Joe Conzo was born February 6, 1963 and raised on the streets of the South Bronx.

During the late 70's as a young man, he had the passion to always carry his camera. He literally captured the birth of a culture that would change the world forever. He is recognized by many pioneers of the genre as “Hip-Hop’s First Photographer”.

Having gone to school in the South Bronx High with members of The Legendary Cold Crush Brothers, Joe was part of the original scene. He would become the group’s photographer.

Those photos and many others would soon grace industry flyers and posters helping to make the spread of Hip-Hop official. In addition to the Cold Crush, he documented other luminaries like DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Melle Mel, Busy Bee and legendary groups like the Treacherous 3 and Fantastic 5 to name a few. He worked inside the landmark venues of the The T-Connection, Harlem World, Ecstasy Garage and The Roxy to record some of the most candid moments of the emerging art form.

His work is not limited to hip hop. Being the grandson of the late "Hell lady of the Bronx" Dr. Evelina Antonetty and son to the ‘confidant and historian’ of late "King of Latin Music" Tito Puente, Joe Conzo, Sr., gave his young son access to some of the most influential names in the world of Latin Music. Salsa greats like Hector Lavoe, Tito Puente, Celia Cruz and Johnny Pacheco were brilliantly shot as they shaped the face of Latin Music.

You can see his historic images grace VH1, VIBE, The Source, Hip-Hop Connection, Urban Hitz, Hip Hop Immortals, Yes, Yes, Y’all and featured at the prestigious “Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture” in New York and Born In The Bronx exhibit at London’s Vinyl Factory.

Sedgwick & Cedar is proud to have Mr. Conzo as their photo historian and special event photographer. Ray Riccio states… “Joe’s work has received critical acclaim for capturing the true essence of the culture. It is amazing to have the first photographer of Hip Hop, still shooting the actual Father of Hip Hop, DJ Kool Herc some 30 years later. Talk about people that made & witnessed history”.

- Supporting Material provided by James “Koe” Rodriguez

Martha Cooper

Martha Cooper is a renown documentary photographer who has specialized in urban vernacular art and architecture for more than twenty-five years.

In 1984 Cooper published Subway Art in collaboration with Henry Chalfant, often referred to as “The Bible” by graffiti aficionados.

Hip hop culture emerged from an environment of extreme deprivation and decay in the South Bronx, New York City. The concept of pure invention—of creating something from nothing—was in full effect at the end of the 1970s as graffiti (“borrowed” spray paint), b-boy breaking (cardboard as dance floor), and outdoor jams (electricity source: the base of street lights) captured the attention of urban youth, coalescing into new forms of artistic expression.

Martha Cooper was dedicated to capturing the essence of the creativity oh Hip Hop. Cooper followed people who would one day become icons: the Rock Steady Crew, Fab 5 Freddy, DURO and DONDI, LADY PINK, and Afrika Bambaataa, to name a few. She would spend hours at night, alone in the South Bronx train yards to capture a single photo of a train painted by Phase II, Blade or another Graffiti king.

Her recent book, Hip Hop Files: Photographs 1979–1984, makes a significant part of her extensive and unique archive accessible for the first time.

“Marty’s pictures capture the exact moment when hip hop traveled from the Bronx uptown, downtown to the Manhattan nightclub and gallery scene. The photos and movies were suddenly in the works and (through her pictures) “discovered” by the press and then seen by the rest of the world.”
—Charlie Ahearn

Charlie Ahearn

Charlie Ahearn is known as the “First Director of Hip Hop”.

Charlie Ahearn was in the Whitney Museum Program in New York in 1973. In 1979, he directed a super 8 kung fu movie, The Deadly Art of Survival filmed in The South Bronx.

In the summer of 1980, Ahearn began working with Fred Brathwaite “Fab-5 Freddy” and Grafitti King, Lee Quinones and Sandra PINK Fabara on the first Hip Hop motion picture and cult hip-hop classic Wild Style. Released in 1982, Wild Style captured the hard core South Bronx scene at its birth. The stars of Wild Style form the pantheon of hip hop’s pioneers: DJ’s Grand Master Flash, Grand Wizard Theodore, D.St.; MC’s Grand Master Caz and The Cold Crush Bros, The Original Chief Rocker Busy Bee, Double Trouble, Fantastic Freaks and RAMMELLZEE and bboy champions The Rock Steady Crew. While the legendary subway artist LEE Quinones and the queen of the graffiti scene,. Graffiti Masters DONDI, ZEPHYR and DAZE also bombed for the movie.

His work is not limited to film. His critically acclaimed book Yes Yes Y’all (published 2002) is a landmark master piece about the oral history of Hip Hop’s first decade. It allowed the creators of hip hop culture to speak for themselves giving readers the opportunity to travel back to the true origins of the genre. To hear first hand the stories, the events, places and people that changed the world.

In addition, his video Doin’ Time In Times Square was shown at the New York Film Festival in 1992. After producing a number of Artist Portrait Videos (on Kiki Smith, Tom Otterness, John Ahearn, Martin Wong, and Jane Dickson), Charlie Ahearn wrote and directed his next feature film Fear of Fiction, which opened theatrically in July of 2000 in New York City.

Ray Riccio explains…”Charlie Ahearn is a true visionary. He believed he was witnessing something revolutionary in the birth of an art form emerging not in galleries or theatres but in the streets and parks of the South Bronx. Due to his passion, he was given access into the deepest depths of the culture emerging in the harsh environment from which it was born. His work in Wild Style and Yes Yes Ya’ll are master pieces that will stand the test of time.”

Ernie Paniccioli

Nearly thirty years ago, Ernie Paniccioli began photographing the graffiti art throughout New York City as well as the young people creating it. Armed with a 35-millimeter camera, Paniccioli literally recorded the beginning salvos of hip hop, today the most dominant youth culture on the planet. Be it Grandmaster Flash at the Roxy, a summer block party in the Bronx, the fresh faces of Queen Latifah and Will Smith, the cocksure personas of Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., and Emimem, or the regal grace of Lauryn Hill, Ernie Paniccioli has been there to showcase hip hop's evolution much in the same way Gordon Parks recorded the Civil Rights Movement, or akin to the manner in which James Van Der Zee, the great photographer of Harlem in the 1920s, met the energy and spirit of his times.

His landmark book, Who Shot Ya? Three Decades of Hip Hop Photography is the first major pictorial history of hip hop culture based around the work of one photographer. It represents the visual diary of a generation, essentially following this socio-political art form from the streets of New York City to the billion-dollar global industry it has become.

Sedgwick & Cedar is so proud to have a personal relationship with Ernie. Ray Riccio, founder of Sedgwick & Cedar states…”Ernie Pannicioli has been credited with photographing more artists and true contributors to hip hop than any single person in the history of the culture. He is man of great presence, who challenges us all to see things through a different lens.”

Jeff Chang

Jeff Chang has written extensively on race, culture, politics, arts, and music.

He began working as a hip-hop journalist in 1991 with URB and The Bomb Hip-Hop magazines, and has written for the Village Voice, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, the Los Angeles Weekly, Vibe, Spin, The Nation, Mother Jones, and the Washington Post, among others. He was a Senior Editor/Director at Russell Simmons' 360hiphop.com, and a founding editor of ColorLines magazine.

In 1993, he co-founded and ran the influential hip-hop indie label, SoleSides, now Quannum Projects,.

After being politicized by the anti-apartheid and anti-racist movements at U.C. Berkeley, he worked as a community, labor and student organizer, and as a lobbyist for the students of the California State University system. He was an organizer of the National Hip-Hop Political Convention and serves as a board member for several organizations working for social change in youth and community organizing, media justice, culture, the arts, and hip-hop activism.

If you want to understand the origins of Hip Hop, this book goes to the deepest possible roots. He traces the lineage not only forged from the fires of the Bronx but also in the turmoil of West Kingston, Jamaica.

"Hip-hop is the voice of this generation. Even if you didn't grow up in the Bronx in the '70s, hip-hop is there for you. It has become a powerful force. Hip-hop binds all of these people, all of these nationalities, all over the world together."
—DJ Kool Herc, from the Introduction

Won the prestigious 2005 American Book Award.

Jamel Shabazz

Jamel Shabazz was born in 1960 and raised on the rough streets of Red Hook, Brooklyn, he created New York’s urban visual diary for some 30 years.

Jamel’s father, a U.S. Navy photographer, would introduce photography to him at age 15. Jamel would later embark on a photographic journey through New York’s concrete jungle and capture the faces of real people.

As Fab 5 Freddy described…Jamel’s book “Back In The Day’s, reminds me of how things use to be. It takes you back in the 80’s. Back to those faces that inspired me and to the people I grew up with. They looked like we looked, dress liked we dressed, and posed like we posed. These were my friends, my heroes, and contemporaries. These are the faces that gave birth to hip hop.”

His books include, “Back in the Days”, the 2001 groundbreaking release from PowerHouse Books, “The Last Sunday in June” and his latest jewel, “A Time Before Crack. ” His work has appeared in a number of publications such as The Source, Interview, Trace, Vogue, Vibe, The New York Times, Village Voice, French Photo and Suede. His work has been highly sought after by notable artists, musicians and dignitaries.

In addition, his photographs have been exhibited in “Hip-Hop Nation: Roots, Rhymes, and Rage” at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, at “Xhibiton Transition” in Chicago, and at “Trace Magazine: True Signs” in Paris. Jamel has lectured at Empire State College and The Bronx Museum of the Arts in New York, The African American Museum in Philadelphia and Contact Photography Festival in Toronto, Canada.

At Sedgwick & Cedar “we recognize and respect the mastery of Jamel Shabazz. His work captured the essence of real people, expressing an urban elegance that would define the first generation of hip hop style”.