A Time Before Crack [Hardcover]

Jamel Shabazz (Author), Claude Grunitsky (Author), James Koe Rodriguez (Author), Charlie Ahearn (Author), Terrence Jennings (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2005

“Deeply unpretentious and undistracted by the trendy new aesthetics or technologies, Mr. Shabazz is the best kind of photojournalist: one driven simply by curiosity about other human beings.”
—Ken Johnson, The New York Times

Once upon a time before crack, inner city communities were blighted by poverty and unemployment—but not by the drug wars that tore families apart, destroying lives with needless violence and mindless addiction. Once upon a time before crack, pride and style were as inseparable as a beatbox and mixtape, or as a pair of shoes and matching purse. Once upon a time before crack, Jamel Shabazz was on the scene, working the streets of New York City, capturing the faces and places of an era that have long since disappeared.

Best known as Hip Hop’s finest fashion photographer for his blockbuster best-selling monograph, Back in the Days (powerHouse Books, 2001), Shabazz revisited his archive and unearthed an extraordinary collection of never-before-published documentary photographs collected for his third powerHouse Books release, A Time Before Crack, a visual diary of the streets of New York City from the mid-seventies to the mid-eighties, Shabazz’s distinctive photographs reveal the families, the poses, and the players who made this age extraordinary.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Following up on his powerHouse titles Back in the Days (2001) and Last Sunday in June (2003), Shabazz delivers another set of photographs taken of nascent hip-culture circa 1979-1985. Nearly all of the 150 photos here are individual or group portraits; most are of young people in the streets; all reflect Shabazz's extraordinary rapport with his subjects-even when the latter are striking a defiant pose. The book offers a panorama of New York's African-American style of the era: Puma-hatted men with over-sized glasses, women in tight demin with white stitching, kente-clothed women, giant boom boxes, light brown glossy leather and painted denim jackets, big gold chains and earings, tiny shorts-and even a kind of Izod-Lacosted formality the pervaded the scene before the absolute dominance of athletic wear. As far as the title's implication of a more innocent time go: it's indeed impossible to anticipate the coming effects of crack on New York from look at these pictures, and ways in which Shabazz's subjects face the camera does feel less mediated than what he might get now walking down the street in Bed-Stuy, making this book a multi-layered time capsule. Also included are essays by Wild Style director Charlie Ahearn and photographer Terrance Jennings, an introduction by TRACE magazine editor-in-chief Claude Grunitzky and an afterword by artist James "Koe" Rodriguez.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Jamel Shabazz is the author of Back in the Days (powerHouse Books, 2001) and The Last Sunday in June (powerHouse Books, 2003). His photographs have appeared in publications including The Source, Vibe, TRACE, Flaunt, Mass Appeal, Jalouse, Black Book, OneWorld, and Honey. Shabazz’s work has been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum of Art and the Kravets/Wehby Gallery, New York; by Kangol at the Dazed & Confused Gallery, London; by adidas and Lodown at adidas Originals, Berlin; and in Trace’s True Signs, Paris. His debut book, Back in the Days, has received astounding critical acclaim and commercial success since its initial release in January 2001. Shabazz was born in Brooklyn and lives in Long Island, New York.

Claude Grunitzky is chairman and Editor-in-Chief of TRACE magazine and chairman of TRUE Agency, a specialized advertising and marketing shop partnered with Omnicom’s TBWAChiatDay.

James "Koe" Rodriguez is an artist, writer, and faithful hip-hopper. His latest project is a documentary film on legendary New York photographers Ernie Paniccioli, Jamel Shabazz, and Joe Conzo titled 1 LOVE.

Charlie Ahearn is the director of the classic, 1982 Hip Hop movie Wild Style. He is the coauthor of Yes Yes Y’all (Da Capo, 2002) and currently hosts an eponymously named Internet radio show on wps1.org.

Terrence Jennings’ photographs have been published in TRACE, The Source, The New York Times, The Observer of London, and Black: A Celebration of a Culture (Hylas, 2004).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: powerHouse Books; First Edition edition (June 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576872130
• ISBN-13: 978-1576872130
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 0.8 x 10.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #373,666 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What we're gonna do is go back...way back, back into time, October 25, 2005

By 

Kool DJ Law "Boodah Brothers" (Newport News, Va, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Time Before Crack (Hardcover)

If you were born between 1965 and 1975, this book will take you back to many forgotten memories. It is all at once an ode to fashion, an ode to attitude, and an ode to hip hop culture in its original form.

Pictured here are the days when the budding hip hop culture was special. Hip hop fashion and style had yet to escape the boundaries of the hood, and here we see ourselves in all our "fresh" glory.

The Puma sneakers with fat laces. The black goose "bomber" jackets. The sheep dog coats. The safari Kangol caps. And of course the Cazals...in every color. Its all here. This is a trip down memory lane that will surely make you smile.

Jamel Shabazz was at the right place at the right time with his camera to capture the essence of hip hop culture in its infancy. This is as much a nostalgic book as a historical document to a time long gone. It was a time when being cool didn't necessarily mean being "thug", it was just...cool.

Shabazz is an absolute master at capturing the raw grittiness of urban life while still showing the fun side. "A Time before Crack" is a necessary testiment to cultural evolution and is a must have for anyone that came of age in the hood in the late seventies and early eighties.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Word Up!, April 12, 2006

By 

Mekisha Hugh Hampton "Quintessence that Zeta!" (Jamaica, The Bronx and now in Alabama) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Time Before Crack (Hardcover)

Okay...I'm only 30 but I was a little kid during this time period and I grew up right in the Boogie Down Bronx (South Bronx). I remember going to the skate key, seeing my uncles rocking sheep skin coats, addidas with the fat laces, Gazelle glasses. Seeing the birth of the Rap/hip hop game right before my eyes...from Curtis Blow, Luv bug Starski, to Kool Herc. This book will bring back things to your memory that will bring a warm feeling to your heart. This was the best time of my life and I wish I could go back...but now I can by revisting the pages of my life in this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars too sick!, April 8, 2010

By 

Vanessa D. Stevenson "kid nessa" (city of angeles CA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Time Before Crack (Hardcover)

i loved a time before crack!!! the author really captures the essence that was the 80's. though the book is mostly pictures i read so much more into it, not to mention the photos he took were great! i recommend this book for fans of the 80's era or if u just wanna know what it was like before that lil think called crack came and ruined everything.