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These Photos Are A Throwback To New York’s Iconic Hip Hop History

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Nothing beats old school hip hop. While the glory days can't be relived, they can be revisited through photographs.

A selection of photographs from the early days of hip hop are on view now in an exhibition entitled Beat Positive: An Exploration of Hip Hop Culture 1981-1983, which showcases photography from the glory era of rap music, is on at 10 Corso Como in New York City.

On view until February 2, 2020, there are photos of Run DMC, LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys, among others. The curator Shawn Waldron claims that there are for cornerstones of hip hop: Turntables, MCs, graffiti and breakdancing. All of these elements are on view, according to Waldron, the curator of Getty Images Gallery, who is co-presenting the exhibition.

Among the photographs in the exhibition, there are archival shots from the Getty Images archive, alongside the works of Janette Beckman and David Corio, photojournalists who worked for music magazines like NME, The Face and Melody Maker back in the day, who photographed hip hop stars while on assignment. Portraits in the exhibition include Queen Latifah, Salt 'n' Pepa and Slick Rick, as well as Whodini and Grandmaster Flash.

The period of the exhibition, from the 1980s through the early 1990s, details a time when hip hop grew from something local, in New York, to an industry that spawned a global movement of music videos, streetwear, booze brands and million-dollar record labels that led to the multi-million dollar industry that hip hop is in popular music today.

The exhibition features a shot of Grandmaster Flash – a hip hop pioneer who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work with the Furious Five – performing in London in the 1980s, taken by Corio. Corio also shot Biz Markie wearing an enormous-sized bling around his neck, rap group De La Soul outside the Apollo Theatre in Harlem and a shot of DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, long before Will Smith's acting career took off. Among the photos taken by Beckman there is a shot of Queen Latifah, a photo of Keith Haring, and shots of MC Lyte – one of the first female rappers – alongside Master T, Big Drew and K Rock, while in Brooklyn.

“The opportunity to work with photographers Janette Beckman and David Corio is a dream come true," said Waldron. "Their authentic portraits shot in New York and London between 1981 and 1993 are a time capsule to the days when hip hop, graffiti and b-boys truly went global. Their pictures showed the world the faces (and fashions) behind this incredible musical culture as it burst from the streets of New York.”

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