“"...they didn't have any money to buy designer clothes, so, they basically had to invent/design their own. It was a revolution."”

~ Beckman

By Abigail Bruley  |  Send to Friend

You may not remember, but there was a time when hip-hop artists, emcees and DJs had no marketing department, no stylist and no white parties. British music scene photographer Janette Beckman knew, when she moved to New York City in 1982, that she had stumbled into something special. She captures the very beginnings of hip-hop and graffiti in all of its stripped-down glory, from Slick Rick to De La Soul, sweat suits to fedoras and all the gold in between.

AB: What do you see as the biggest difference between hip-hop artists back then and the hip-hop artists of today? Is there a different message?

JB: I think the hip-hop artists back then were inventing an entirely new genre of music, fashion, style, art, dance, poetry -- it was kind of like a renaissance movement in music -- that came from the streets, from the social situation, from the ecomics and racism that they grew up with -- and they didn't have any money to buy designer clothes, so, they basically had to invent/design their own. It was a revolution. Nowadays, hip-hop artists have stylists who give them their look, record companies that tell them what they should perform, large corporations that sponsor them and the help of TV and the web to promote themselves.

AB: Did you have a favorite person to work with?

JB: Well, I worked a lot with Salt-n-Pepa -- they were always real cool and lots of fun, stylee girls with so much energy -- smart and funny, and rockin'.

AB: Was there a major difference between shooting punk groups in England like the Clash and hip-hop groups in the U.S.? Was there a change in energy?

JB: A lot of the punk groups like the Clash were coming from a working-class political "fuck the system" rebellion standpoint, which was very much of the time in the UK when there was no hope of getting a job, the economy was terrible. When I arrived in NYC in 1982, there were a lot of economic woes here too -- especially for black people -- so, in a way, they were dealing with similar problems. I think the main difference between the U.S. and the UK was that in the USA everyone somehow believes that one day they could make it, whereas, in the UK, there was still the class system. If you are born working class you will always be working class. In the U.S., there is much more hope -- which is perhaps why a lot of the early hip-hop artists seem to be having fun with their music and had a wild kind of upbeat energy.

AB: Where do you think the breakdancing/hip-hop style originated from? How did it influence hip-hop style today?

JB: It came from the streets, invented by people who had nothing and (much like punk in the UK) they were making it up as they went along. Also, obviously the African influence is very prevalent -- and I loved the fake Gucci, Louis Vuitton-styles that came out of Harlem -- seemed like you didn't need to be rich to wear gold and designer -- it was for everyone.

AB: Anything you can tell us about an artist or artists you shot that people would be surprised to hear?

JB: The most 'gangsta' artists were the most polite.

 

Writer and Illustrator Abigail Bruley has the same Fendi bag as Slick Rick.