Originally conceived by and for the black American ghetto, rap is a protest music that rejects any form of institutionalisation and authority, a music that is constantly evolving and innovating where the originality is required: if a rapper wants to stand out and make people talk about him, he must bring something fresh and new, a new concept and a new “flow” – the rhythm with which a rapper delivers his lyrics. Hip-Hop is also about attitude, behaviour and dress codes. In Hip-Hop, we find music with DJs who provide the instrumental music on which the rappers deliver their lyrics, but also activities such as dance with breakdance, and painting, with graffiti and tags. Above all, it speaks to the revolutionary history and influence of Harlem’s look, feel, and sound.Rap is above all a sub-branch of Hip-Hop, a movement that is more of a lifestyle, which totally influences those who join up to it. A Great Day in Hip Hop owes a debt to the history of photography in Harlem’s streets-one that Gordon Parks helped pioneer. The common thread throughout all of these photographs is the importance and value of community and collaboration to Harlem’s enduring influence and strength. Brownstones similar to those at 17 East 126th street are seen in images ranging from James Van Der Zee’s iconic 1920s photographs of Harlem’s middle class residents, to Gordon Park’s earliest assignments for Life magazine, which exposed the harsh realities of racism and the black experience in America. On Harlem’s stoops and residential streets aspiring and well known artists, authors, and musicians hung out, exchanged ideas, and met their collaborators. Nevertheless, in Harlem the stoop proudly remained a social and creative space that represented community ties-and regained its influential status over the years. As residents of affluent neighborhoods increasingly began to flee the city in the summer months, a stigma was attached to the stoop as a space for the lower classes. By the late 19th century, as tenement districts became overpopulated, stoops were swarmed by residents looking for communal spaces that enabled them to escape the indoor crowding and heat. Spilling down into the street, these stoops became a kind of social stage for gatherings and impromptu performances. Stoops like the one seen at 17 East 126th Street, were originally designed to add architectural grandeur but also, importantly, to raise the entrance above the horse manure left behind by carriages. This vernacular architecture has become an iconic, familiar backdrop to the neighborhood’s history of creativity, hardship, and community. Over the past century, depictions of this rich history-by photographers ranging from James Van Der Zee (American, 1886–1983) to Gordon Parks-include the landscape of Harlem’s residential streets, in particular its brownstones and stoops. These and other sites speak to the history of Harlem as a cultural capital, which began in the 1920s during a period known as the Harlem Renaissance, when an early wave of the Great Migration led an influential generation of black writers, musicians, and other social figures to establish the neighborhood as a site for innovative, creative production that never ceased. Located one block north of 125th street-known as Harlem’s “main street”-the chosen site for the photographs at 17 East 126th Street was a short walk from several of the neighborhood’s famed cultural spots, from the historic Apollo Theater (founded 1914, located at 253 West 125th Street) to the Studio Museum (founded 1968, originally located at 2033 Fifth Avenue, and relocated to 144 West 125th street in 1982). Significant to the photograph is its location, as well as its evolution over the four decades between the two photographs. The representatives of this new golden age in music overtook the dilapidated brownstone, reclaiming the space for the next generation and bringing it back to life. The 177 participants were assembled, as Editor-in-Chief Sheena Lester later recalled, by sending out “an open call for every artist or figure-old school and new, indie soldiers and major-label chart-dwellers alike-who’d made an unquestionably noteworthy impact on hip hop music and its progress or had ever recorded a rap album.” The participants overflowed from the stoop of brownstone number 17 to the two stoops on either side. Three years later, that block would be transformed by another of Parks’s photographs, this time for XXL magazine.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |