlines. In two words: THANK YOU!” FUTURA 2000 FAQ’s – (Frequently asked questions): Why did Martha Cooper start to take photos of Graffiti? MARTHA COOPER: I was working as a staff photographer for the New York Post. On my way back to the paper, to leave in my film every day, I liked to drive through Alphabet City—Avenues A, B, C, D—and take pictures to finish off the roll of film in the camera. I was interested in what kids were doing when their parents weren’t watching. Since I used to drive through the same neighbourhood every day, the kids recognised me. One day, a young boy named Edwin asked me, ”Why don’t you take pictures of graffiti?” He showed me his little notebook with a drawing in it and then showed me how he’d painted it on a wall. I was fascinated because I couldn’t believe he had actually designed this piece. That was the first time I ever thought about photographing graffiti. You have to understand that when people looked at the trains, nobody really understood what those letters were. They thought they were dirty words. That picture of Edwin was my first picture of graffiti. Edwin asked if I wanted to meet a king and said that he knew DONDI. So we got in my car and he directed me to DONDI’s house in the East New York section of Brooklyn. When we got there, I introduced myself, and DONDI pulled out his piecebook and showed me this newspaper clipping from the Post pasted inside the front cover. It showed one of his throw-ups on a wall in the background of one of my photos with a credit, ”Photo by Martha Cooper.” So my introduction went perfectly because DONDI could see that I was a real photographer who might be able to get his work published. What really drew me in was seeing DONDI and his friends hanging out for hours drawing pieces, making lists of the colours they needed, getting the paint, going to the yards, and painting the piece on the train. I thought this was totally amazing because I had assumed that it was just random. Suddenly, it was like a foreign language becoming clear to me. Then I was completely hooked. I credit DONDI with getting me really interested in graffiti. He defined the language for me and explained all the different nuances of crews, style, etc. He told me which lines to go to and which pieces were running on them. I began to spend whole days standing in vacant lots just waiting for graffiti cars to pass by. I needed more time to do that, so I actually left my comfortable and well- paying job on the staff of the New York Post in order to pursue this. MARTHA COOPER: I wanted to document graffiti art because I have a strong interest in ephemeral art in everyday life—the kind of things you won’t find in galleries. I studied art and anthropology in college and so, for me, this was a natural combination of both. Photographing graffiti was my form of historic preservation. Why did Martha Cooper start to take photos of breaking? MARTHA COOPER: The night of January 21, 1980, I was on the staff of the New York Post and the photo editor sent me up to Washington Heights because they heard on the police radio that there was a riot. When I got there, about 25 little boys, all very young, were sitting inside the police station in the subway. The police had confiscated weapons, markers, and other stuff. It turned out there wasn’t really a riot so the cops let them go. They said, ”Why don’t you explain to the lady what you were doing?” One kid described a kind of dance where they spun on their backs and their heads and said that they battled each other for their T-shirts. After the cops released the kids, I asked for a demonstration and they showed me different moves right outside the police station. I thought this was a great story, so I called the Post editors and said, ”They weren’t having a riot, they were having a dance contest.” But the Post didn’t like the idea. No riot, no story. The dance the kids had shown me was so interesting that I wanted to shoot a story about it, but it was really hard to find anybody who was doing it. It took almost one year to track down some b-boys. Why was Martha Cooper important for the Hip Hop culture? In April 1981, Henry Chalfant and Martha Cooper organised a performance at a place called ”Common Ground” where they invited MCs, DJs, and b-boys to perform while they were showing slides of painted subway trains. It was the first real Hip Hop show downtown. During the invited dress rehearsal Sally Banes, a New York dance writer, interviewed the b-boys for an article in the Village Voice and Marty photographed them. HENRY CHALFANT: "Graffiti Rock" at Common Ground was the first public performance of breaking downtown and it was the first time anybody there or in the media had ever seen breaking. Sally Banes wrote an article about it and that’s how people found out about the performance and showed up there. It was the first article about breaking ever and probably the first time that graffiti, breaking, rap, and DJing were connected under one roof. As a result of our show, Hip Hop became a phenomenon in the eyes of the media. That’s what set it off! MARTHA COOPER: The media found out about breaking on April 22, 1981, when the Village Voice published the cover story about this new dance. I think Henry was important in combining graffiti and breaking with rapping as a Hip Hop package. My photos were important in sending that out to the world. FAB 5 FREDDY: Breaking had already died down a little bit by that time, but when the story about the Common Ground show came out on the front page of the Village Voice, the media picked it up and sort of reignited it, which is kinda cool. FROSTY FREEZE: After our performance at Common Ground, we really started getting publicity. It was our first real show and it was downtown. When I saw my picture on the front page of the Village Voice, I was really excited. This article was the reason BAMBAATAA learned about us 'cause we had mentioned that we got inspired by his b-boys, the ZULU KINGS. Through the show, I got to meet the graffiti writers and all these guys. We made all those connections and things started working out extremely well for us. Why the book has come about: ZEB.ROC.SKI: The agenda for this book was set when we were preparing a special publication about NYC graffiti writer SEEN. For this reason we searched out Martha Cooper to find more photos in addition to SEEN’s. She was really open and helpful. When we were diggin’ in her crates for two days, the idea was born to produce a book with and about Martha Cooper. While cataloguing Martha Cooper’s incredible number of images, we realised that a cultural treasure of the early Hip Hop days had been sleeping in Marty’s files for 20 years. The importance of preserving this invaluable treasure for our culture instantly appealed to us and the concept was born to assemble a complete archive of her pictures, to make them accessible for following generations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STYLEISKING Posted August 22, 2004 Author Share Posted August 22, 2004 RAISING THE BABY INTRODUCTION written by ZEPHYR Hip Hop has grown up. In the beginning Hip Hop was an un-diapered baby—new, fresh, and real. It was pure and had never been analysed, scrutinised, or dissected. It had not been gawked at by outsiders. Best of all, it still existed below the radar, yet to be "discovered.” In a romantic context, Hip Hop’s street components were artistic, youthful expressions, but they emerged from a sobering environment of extreme deprivation and decay (the South Bronx, New York City). The concept of pure invention—or creating something from nothing—was in full effect by the end of the 1970s. Graffiti, with its "borrowed" spray paint; breaking, which used cardboard as a dance floor; and outdoor jams that siphoned electricity from the city’s street lights emerged and converged. Of the endless debates surrounding Hip Hop, the most intriguing one is also the most basic: What is Hip Hop? If Hip Hop were considered to be nothing more than the various art forms or elements, then the big picture would be sorely missed. This perception would be like viewing a box from above and not realising that it is three-dimensional. To muddy the waters further, the issue of how, when, where, and why these components came to be conjoined remains under consideration. I will not attempt to grapple with semantics or cultural analyses of Hip Hop here, nor will I explore whether the confluence of Hip Hop’s original artistic components was organic or contrived. These challenges are better left to scholars, poets, and the original architects of the movement themselves. I will only go so far as to say that Hip Hop is a method of interpretation, a pattern of thought, and, for so many, a way of life. At its core, Hip Hop’s contemporary components are not rapping, breaking, DJing, and graffiti—but multi-culturalism, social activism, and compassion. When Hip Hop first wandered outside the hood, its initial "street elements" garnered big-time novelty- factor cachet and attracted instant media attention. In the early-1980s, when rap music was rapidly making its way onto vinyl and into downtown night-clubs, a number of prescient journalists and photographers jostled to document the scene—with varying degrees of success. The first generation of professional rappers, DJs, and b-boys generally welcomed the media exposure. But graffiti artists, who were extremely adept at the art of self-promotion, were the most likely to avoid photographers and journalists. This was a period of grand adaptation: Hip Hop was being reconfigured and repositioned in strange new venues. But despite the fact that Manhattan clubs and galleries presented graffiti, rap music, and breaking for dollars, the street remained the true home of the movement. As such, pre-existing rivalries and outlaw dispositions remained intact and created an added challenge to documenting the players of this period. The finest photographs to come out of the early days of Hip Hop were taken by a pixieish woman with a mischievous, infectious grin. The photographer responsible was not afforded carte blanche or any other form of special access to the scene. Instead, she relied on her own tenacity, ambition, creativity, and bold determination to go wherever she had to go and do what she had to do to get the shot. That photographer was Martha Cooper. By "getting the shot", Martha—Marty to her friends—did a beautiful job to help raise the baby. Her role was never that of the docile documentarian confined to the sidelines. Quite the contrary—the original push to bring breaking and subway painting to the mainstream has Martha Cooper’s prints all over it. Literally. Her very early association with the ROCK STEADY CREW is documented comprehensively in the B-Boy chapter of this book and I’m grateful for that, since I agreed that I would not use this forum to trace her every foundational link. I will, however, say this: Martha’s unwavering commitment to honour the subjects she photographed is why she is counted among the people who helped make Hip Hop what it is today: the dominant youth culture around the world. The glorious, highly professional Cooper shots of trains rolling through various neighbourhoods (most often the South Bronx) preserve for us the paintings that only existed for a matter of days or, in some cases, even hours. Marty’s shooting process was tough-going. She took many of the train photos from a location that she used regularly for years; an empty lot on Hoe Avenue in the South Bronx that had a wide view of the tracks. After having been notified of fresh pieces by the writers, it was there that she waited—sometimes for more than five hours—for particular cars to roll by. Photographing their ephemeral art on trains was an important part of the graffiti painting process, but some subway painters were more diligent about it than others. Small, often blurry amateur shots of trains were standard throughout the ‘70s. The photos were almost exclusively shot from the opposite side of the tracks in outdoor stations with inexpensive cameras. Writers maintained their photos in albums and traded pictures freely among themselves. In 1980, the impact of a professional photographer—an outsider—documenting graffiti and the graffiti subculture was significant. Of special note among Ms. Cooper’s extraordinary graffiti images is the series of photos that document the painting of the DONDI train, "CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE Part 3." On May 31, 1980, Marty accompanied DONDI to the New Lots train yard. There, over the course of a full moon-lit night, she photographed the entire process of his painting this whole car masterpiece. High quality photos of a graffiti artist at work "behind enemy lines" had never been taken before. This type of exposure showed in stunning detail exactly how a graffiti painter managed to get his art onto the sides of the trains—a process that was a mystery to most straphangers at that time. Martha Cooper’s highly influential book, SUBWAY ART (Thames & Hudson, London) is a collaboration with photographer Henry Chalfant. Released in September 1984, SUBWAY ART showcases the best painted trains of the era for viewers to study at length. The decorated trains are presented in a simple, straightforward manner. While the New York graffiti painters were giddy about seeing their work immortalised, it was the ripple effect beyond the city limits that was most astounding. The book, now in its 16th printing, must be appreciated for what it is: the visual document that spread the aerosol doctrine world-wide. At the time of its publication, the modern graffiti movement was limited to New York and Philadelphia. SUBWAY ART changed all that. As a manual for budding practitioners and a touchstone for veterans, SUBWAY ART’s dramatic influence on graffiti globalisation is widely acknowledged and universally accepted. The great popularity of SUBWAY ART, referred to by many as ”the Bible”, has been unsurpassed by any other book on the subject. To put the book’s popularity and longevity in perspective in the 20 years it has been in print it has outsold nearly every other art book on the market. Here is but a piece of the history and legacy of Ms. Martha Cooper—a quiet, unassuming woman with a very active trigger finger. On a personal note, I have always felt an enormous debt of gratitude towards Marty. When I was an 18-year-old graffitist, her clean, precise images enabled me to see my own train paintings properly for the first time. But this is not the real reason that I feel indebted to her—her humility, grace, and sincerity stand out even above her talent and have always helped to remind me of what is truly important in life. BORN TO SHOOT A BRIEF BIO OF MARTHA COOPER Looking back and reflecting both on that time and Martha Cooper’s personal history, one of two distinct possibilities for her emerged—either reject photography and everything associated with it or embrace it wholeheartedly as a lifelong profession. Suffice it to say, she chose the latter and she became a legend. Marty was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. Her father, Ben Cooper, owned a camera shop. At age 3, when you and I were eating crayons, Marty was shooting photographs. Ben Cooper studied to be a lawyer, but his career plans changed when he was drafted into World War II. When he returned home in 1945, his brother Harry convinced him to become his partner. Together, they opened Camera Mart on Harford Road in Baltimore, one of the last family-owned camera shops still in business today. On weekends, Ben would take his daughter on photo outings. It was on these early excursions that Marty fell in love with photography. "My father would take me on ‘camera runs’ with the Baltimore Camera Club. We’d take pictures down by the harbour and of things like white marble steps—pictorial photographs. When I look back,” Marty says, ”I realise how much my father’s brand of urban photography influenced me." In high school, Marty was the president of the camera club and when the yearbook needed photos, Marty provided them. While in high school, she attended an unusual radical summer work camp in Putney, Vermont with many politically active kids from New York City. And there and then New York City became the city of her dreams. Marty was a gifted student; she was a high school graduate by age 16. In keeping with her accelerated stride, by age 19, she had already earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Grinnell College in Iowa. In 1963, directly after graduating from school, she joined the newly-formed Peace Corps. She was dispatched to Thailand and assigned to work as an English teacher. While there, she became fascinated by the hill tribes and photographed them extensively. "When I heard about the Peace Corps,” she says, ”my first thought was, ‘I wonder if they take girls?’ When I got to Thailand, the teaching part was tough and it was hot all the time. I asked to be transferred to the northern regions where the hill tribes were. I needed something even more exotic. I was stationed on the Laotian border in a village called Chieng Kham. The tribespeople would come into the marketplace and I’d follow them back to their villages. I took photos on colour print film and mailed the rolls back to my dad in Baltimore for processing. Then I’d go back to the villages and share the prints.” In 1965, after two years in the Peace Corps, Marty headed to Oxford University in England to do post-graduate work in anthropology. Before leaving Thailand, she cashed in her plane ticket for an alternative means of transportation and made an unbelievable journey: 16,000 miles across Asia by motorcycle. "I started out by myself and at the southern tip of Thailand,” she recalls. ”I met a Canadian guy, Alfred Menninga, who was also travelling by motorcycle and we decided to go together. We took a small boat to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and drove north through India. From there, we went up to Nepal for fun and continued through Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran. Then, we drove through Russia, around the Black Sea, into Czechoslovakia, and across Europe to England." At Oxford, Marty chose to study ethnology over social anthropology because it included the study of artefacts as she’d developed a strong affinity for folk art and handmade items. "I was very interested in tribal art and artefacts. At Oxford, Dr. K.O.L Burridge, impressed upon me that I shouldn’t isolate the art from its culture,” Marty says. ”He taught me to look at things in their context. For instance, you might admire a certain African woodcarving, but you’re applying your own western aesthetics to what you’re looking at. What’s more important is that it might have been used in a fertility dance or maybe it was only used once and destroyed. If it hadn’t been for Dr. Burridge, I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing today and I send him a card every Christmas to remind him of that fact." Although Marty felt that the camera was an underused research tool, she was repeatedly told that no job description existed for her interests. Nevertheless, she remained committed to finding ways of combining anthropology and photography. After receiving a diploma in ethnology from Oxford, Marty decided to pursue museum work as her vocation. She returned to the States in 1967 and began working at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. From the Smithsonian, she went on to a position as a curatorial assistant at the Yale University Museum. She found the work tedious, but was saved from the boredom when she began dating Stewart Guthrie, an anthropologist who was doing his graduate work at Yale. The following summer, Marty took an internship at National Geographic magazine. When her internship ended, she and Stewart married and Stewart’s fieldwork took him to Japan, where the couple lived from 1969 to 1971. (They have since divorced.) After returning from Japan, Marty and Stewart took up residence in North Kingston, Rhode Island, where Marty took a job as a staff photographer for the Narragansett Times, but her sights were still set on New York City. Two years later, the opportunity Marty had been looking for finally came her way. She was offered a job as a staff photographer for the New York Post. "I was thrilled when I got the offer from the Post,” she says. ”The new photo editor was Susan Welchman—a dynamic, wonderful woman. She took a look around and realised that there weren’t any women on the staff and rectified that situation right away." The Post’s offices were located on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Often at the end of the day, on her way back to the Post, Marty would cruise through the neighbourhood and photograph kids at play. One day, she met a youngster named Edwin who drastically changed the direction of Marty’s work and life. At the time, she was beginning to successfully merge ethnology and photography—the realisation of a long-time ambition. But Martha Cooper’s earliest forays into photographing graffiti occurred entirely by chance. Edwin told Marty that he liked to do graffiti. He said his tag name was HE 3 and he asked Marty if she’d ever photographed graffiti. "Up until that day I had never focused on graffiti. I hadn’t thought that much about it. I saw it, but I had no idea what it said. I didn’t even realise that kids were writing their nicknames,” she says. Edwin and his graffiti writing fit in with the shots of kids at play that Marty was compiling. When Edwin asked her if she was interested in meeting a ”graffiti king,” Marty wasn’t sure what that meant. Was there royalty? She was intrigued. They jumped into her car and Edwin directed them deep into Brooklyn’s East New York section, to the home of a well-known and highly respected graffiti artist named DONDI. DONDI and Marty became friends and over a period of years beginning in 1979, DONDI served as Marty’s official guide to the graffiti subculture. Through their association, Marty gained precious insight to the inner workings of the underground movement. Up until this point, graffiti had occupied background space both in her consciousness and in her photos. But A.D. (After DONDI), all that changed. Graffiti gained a new position—front and centre—in her work and in her life. "Because of shooting graffiti, I happened to be standing at the epicentre of an emerging youth culture that would become known as Hip Hop. Luckily, I had the sense to keep my finger on the shutter." Martha Cooper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STYLEISKING Posted August 22, 2004 Author Share Posted August 22, 2004 Sample text from the book—to be used editorial only in conjunction with a book review or a feature about HIP HOP FILES. HIP HOP: GRANDMASTER CAZ: Hip Hop was born in the South Bronx in New York City. The basic motivation for Hip Hop is self-expression. It doesn’t cost anything. It was free. I sometimes miss the times back in the days; because it were times that we're never gonna recapture. Whenever something is at its essence and beginning, it is pure. There are no special additives to make it marketable or sellable to other people’s taste. You are doing it for yourself. We are way past that point right now!” DURO: Marty truly understood us and she knew how important it was to document the movement. It was the beginning of what turned out to be Hip Hop! 01: WRITING: CRIME 79: The essence of graffiti is bombing—just go and do it! I didn’t even take pictures in the beginning. I wrote just to see my stuff up there. I didn’t even care if anybody else saw it. No one was taking pictures of it, we just did it. MARTHA COOPER: I consider myself a documentary photographer. When I first started shooting graffiti, I wanted to see more than just pieces on a train. I wanted to photograph the art in the context of the urban environment. I looked for different backgrounds and landscapes to capture the spirit and the flavour of the times and the city. BAN 2: When I look at Marty’s pictures, I definitely have a back-in-the-day feeling. That’s when we had our trains, that’s when we had something to look forward to, you know, just a rush to go and do pieces. I’m 40-years-old and, due to the fact that I’m not writing anymore, I must say I miss it. It’s awful, but I don’t see anything bad in this. Writing gave kids something as far as branching out, meeting people. There is no racism in graffiti because we're all brothers and sisters through the paint. MARTHA COOPER: When I began trying to catch graffiti on trains in 1980, the South Bronx was a wasteland. Shops were shuttered, buildings were boarded-up, and there were entire blocks of vacant lots. Few people walked the streets. Except for the sounds of the subway, the place was eerily quiet, abandoned. DEZ aka DJ-KAY SLAY: Me and Martha Cooper was cool. Henry Chalfant introduced us to her. She used to take pictures of mad graffiti pieces and shit and, even though she was a female, she would come in the motherfucking yard, word up! I remember the cops was coming or the train was pulling out and she was running with us with her camera, her bag, and all that shit. She was holding it down. When Marty came with us to the 3 yard, I thought, ”Yo, this is gangsta!” We all had so much respect for her. I would know guys in the hood that wouldn’t ever do what she did. We had a white lady with a knapsack in the fuckin’ 3 yard taking pictures. The whole shit was hot! MARTHA COOPER: The yards were playgrounds for the kids. They ran across the tracks, between cars, and on top of trains. They could swing from the straps, ride on top of the train, or lie on the electrified third rail. They owned the cars, they owned the stations, they felt comfortable.” DAZE: Martha was really hanging out with us a lot. At that time, we were in the 3 yard all the time. I mean, like, 24/7. So we decided to invite Martha to come with us to the 3 yard. She was great! She was climbing up on top of the trains, taking pictures from there looking down. She was climbing all around, you know, like standing on the third rail taking photos. MARTHA COOPER: I think the energy in illegal graffiti was unmatched in the legal paintings. Stealing the paint, sneaking into the yards, and working under a one-night deadline all added to the level of excitement and spontaneity, which made the resulting work much more interesting to me. Maybe that’s my defence of vandalism. The hurdles that the writers had to cross in order to do their art were astounding. It wasn’t only the fear. When we went to the yards, there wasn’t so much fear as excitement and energy with fear mixed in. 02: BREAKING: SALLY BANES: When I first asked kids what breaking meant, they told me, ”It’s when you go crazy on the floor.” DOZE: Breaking, otherwise known as b-boying, is a competitive, warlike dance making the opponent look bad. MR. FREEZE: All I can say is that if it wasn’t for Martha Cooper, our culture would not have been captured in its purest form. Thank God for Martha’s dedication, for her love of our culture. FROSTY FREEZE: For the b-boys, it was just about hearing the music. Somebody would come and say, ”There's a jam in the park!” The only thing that could stop us was the rain or the cops. T-KID: A block party was when they got a permit from the city to throw a party. They got the turntables. They closed off the street so nobody could come in. They'd hook up their system to a light pole illegally and start throwing a jam. The old-timers would bring the Millers and the Budweiser and the kids would be smoking weed. It was real, man. It was real! JOE-JOE: Back in the days, when they used to argue and stuff like that, the aggression was taken to the dance floor. You said, ”C'mon, let’s battle!” FROSTY FREEZE: Real b-boying is outdoors. Doing it inside means being controlled, getting told what to do, being on time, and so on. 03: DJs & MCs: B-BOY ALIEN NESS: When Hip Hop started, it was all about the connection between the DJ and the dancer. It was not necessarily the connection to the b-boys, just the connection to the dancers in general. It was all about keeping that one break going to keep our groove on all night. Hip Hop was all about the music and the dance. DJ TONY TONE: Many people think that Hip Hop started when records started being made. No, it was a couple of years before records started coming out. So I wanna throw my hands up to KOOL HERC, AFRIKA BAMBAATAA, and GRANDMASTER FLASH. EASY AD: Hip Hop, to me, represents many different things. It represents culture, it represents growth, it represents knowledge, and it represents freedom. GRANDMASTER CAZ: MCing is the language of Hip Hop culture. This is how we communicate with each other; this is how I let someone in Holland know what is going on over here in the Bronx. This is how someone in France lets someone in Germany know how they are living and what their conditions are and what they are about. Our tool of communication with each other is the music. 05: DOWNTOWN: MARTHA COOPER: Artists, filmmakers, and photographers were instrumental in bringing early Hip Hop downtown and incorporating it into the existing, if offbeat, fashionable scene. These people, along with academics and journalists, connected the music with the art (graffiti) and dance (breaking)—something that might not have happened on its own. DOZE: The fact that Hip Hop blew up was probably due to FAB 5 FREDDY, Henry Chalfant, Martha Cooper, Patti Astor, and Ruza Blue. Those people brought uptown downtown. CHARLIE AHEARN: Negril was the first regular Hip Hop spot downtown. It was so hot. Bronx legends mixing with rock stars and b-boys all in one tiny place. KOOL DJ RED ALERT: By the time we got to the Roxy, we used to average about 3,500 people every Friday night. All different nationalities and cultures. We exchanged our sounds with all different kinds of music. From there, I had a chance to get on the radio and that's what I've been doing for the last 20 years. MARTHA COOPER: We were attracted to the energy and novelty of Hip Hop. None of us foresaw the ”going global” part. In fact, I thought I was photographing something unique to New York City. 05: GALLERIES: REVOLT: There were a lot of people that were a little stodgy, mostly established artists and the whole art collector community. They were repelled. I think the galleries that were popping up were more excited and more into it because they were looking for something new. They were tired of all the old shit. It was the freshest thing out there and it was right in your face. Everybody was a graffiti artist. DAZE: At the same time, there were a lot of art shows that were happening in clubs, too—just one- night events where people brought paintings down to a big party where somebody was DJing. It is funny when you think about that whole era. I never thought I'd be looking back at it nostalgically. A lot happened in a really short space of time. When you really talk about that particular scene, you are only talking about a few years. Three years, maybe four at the most. But a lot happened in those years. MARTHA COOPER: The writers were celebrities, but they were still doing what they always did, passing around their piecebooks and signing them for each other. These art openings in the summer used to spill out onto the street. Fun Gallery openings were an amazing scene. Crowds of people would show up and the streets were packed. 06: MEDIA: MARTHA COOPER: The early movies and downtown clubs presented Hip Hop as a single unit combining rapping (music), breaking (dance), and graffiti (art). Since head-spins and spray cans were more photogenic than a guy with a microphone, this packaged version instantly appealed to the media largely because of the visuals. In fact, these three elements overlapped, but they weren't intertwined. Graffiti and breaking became sort of rocket launchers for the music, propelling rap to the moon before veering off to other galaxies. FROSTY FREEZE: If there had not been people like Henry or Martha and their work, we never would have become known.” PATTI ASTOR: What’s great about Marty is that she was always there but never obtrusive. I can picture her now in her jeans and sneakers, all loaded down with cameras and film, always smiling, always ready to go. SHARP: Many of the people who write in Europe started because they saw the WILD STYLE poster or the movie that went around the world. I just thought it was cool that I was dealing with something that was that important for the evolution of our culture and our movement. REVOLT: BEAT STREET was a classic example of the Hollywood appropriation, exploitation, and homogenisation of the culture. They tried to sanitise it for middle-America. MICHAEL HOLMAN: Hip Hop has come a long way from small venues on off-nights in downtown Manhattan to nationally syndicated television and world-wide media exposure. GRANDMASTER CAZ: When RUN DMC came out, they really took Hip Hop back to its bare essence: beats, rhymes, some Adidas, a hat, and just turned that into a whole phenomenon. 07: STYLE: BOBBITO: I don’t think anyone could define style back in the days because the style was to define style. There was a parameter that we all stayed in, but essentially, the drive was to be unique. Everyone had their different flavour that they brought to the table. BOBBITO: All throughout Hip Hop style, you're seeing a lot of customising, you're seeing a lot of accessories, you're seeing a lot of style. But all in the absence of money and the absence of availability and accessibility. MICHAEL HOLMAN : I believe ski fashion was important to Hip Hop fashion because it looked futuristic and functional. The future represented promise for inner-city kids who saw the past as a time of oppression. The future is a time for sharpness, clarity, and control. FROM HERE TO FAME COLOGNE – NEW YORK – PARIS – STOCKHOLM FROM HERE TO FAME Publishing is a young, motivated venture run by Hip Hop individualists in collaboration with other independent publishers around the globe, who focus on Hip Hop culture. We connect a diverse group of experts including artists, journalists, authors, and anthropologists who, from their different perspectives, have observed and participated in the development of Hip Hop. FROM HERE TO FAME Publishing envisions the foundation of a Hip Hop museum and cultural centre. We want to communicate the history, evolution, and influence of Hip Hop culture on our society, especially to the younger generations. Our motto is: KNOW YOUR HISTORY! An ambitious project like a museum can only be realised with the support of cultural departments and government, and with the help of dedicated people from the Hip Hop community, students, supporters, and sponsors. Hip Hop Files is the first of many books and projects to come. More will follow and help to pave the way to realise our vision. FEEL FREE TO JOIN US! For any questions or needed material contact us at: From Here To Fame Publishing Vitalisstraße 379 a 50933 Cologne Germany 0049-(0)-221-202 35 31 promo@mzee.com www.fromheretofame.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STYLEISKING Posted August 22, 2004 Author Share Posted August 22, 2004 www.hiphopfiles.de http://www.hiphopfiles.de/pics/slide/rA1000-023.jpg'> http://www.hiphopfiles.de/pics/slide/A1818-014.jpg'> http://www.hiphopfiles.de/pics/slide/A1818-004.jpg'> http://www.hiphopfiles.de/download/saver1_1024l.jpg'> http://www.hiphopfiles.de/pics/chap_pics/writ/HH_FILES_small_page_021.jpg'> http://www.hiphopfiles.de/pics/chap_pics/writ/HH_FILES_small_page_017.jpg'> http://www.hiphopfiles.de/pics/chap_pics/g_art/g_art1.jpg'> http://www.hiphopfiles.de/pics/chap_pics/media/med2.jpg'> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~KRYLON2~ Posted August 24, 2004 Share Posted August 24, 2004 looks like another book to add to the collection Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abracadabra Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 ^^^bump look how clear those flicks are. definate must-have Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STYLEISKING Posted September 3, 2004 Author Share Posted September 3, 2004 http://www.dr.dk/kultur/images/2004/08/lead(373).jpg'> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Winslow. Posted December 21, 2004 Share Posted December 21, 2004 bump... i seen this at the barnes & noble store the other day and had to pick this up. also i got "graffiti world", another great installment to your bookshelf collection Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newwave2000 Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 those 2 books i got. it's a definite must for those who are building a library on graff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STYLEISKING Posted February 20, 2006 Author Share Posted February 20, 2006 zebster doing the hiphop files piece like the classic wild style burner! still a great book,grab that one if you can... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CACashRefund Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 i dont know how anybody liked graffiti wrold, that booked sucked ass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
why write? Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 ^ i agree...there was maybe 2 flicks that i enjoyed.... martha cooper is supposed to be coming out with a book on tags on stickers or something of that matter...anyone hear of this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rare_breed Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 that book my martha cooper is great. i love the pics and it got qoutes from old school heads. definatve worth getting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skirmfirm Posted February 22, 2006 Share Posted February 22, 2006 i hadnt been writing long when i first saw graffiti world and it was very inspiring, having been painting for 2 years i still find it interesting, although there where maybe a few people i think they missed out, like seen for examlpe, werent many old scool heads, KWEST and PRISM own it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AverageWhiteRailfan Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 Originally posted by CACashRefund@Feb 20 2006, 07:14 PM i dont know how anybody liked graffiti wrold, that booked sucked ass Quoted post I FLIPPED THRU IT IN THE STORE AND CAME TO THE SAME CONCLUSION. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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