Customer Reviews

Hip Hop Files: Photographs 1979-1984

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Being from this era,this book brings back a ton of great memories.The photos in this book are amazing,so crisp and vibrant.It doesn't seem like it was 2o+ years ago.This book will explain to you what is REAL HIP HOP(MCing,Breaking,Graffit},NOT the garbage they consider Hip Hop today.Looking at these photos it's hard to believe how young we were.Seeing old friends and classmates put a big smile on my face knowing that WE were there when it all started!GREAT book Marty!!!!!!

Indeed, the handsome Book "the Hip-Hop Files: Photographs, 1979-1984" by Martha Cooper serves as a an open and closed door to what seemed a trend to many documentarians during the late 70's and early 80's. It isn't no coinsidence that Coopers photographs document Graffiti art during a period when the NY Art World was exploiting Urban aerosal artists. It is also very clear that she stopped documenting Graffiti when the "trend" ended in 1985. Though Coopers work documents a moment in time when aerosal art was King and Hip Hop was not yet a corporate advertisement, she does come off as an outsider/tourist when asked about documenting Graffiti, "I'm sure wildlife photographers feel the same way" about photographing animals when they run around. There is also the claim, by her publisher and graff-artists that she was the first photographer to document the origins of Hip-Hop. Jamell Shabazz's book "Back in The Days" never made such a claim nor did it need the fanfare that Coopers book fabricated. Jamell Shabazz,like Debra willis, Martin Chambi and James VanDerZee, documented a personal life and environment in New York before and after the trend came and went. Something to keep in mind!

I lived in NYC in the 70's and 80's and witnessed the rise of subway graffiti and the beginnings of break dancing. This book brings it all back -- in a GOOD way. Reading it, you can understand why poor urban kids went to such lengths to make a mark for themselves. No one cared at first but Martha Cooper, who earned their respect and documented their achievements with her fine photographs. This book is a monument to those unsung teenage artists and the photographer who recognized and publicized their talents.

I loved this book! The photographs are powerful, and you can't find anything even close to their documentary quality anywhere else. The text is also interesting and includes quotes from a variety of people--the author, the hip hop performers themselves, and other scholars.

i got this book not long ago,i have alot of graff and hip hop books and this is one of the best.it never drags on for to long on one subject.it has basically put like ten graff and hip hop books into one then they took out the bull###t and left us with one dope book.highly recomemened..

"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

I just bought and read this wonderful book! I read it because I found out one of my old school, friends was on there, Kippy Dee. He was one of the baddest B Boys & a member of the legendary Rock Steady Crew.

Please visit KippyDee.com to give honor to his memory.
Sign the guestbook & send a comment

but if you knew Kippy Dee AKA Rasean, please fill out the contact form & donate your memories of him to his dedication website.
info@kippydee.com
I would recommend this book for all to read and learn what a great Hip Hop culture was born, in those days! I'm so glad I was a part of it!

Anyone who is interested not just in the idea that such an underground culture could exist, but also the history and progression of it should check this out. Much of the text is done through quotes which gives a really great idea of the mannerisms of the people who lived during that era, though it's sometimes hard to get a complete grasp of the ideas that they are presenting.
It truthfully surveys the elements of the Hip Hop culture and gives a nice history to each. A good introduction for anyone who does not know too much but it's also great for anyone interested in learning more.

I have read many, many books depicting the Hip Hop Culture (graffiti, breakin, rap/hip-hop, b-boy'in). None of these books have come close to the pictures and stories captivated by Martha Cooper. I remember when I was in High School and I first heard about Martha Cooper. I read her first publication and I was amazed by her dedication and accuracy. There have been many books that have attempted to capture what Martha has and does.........they are light years away.

As an end note, I received this book as an XMAS present, I finished this book in its entirety in 4 hours. That should explain to how much I enjoyed the book; this one is a keeper for an old school b-boy.

Graffiti art has seen a revival of late. In Melbourne, Nike commissioned several graffiti artists to illustrate cartoony characters in an ambient media tie-in to its "You're Faster Than You Think" TV campaign. In October of 2004, Spiewalk streetwear hosted a gallery exhibition in which a dozen artists - many of them clearly inspired by graffiti or graffiti artists themselves - designed one-of-a-kind parka jackets that were subsequently posted on eBay for a charity auction. That same month, The New York Times Magazine wrote an article about the Web site woostercollective.com, which is a showcase for street art. So what better time than for Martha Cooper, the pioneer (along with Henry Chalfant) of graffiti photojournalism, to throw in her two cents, or subway tokens for that matter. But rather than simply come out with outtakes of her and Chalfant's seminal book "Subway Art" (Thames & Hudson, London), Cooper was clever enough to expand on the graffiti scene in the aptly titled "Hip Hop Files: Photographs 1979 - 1984."

In it, Cooper (along with interviews by Akim Walta) entertainingly chronicles the course of the hip hop movement of the late seventies and early eighties: the graffiti artists; break dancers; hip hop DJs and MCs; the influence of graffiti on the downtown Manhattan art scene; graffiti's transition onto canvas; main media coverage of hip hop; and hip hop's influence on fashion and culture. The photographs are accompanied by interviews, mostly with the participants themselves, which are spoken in a dialect as colourful as the graffiti that dominated the New York City trains of that era.

A large portion of the book is devoted to break dancers, MCs and DJs, which is difficult to capture, in spirit, on paper. Cooper acknowledges this in one chapter ("You have to hear rapping and you have to listen to somebody spinning records") but, even so, the photographs in question don't have the photojournalistic dynamism and artistic merit of a Mary Ellen Mark, Eugene Richards or Larry Fink, which would have helped enliven the acrobatic skills and spinning turntables. Still, "Hip Hop Files" manages to achieve what no other hip hop based book has done to date: to unite the whole of the movement into one coherent package. And that alone makes "Hip Hop Files" worth the fare.

(This book review originally appeared in "Lürzer's International Archive" magazine, Volume 6, 2004)