Research guides: Hip-hop &amp; visual arts (Working draft): General resources

Recommended books

Hip-hop architecture : history/theory/practice by Sekou Cooke
ISBN: 9781350116184

Publication Date: 2021

"... explores the production of spaces, buildings, and urban environments that embody the creative energies in hip-hop. It is a newly expanding design philosophy which sees architecture as a distinct part of hip hop's cultural expression, and which uses hip-hop as a lens through which to provoke new architectural ideas."
Contact High : A Visual History of Hip-Hop by Vikki Tobak and Questlove
ISBN: 9780525573890

Publication Date: 2018

"... an inside look at the work of hip-hop photographers told through their most intimate diaries--their contact sheets. Featuring rare outtakes from over 100 photoshoots alongside interviews and essays from industry legends, this gorgeous photography book takes readers on a chronological journey from old-school to alternative hip-hop, and from analog to digital photography."
Fresh Fly Fabulous: 50 Years of Hip Hop Style by Elizabeth Way; Elena Romero; Slick Rick (Foreword by)
Call Number: GF615.F74 2023

ISBN: 9780847899319

Publication Date: 2023

"Fresh Fly Fabulous is the definitive source for hip hop style, brought to life by the groundbreaking photographers who captured it firsthand, including Janette Beckman, Jamel Shabazz, and Ernie Paniccioli"

"It's Like That" (Run DMC vs. Jason Nevins, 1984) - filmed in the Depot Building before SCI-Arc

Recommended image resources

Hip-hop still images in ArtStor (9131 images)

"Hip-hop party and event flyers" collection at Cornell, via ArtStor (494 images)

Specialized resources on related topics

Abraham, Kyle, and 'Funmi Adewole, Blurring Boundaries: Urban streets meets contemporary dance, Serendipity, 2016 (Ebook available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Cooke, Sekou, Hip-Hop Architecture, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2021 (Ebook available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Cooke, Sekou, "We Outchea : Hip-hop fabrications and public space," in Reconstructions : Architecture and Blackness in America, Sean Anderson & Mabel O. Wilson (Editors), The Museum of Modern Art, NA738.N5R43 2021

"Dapper Dan: Forever Fresh", Mass Appeal, May 14, 2018 (Video available via YouTube)

"Dapper Dan on hip-hop fashion, Harlem history and constant reinvention", NPR, July 5, 2022 (Video available via YouTube)

Darling, Michael (Editor), Virgil Abloh :"Figures of speech", Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, NK1412.A24A4 2022

The Hip Hop Architecture Camp (Founded in 2016 by Michael Ford, a "week-long intensive experience is specifically designed to empower underrepresented youth to explore and excel in the fields of architecture, urban planning, and creative placemaking through the lens of hip hop culture"

"Hip Hop's uncensored history of urban planning. [Michael Ford and Jason Pugh interview]", Planning, Spring 1989, p. 15-6 (Kappe Library Bound Journals)

Krishnamurthy, Sowmya, Fashion Killa : How Hip-Hop Revolutionized High Fashion, Gallery Books, 2023 (Ebook available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Monteyne, Kimberley, Hip Hop on Film : Performance Culture, Urban Space, and Genre Transformation in The 1980s, University Press of Mississippi, 2013 (Ebook available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Munsell, Liz & Greg Tate, Writing the future : Basquiat and the hip-hop generation, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, N6537.B233A4 2020

Naee, Asma, et al., The Culture: Hip Hop & Contemporary Art in the 21st Century, Gregory R. Miller & Co., NX460.5.H57C85 2023

Rahn, Janice, Painting Without Permission : Hip-Hop Graffiti Subculture, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2002 (Ebook available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Thompson, Krista, “The Sound of Light: Reflections on Art History in the Visual Culture of Hip-Hop”, The Art Bulletin, vol. 91, no. 4, 2009, pp. 481–505 (PDF available via Jstor)

Tobak, Vikki. Contact High : A Visual History of Hip-Hop, Potter/Ten Speed/Harmony/Rodale, 2018 (Ebook available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Way, Elizabeth, et al., Fresh Fly Fabulous: 50 Years of Hip Hop Style, Rizzoli, GV1796.H57 F75 2023

Wilkins, Craig L., Diversity among architects, Routledge, NA1955.W55 2016 features the chapters "A Style that nobody can deal with : Notes from the Doo Bop Hip Hop Inn" (page 69-70), "(W)Rapped space : the architecture of Hip Hop" (page 71-101), and "More Jazz, Salsa, and Hip Hop in architecture" (page 102-113)

Chang, Jeff, Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, St. Martin's Press, ML3531.C5 2005

Helbig, Adriana N., and Adriana N. Miszczynski, Hip Hop Ukraine : Music, Race, and African Migration, Indiana University Press, 2014 (Ebook available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Jeffries, Michael P., Thug Life : Race, Gender, and the Meaning of Hip-Hop, University of Chicago Press, 2011 (Ebook available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

The Languages of Global Hip Hop, edited by Marina Terkourafi, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2012 (Ebook available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Meadows, Eddie S., Blues, Funk, Rhythm and Blues, Soul, Hip Hop, and Rap : A Research and Information Guide, Taylor & Francis Group, 2010 (Ebook available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Pate, Alexs, In the Heart of the Beat : The Poetry of Rap, Scarecrow Press, 2009 (Ebook available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

"The Global Drumbeat: Permeations of Hip Hop Across Diverse Information Worlds", The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion, Winter/Spring 2022 (Theme issue, Avaiable via Jstor)

Perry, Imani. Prophets of the Hood : Politics and Poetics in Hip Hop, Duke University Press, 2004 (Ebook available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Rabaka, Reiland, The Hip Hop Movement : From R&B and the Civil Rights Movement to Rap and the Hip Hop Generation, Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, 2013 (Ebook available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Rose, Tricia. The Hip Hop Wars : What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop--and Why It Matters, Basic Books, 2008 (Ebook available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Schloss, Joseph G., Foundation : B-Boys, B-girls and Hip-Hop Culture in New York, Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2009 (Ebook available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Schur, Richard L., Parodies of Ownership: Hip-Hop Aesthetics and Intellectual Property Law, University of Michigan Press, 2009 (PDFs of each chapter available via Jstor)

Street Lit : Representing the Urban Landscape, edited by Keenan Norris, Scarecrow Press, Incorporated, 2013 (Ebook available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

The Universal Hip Hop Museum, Bronx, NY (Scheduled to open late 2024)

Watkins, S. Craig. Hip Hop Matters : Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement, Beacon Press, 2006 (Ebook available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Coval, Kevin, et al., The BreakBeat poets : new American poetry in the age of hip-hop, Haymarket Books, 2015 (Ebook available via ProQuest Ebook Central)

Browne, Mahogany L., et al., Black girl magic : BreakBeat poets, volume 2, Haymarket Books, PS591.B53B477 2018

Hip-Hop Evolution playlist (157 videos of music featured in the 2016 Netflix documentary mini-series)

Hip Hop Mixtapes, Archive.org (8520 open-source audio files from 1988-present)

Please note

These guides are intended to provide initial orientation, and suggest a variety of different lines of investigation—not take the place of individual research.
All the resources cited here--print and digital--are available through the Kappe Library at SCI-Arc.Items not available at SCI-Arc are not included.
Surveys covering multiple projects are preferred over monographic studies focusing on specific works or individuals.
Resources on Los Angeles and Southern California are stressed.
Proprietary digital resources (Avery Index, Oxford Art Online, ArtStor, etc) can be accessed on-campus at SCI-ARC via any SCI-Arc internet provider. Off-campus they can be accessed 24/7 via the Kappe Library proxy server, and a valid SCI-Arc Network username and password.

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Hip-hop & visual arts (Working draft): General resources