In one way or another these books have documented the Birth of our cultural lifestyle. You will enjoy the history these books provide, from early stages of skating, Bombing, B-boy, and just being FLY! Each book will give a glimpse in different worlds, that in the end collide to give birth to this lifestyle. Just a quick read and you will understand. Thanks to all those who made these books possible and a MUST have!! Be Sure To Stop By The Shoppe to get your copy!
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Back in the Day:by Jamel Shabazz (Photographer), Fab 5 Freddy (Introduction), Ernie Paniccioli. Shabazz's photographs celebrate the "cool" style of early hip-hop culture between 1980 and 1989. Though his work is firmly rooted in the tradition of urban street photography, Shabazz here shows his subjects striking a pose and staring straight into the camera. The resulting images become less documentary and more yearbook-like in style. At first viewing, the clothes and posturing seem almost ridiculous, until we remember the excesses of the 1980s. By comparing the styles and attitudes of this bygone era to contemporary hip-hop culture, Ernie Paniccioli's essay places Shabazz's photos within a historical and social context..
Where'd You Get Those? New York City's Sneaker Culture 1960-1987: by Bobbito Garcia. The first of it's kind, the lavishly illustrated and remarkably comprehensive, Where'd You Get Those?, is an insider's account that traces New York City sneaker culture back to its earliest days. Describing how a small and dedicated group of sneaker consumers in the 70s and early 80s proved instrumental in establishing current corporate giants like Nike and Adidas, aficionado Bobbito Garcia writes with the exactitude and affection that only a true believer could bring.
Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists: Talk about addictive: Rap Lists will run your life for at least a week after you break the spine. You'll ask it for permission to leave the crib, the way Richard Pryor had to ask his pipe. The wealth of historical detail is staggering...It's a hip hop history that picks up the challenge that hip hop has been posing to the rest of the pop world for the last twenty years.
Ricky Powell:New York City. Ricky Powell, best know for his hip-hop photography and escapades touring with the Beastie Boys. His site features photographs from his second book, The Rickford Files.Due to be published by St. Martin's Griffin in mid-2000. The site also features articles by and about Powell which have appeared in various media throughout the past ten years. Video clips from Powell's TV talk show, Rappin' with the Rickster, will be added to the site early next year.The new photographs include many never-before-seen photographs of rap artists (Run-DMC, Easy-E, Slick Rick, Beastie Boys and others).Ricky Powell is a photographer and writer from New York City. He has contributed to The Source, Vibe, Grand Royal, Paper, Ego Trip, Popsmear, High Times, and many other magazines. He co-hosts a weekly radio show and has hosted his own Public Access cable TV show, Rappin' with the Rickster. His first book, Oh Snap! was published in 1998 by St. Martin's Griffin.
HAWK: OCCUPATION: SKATEBOARDER: He went pro at the age of 12; is credited with inventing nearly 80 tricks; won 73 contests in the course of his career; started his own (now multi-million dollar) company in 1992; had a PlayStation game named after him; reportedly rakes in over $1 million a year in endorsements (from The Gap, to Mountain Dew, to the "Got Milk?" campaigns); and during the 1999 X-Games, became the first man ever to land the 900° (that's a 900 degree aerial spin on a vertical ramp…I did my homework). As if this weren't enough, Tony Hawk can now add author to his already ridiculously long list of accomplishments.
In the early 1970s, the sport of skateboarding had so waned from its popularity in the 1960s that it was virtually non-existent. In the Dogtown area of west Los Angeles, a group of young surfers known as the Zephyr Team (Z-Boys) was experimenting with new and radical moves and styles in the water which they translated to the street. When competition skateboarding returned in 1975, the Z-Boys turned the skating world on its head. Dogtown - The Legend of the Z-Boys is a truly fascinating case study of just how an underground sport ascended on the world. These are the stories and images of a time that not only inspired a generation but changed the face of sport forever.
The Graffiti Subculture: Youth, Masculinity and Identity in London and New YorkBy Nancy Macdonald: This book is the most extensive contribution to our understanding of the graffiti subculture to date. Using insights from ethnographic research conducted in London and New York, this book explores the varying ways young men use graffiti to construct masculinity, claim power, and establish independence from the institutions which define, and often limit, them as young people. Forging a link between subcultural practice and identity construction, this book will be essential reading for anyone interested in new understandings of youth and their subcultures
Graffiti NYC: By Hugo Martinez: New York City is where the quintessential contemporary people's art of graffiti was born. The top "writers" go "all city" when their tags can be seen throughout the five boroughs. This exhilarating selection of their work, assembled by Hugo Martinez, a leading authority on the history of street art in NYC, takes the reader on an "all-city" tour of New York, displaying the extraordinary range of its taggers and bombers. More than two hundred photographs showcase the artwork of the most prominent names of the past five years, including CASE 2, KEZ, MÖSCO, SKUF, VFR, and MQ. As graffiti comes to be embraced as a medium in its own right, its most important practitioners in NYC confirm the power and creativity of this vital contemporary language.
Dondi White Style Master General: The Life of Graffiti Artist Dondi WhiteBy Andrew Witten, Michael White: "In the beginning, there was the Word. On the streets and in the yards, the word was the Name. And the name was everything. It was persona and place, form and content, truth and fiction. The name was an act of self-invention, a pure visual manifestation, through alter ego, alias, and nom de plume, of personal expressions in the public realm. The name was a line and the line begat the Mark. Then, in the great style wars toward the end of the second millennium, medium, meaning, and message were joined in a golden era where the name became the source and signifier of Style. And when the name became wild style, the word was Dondi."
