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Once Upon A Time Before Crack

16 June 2005 No Comment

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 box 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, 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-70s through the mid-80s, Shabazz’s distinctive photographs reveal the families, the posses, the players, the police, and the prostitutes who made this age extraordinary. 

“I didn’t know the majority of the people I shot, but when I started, I was taking photos of everyone I knew,” Shabazz told The Source. “When I began venturing out of my neighborhood to other boroughs where I didn’t know anyone, I saw the uniqueness in people. I pretty much studied their body language and I would compliment them and say, ‘I see greatness in you.’ Then I would show them my portfolio and they were open. It was just taking a picture and that’s it; I made a point to stress the importance of education, staying off drugs, and planning for the future. When I look at my book, I remember conversations with every one of them. I always left with something positive.” 

And Shabazz has left us with something positive, an uplifting, fiercely self-respecting catalog of urban culture at a time when music, fashion, and lifestyle came together to create Hip Hop, a uniquely American phenomenon that has won the world over, time and again. 

“I got nothing but love for Jamel Shabazz. I did a radio show for twelve years on 89.9 FM and introduced the world to an unsigned NAS, Biggie Smalls, Wu-Tang, Big Pun; and to me, Jamel Shabazz is right up there with any of those artists, artistically and creatively.” – Bobbito Garcia

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