THE GOLDEN AGE OF RAP
Janette Beckman chooses her golden age hip-hop sure shots.
Janette Beckman photographed hiphop in its NYC crucible. Now she remembers the heady days of Kangols and fat gold chains in a new self-curated collection of iconic images.
“Hip-hop was fun, like punk before money changed everything.”
NEWS THAT the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will embrace breakdancing proves what old rap heads knew anyway: the golden age of hip-hop exerts an unusually strong pull on the popular imagination. One of its essential chroniclers was London-born Janette Beckman. Already a noted punk snapper when she saw the New York City Rap Tour in London in 1982, by 1983 she was resident in Gotham, capturing its exploding music scene on film. “There were some very serious things going on, but in the ’80s hip-hop was fun,” says Beckman down the line from NY. “It was still like punk in a way, before money changed everything.”
Her Hip Hop Years: New York 1982-1992, published by select photographic imprint Café Royal Books, presents her archival pick of images of those days. Stars include Salt-N-Pepa, KRS-One and DJ Scott La
Rock, and a young Busta Rhymes, as well as the accompanying portraits of LL Cool J with posse and Public Enemy’s Chuck D. But there are also anonymous rap fans and unknowns among the images, some previously unpublished, revealing deeper detail, not least in its evocation of a vanished, pre-gentrified New York.
“The people I photographed really were not famous,” says Beckman. “It was the beginning of their careers, hip-hop was just starting to marinate. We didn’t have hair or make-up in any of the pictures, people just came with their own personal styles and hip-hop attitude. I’m grateful they trusted me.”
She’s also full of praise for publishers Café Royal, run from north-western English seaside town Southport by main man Craig Atkinson. The publisher specialises in British documentary photography, releasing around 70 word-free, A5 format “affordable, democratic, utilitarian” titles a year. The remit has taken in Madchester, Blitz Kids and ravers, while non-musical examples include holiday camps, football fans, druids and the 1997 Sensation Show. “You have complete freedom to put whatever you want in, as long as you follow the format,” says Beckman. “It’s curated by the photographers, which nobody really does. And I think [the books] are beautiful objects, I really do.”
Having put out collections of her portraits of punks, Mods and NY street life through Café Royal, Beckman is now working on a new set of her images of public protest, from Rock Against Racism onto the anti-Trump demonstrations of 2020. As MOJO calls, she says she recently spoke to Christopher ‘Kid’ Reid from Kid ‘n Play, comedic hi-top fade kings of 1990’s House Party movie. “He was saying, ‘I remember that photoshoot we did, it was so great,’” she says. “He said, ‘You let us be who we wanted to be.’ I guess that’s what happened.”
Get Hip Hop Years: New York 1982-1992 and much more from caferoyalbooks. com. Follow Janette on Instagram at janettephoto