LL COOL J Presents the Streets Win: 50 Years of Hip-Hop Greatness

On August 11, 1973, siblings DJ Kool Herc and Cindy Campbell threw a back-to-school party in a Bronx rec room. Little did they (or anyone) know that the event would mark the birth of hip-hop. Grammy Award–winning Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee LL COOL J, journalist/music-photography curator Vikki Tobak (Ice Cold: A Hip-Hop Jewelry History), and journalist/Rock the Bells editorial director Alec Banks use vibrant imagery and firsthand accounts to tell the story of how some of hip-hop’s prominent voices first came to know the genre in this eye-catching photobook. Most of the pictures are a mixture of energetic action shots during performances; portraits of the subjects also loom large in one- or two-page spreads. Readers will learn that Pepa of Salt-N-Pepa was inspired by Run DMC and that Ludacris fell in love with hip-hop after performing an LL COOL J song during a talent show in fourth grade. In other stories, performers and DJs discuss their childhoods, what keeps them going, and their perspectives on the culture. Refreshingly, there are also recollections either from or about graffiti artists, album-cover designers, clothing designers, and studio owners.