PUBLIC WALL WRITING IN PHILADELPHIA
created by MEGAWORDS MAGAZIN
introduction text by Stephen Powers aka ESPO

PUBLIC WALL WRITING IN PHILADELPHIA is a book of photographs chronicling the history of wall writing in Philadelphia from the late 1960’s through the early 1980’s. Images of SEPTA stations and platforms, gang corners and roll calls, anti-graffiti propaganda and buff-men, run-down neighborhoods and the citizens that inhabited them serve to paint a bleak yet timeless portrait of Philadelphia.
The phenomenon of wall writing permeates all the photos: Graffiti in the 11th Street Concourse as dense as overgrown weeds; an image of a young man writing “Tom loves Kate” on a granite wall, a reminder that writers are not all “hoodlums” bent on destruction. Many seek to communicate. Public Wall Writing in Philadelphia will be well received by graffiti aficionados, historians, and anyone interested in the history of everyday urban life.

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„BURNERS“ - Henry Chalfant is back with the “Burners” book. Is it necessary to introduce the artist? Co-author of Subway Art [Henry Chalfant & Martha Cooper, Subway Art, Thames & Hudson, 1984] and Spray Can Art [Henry Chalfant & James Prigoff, Spray Can Art, Thames & Hudson, 1987], co-producer of the movie Style Wars [Tony Silver, Style Wars, 1983, published on DVD by Plexifilm], he is the man who has revealed New York Graffiti to the world.
“Burners” are forty photographs of window down burners [pieces painted under the windows] taken by the photographer in the beginning of the Eighties in New York and selected from the hundreds that form his collection. Some of them were never showed before.

His selection is simply astonishing. Every style is represented, in an explosion of flow and colours adorned with tags, commentaries and dedications to discover on the cars. The master's photographs, which give a fantastic reproduction of the subways' patinas and, on some of them, let see the rhythm of the environment, are magnificent. Thanks to Henry Chalfant, once again, it is a considerable part of the Graffiti adventure that is given to us to see and admire. A rare book, not to be missed.

AUTHOR INFORMATION:
Born in 1940 in Pennsylvania, Henry Chalfant studied at Stanford University, where he majored in classical Greek. Later he pursued a career as a sculptor, exhibiting his work in New York and Europe. He turned to photo and film documentation in order to do an in-depth study of hip-hop culture and graffiti art.

HIP HOP FILES - Photographs 1979-1984
photographs by Martha Cooper
text by Akim Walta, Charlie Ahearn, Zephyr and others...

Martha Cooper has the reputation of being the first and foremost photographer of emerging Hip Hop culture in New York City.
Hip Hop Files - Photographs 1979-1984, makes a significant part of her extensive and unique archive accessible for the first time.

The Nasty “Terrible” T-KID 170 is the autobiography of graffiti writer Julius Cavero aka T-KID 170.
This autobiography chronicles the life of a gang member, turned graffiti artist and style mentor for urban youth—the uncensored Bronx hip-hop story. During a gang shoot-out in a local park, Julius Cavero suffered three shots to the leg, one nearly severing his major artery. Left for dead, by gang rivals and so-called comrades; T-Kid survived the ordeal only to come face-to-face with 3 weeks of intensive surgical procedures.

In those three weeks, Julius Cavero sketched, endlessly. It was there that he chose to become T-KID 170—T for the tall and skinny look he had, and KID just because that’s what so many people called him. At that moment, Julius Cavero gave up gang life for a new vocation. T-Kid would now focus on art, specifically street art: GRAFFITTI.

The Nasty “Terrible” T-KID 170 retraces his life from the early 1960s to 2005 through his written accounts and artwork, including images of painted trains, walls, canvases, drawings, and sketches produced over the last thirty years. Few artists today can tell a tale like T-KID’s—a ghetto childhood, gangbanging, and daring feats of graffiti. Many who lived in such times either left their lives or their art behind. T-KID, who won fame early on, lived to tell the tale and withstood the test of time.

A time - journey through the life of T-KID, the wild era of New York and the beginning of the graffiti and hip hop culture in the South Bronx.

“Very few writers survived the voyage from gangs to Hip Hop, as we now know it. Those who did, carry hard earned patches and metals of honor fastened on their hearts. These highly decorated soldiers are human embodiments of today’s most influential cultural movement. They carry the history and legacy of countless warriors. From this long line of folk heroes came the notorious Terrible T-Kid 170, one of The Nastiest Boyz on the scene.”
PopMaster Fabel

“I think T-Kid was a major stylist in New York in the early 1980’s and an important voice. He pushed the envelope very far although his work is still very close to graffiti. People where blown away by how avant-garde he was in the graffiti scene. He is still a big influence around the world.”
Henry Chalfant

In 1985, B-Boys were all the rage but where were the girls? Fast-forward twenty years for the answer: We B*Girlz, a lively look at the hot and happenin world of B-Girlz of the twenty-first century as documented by photographer Martha Cooper and writer Nika Kramer. Breaking is back with a new twist as today's stylish fly girls can battle the best of them.
We B*Girlz, the first handbook for accomplished or aspiring B-Girlz and the boys who love them, showcases the dynamic style and nonstop energy of B-Girlz in action, in practice, on stage, and at home. Providing inspiring insight into a previously little-known subculture that has swept the world, We B*Girlz includes chapters like Lady Legendz, Girlz n' Crewz, Floor Warz, Ride the Beat, We B*Family, Work it!, We B*Stylin' and practical information in the B*Girl Guide on footwork and gear, as well as source information on websites, events, competitions, and classes.
Featuring pioneering B-Girlz like Rokafella from the Bronx, who now dances professionally, and Asia-One from L.A., who organized and promoted the B-Boy Summit for ten years, We B*Girlz also showcases the gutsy girls who dare to dance with all-boy crews such as Vendetta from Atlanta's Burn Unit and Valentine-whose Paris crew, Fantastik Armada, came in second in the 2004 Battle of the Year, the largest international competition in Germany. Presenting girls of all ages and walks of life, We B*Girlz spotlights twelve-year-old Wonder Woman from France, a serious contender at last year's IBE; Krazee Grandma, a beloved sixty-five-year-old B-Girl from Sweden who still spins on her head and travels around Europe to dance competitions; B-Girl Mom Honey Rockwell, whose three-year-old daughter is known as "The Annialator"; and B-Girl & Boy couple Chyna and Sake who organize an annual couple's battle called "Lover's Rock" in San Diego.
The introduction Herstory was written by Ana Rokafella Garcia, a Spanish Harlem–born Hip Hop dancer and choreographer who has danced with crews such as The Transformers and The Breeze Team before joining the Hip Hop dance company GhettOriginal. Rokafella has appeared in music videos such as Fabolous’ “Youngin’”; is the cofounder of Full Circle Productions, a Hip Hop artist collective; and appeared in Soular Power’d, a Hip Hop theater show she co-directed with her husband, B-Boy Kwikstep. Rokafella has done work for artists like Will Smith, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, and Tito Puente, among others. She lives in New Jersey

Cooper and Kramer first began documenting this new breed of B-Girlz in a breakdance competition in Germany in 2004. Following the dancers to the biggest battles - including Mighty4 in San Francisco, the Spinfactor Finals in Rhode Island, Breaklanta in Atlanta, IBE in the Netherlands, and the International Battle of the Year in Germany-they photographed and interviewed B-Girlz representing everywhere from South Africa to New Zealand, from New York to California, and from Japan to Germany. Culminating in the first annual We B*Girlz competition at veteran B-Boy Ken Swift's studio in Brooklyn, Cooper and Kramer's work will introduce a new generation to the art of B-Girling.

In the late 70’s New York City was in the throes of bankruptcy. The Lower Eastside was a wasteland of boarded up buildings and unfenced vacant lots. These were the days before kids became preoccupied with video games, cell phones and MP3 downloads. Needles contaminated with HIV had not yet appeared nor had a widespread fear of pedophiles. Kids roamed their neighborhoods unsupervised, giving their imaginations free rein.

Martha Cooper’s photos take us through the Alphabet City of the late 70’s as the area was about to undergo extensive urban renewal—a process that is still continuing today. At the time, the neighborhood had more than its share of drug dealers and petty criminals, and the landscape seemed ugly and forbidding. But to the children who grew up there, the abandoned buildings and rubble-strewn lots made perfect playgrounds, providing raw materials and open space for unsupervised play. A crumbling tenement housed a secret clubhouse, rooftops became private aviaries, and a pile of trash might be a source for treasure.

With a poignant memoir from Carlos “MARE 139” Rodriguez, a boy who remembers the excitement of growing up playing on the streets of New York City but who now wants something different for his son, Street Play shows the creative and indomitable spirit of city kids determined to make the best of their inhospitable environment. Today the neighborhood is transformed. Martha Cooper’s work attests to a transitional, post-tenement and pre-artist period on the Lower East Side when street culture held turf in Alphabet City.

TRUE LEGEND shows the artwork of the New York graffiti artist COPE 2, one of the most active writers around the world. He is well known for his fantastic wall-productions where he brings the most famous graffiti writers together. COPE 2 is one of six characters in the first graffiti computer game "Getting Up" by Atari which was published worldwide in February 2006.

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DÉBIL INSIDE shows the spectrum of the french graffiti artist MIST, known for his artwork and three dimentionnal characters & figures which he presents on exhibitions all over the world.