Description: Back in the Days documents the emerging Hip Hop scene from 1980-1989-before it became what is today's multi-million-dollar multinational industry. Back in the days, gangs would battle not with guns, but by breakdancing. Back in the days, the streets-not corporate planning-set the standards for style. Back in the days, Jamel Shabazz was on the scene, photographing everyday people hangin' in Harlem, kickin' it in Queens, and cold chillin' in Brooklyn.
Street styling with an attitude not seen in fashion for another twenty years to come, Shabazz's subjects strike poses that put supermodels to shame-showing off Kangol caps and Gazelle glasses, shell-top Adidas and suede Pumas with fat laces, shearling coats and leather jackets, gold rope chains, door-knocker earrings, name belts, boom boxes, and other designer finery. For anyone who wants to know what "keepin' it real" means, Back in the Days is the book of your dreams.Brief description: Jamel Shabazz is best known for his iconic photographs of New York City during the 1980s. A documentary, fashion, and street photographer, he has authored 12 monographs and contributed to over three dozen other photography-related books. His photographs have been exhibited worldwide and his work is housed within the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Studio Museum in Harlem, Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Fashion Institute of Technology, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Getty Museum, The Dean Collection and the National Portrait Museum, among others. Over the years, Shabazz has instructed young students at the Studio Museum in Harlem's "Expanding the Walls" project, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture "Teen Curator's" program, and the Bronx Museum's "Teen Council." He is the 2023 recipient of the Lucie Foundation Award for his achievement in documentary photography, and the 2022 awardee of the Gordon Parks Foundation/Steidl book prize. As an artist, Shabazz's primary object is to contribute to the preservation of world history and culture .His books published by his long time home publisher powerHouse Books include Back in the Days, A Time Before Crack, Last Sunday in June, Seconds of my Life, Back in the Days Remix, Back in the Days Coloring Book.