Totally Stockholm 1
Janette Beckman - Salt n Pepa Lower East Side NYC
(1986) Jesse Frohman - “LL”, LL Cool J, Detour Magazine (1990) Charlie Ahearn - Grand Master Flash, Debbie Harry, Fab 5 Freddy, Chris Stein of Blondie and friend (1981) TO THE RHYTHM OF THE BOOGIE, THE BEAT 50 YEARS AGO, A MOVEMENT WAS IGNITED IN A BASEMENT IN THE BRONX. PHOTO EXHIBITION HIP-HOP: CONSCIOUS, UNCONSCIOUS AT FOTOGRAFISKA CHRONICLES THE COLOURFUL JOURNEY FROM THERE TO HERE. Words: Peter Steen-Christensen In the early 1970s, the Bronx in New York had become the ultimate representation of urban decay. This virtual wasteland of neglect housed a community stricken by unemployment, poverty and crime. Average income stood at 40 percent of the American average while youth unemployment ranged between 60 and 80 percent. It was at this period that the neighbourhood caught fire, literally. Between 1973 and 1977 especially, the Bronx was burning. During that time over 30,000 fires were set in the South Bronx alone. On a long hot day in June 1975, over 40 fires raged within a three-hour period. This at a time when New York City was bankrupt. 12 fire companies were closed in the South Bronx between 1974 and 1976. The area was in dire need of fire marshals. And if the old South Bronx housing stock wasn’t lost to fires, it was demolished or sold by landlords to speculators who divided the apartments, increasing the density and limiting space. Young Clive Campbell, and even younger Cindy Campbell experienced a fire too. No proper arsonist was involved, no evil landlord torching the building for insurance money. Instead, their younger brother was playing with matches, lighting pieces of paper he threw out of the window. The wind sent a burning paper back in again, which lit the curtains. In this instance fire fighters could easily combat the flames and put the whole thing out with very little damage. But that’s not why we know of the Campbell siblings. About 50 years ago today, on August 11 to be precise, teenager Cindy threw a block party to raise money for a new back-toschool wardrobe. She creatively made flyers that were distributed among friends to invite them to their West Bronx apartment building. Older brother Clive was going to play records. He dropped the moniker he used for graffiti, ‘Clyde as Kool’, and opted for Kool Herc as his DJ name. Through that particular party, he’s pretty much credited with inventing hip-hop. Not that he had a clue what it was, or what it would become. “We didn’t know what it was, it was just what we did,” says Sascha Jenkins, Chief Creative Office at Mass Appeal and co-curator of the photo exhibition Hip-Hop: Conscious, Unconscious, which traces the evolution of the genre from its early days to today, via a couple of hundred photographs by 57 different photographers. In an effort to showcase the pioneers and catalysts of hip-hop culture, who have often been overlooked or discredited, Jenkins and the other curator Sally Berman also focus on the longstanding contributions of women to the genre. Such as, for example, Sylvia Robinson who produced two of hip-hop’s most pivotal singles, Sugarhill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight and Grandfaster Flash’s The Message. And Cindy Campbell of course. There’s no way to know how music history would have turned out if it wasn’t for her need for a new back-to-school wardrobe. Hip-Hop: Conscious, Unconscious, on display at Fotografiska until 4 February 15