Fred Brathwaite, more popularly known as Fab 5 Freddy, is an American visual artist, filmmaker, and hip hop pioneer. He is considered one of the architects of the street art movement. Freddy emerged in New York's downtown underground creative scene in the late 1970s as a graffiti artist. He was the bridge between the burgeoning uptown rap scene and the downtown No Wave art scene. He gained wider recognition in 1981 when Debbie Harry rapped on the Blondie song "Rapture" that "Fab 5 Freddy told me everybody's fly." In the late 1980s, Freddy became the first host of the groundbreaking hip-hop music video show Yo! MTV Raps.
The Universal Zulu Nation is an international hip hop awareness group formed by electro/hip hop artist Afrika Bambaataa.
Beat Street is a 1984 American dance drama film featuring New York City hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Set in the South Bronx, the film follows the lives of a pair of brothers and their group of friends, all of whom are devoted to various elements of early hip hop culture, including breakdancing, DJing and graffiti.
Richard Colón, better known by his stage name Crazy Legs, is an American b-boy who was featured in the earliest stories on hip hop dancing to appear in mainstream press, and as president of the Rock Steady Crew brought the form to London and Paris in 1983. Today he is also involved in community outreach, dance instruction, and dance theater productions. He has appearanced in fiction films and documentaries. Crazy Legs is current president of the Rock Steady Crew.
Wild Style is a 1983 American hip hop film directed and produced by Charlie Ahearn. Regarded as the first hip hop motion picture, it includes appearances by seminal figures such as Fab Five Freddy, Lee Quiñones, Lady Pink, The Rock Steady Crew, The Cold Crush Brothers, Rammellzee with Shockdell, Queen Lisa Lee of Zulu Nation, Grandmaster Flash, and ZEPHYR.
David Marvin Blake, better known by his stage names DJ Quik or Da Quiksta, is an American rapper and record producer from Compton, California, known for his production in the G-funk style of West Coast hip-hop. Blake has collaborated with Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, Tupac, Chingy, R. Kelly and Shaquille O'Neal, among others. As a recording artist himself, he is perhaps best known for his 1991 single "Tonite", which within the top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100. Blake's stage name refers to his ability of producing songs in a short period of time.
ZEPHYR, born Andrew Witten, is a graffiti artist, lecturer and author from New York City. He began writing graffiti in 1975 using the name "Zephyr" in 1977. He is considered a graffiti "elder", who along with Futura 2000, Blade, PHASE 2, CASH, Lady Pink and TAKI 183 invented styles and standards which are still in use.
Michael "IZ the Wiz" Martin was one of the most prominent graffiti writers of the New York graffiti movement of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Henry Chalfant is an American photographer and videographer most notable for his work on graffiti, breakdance, and hip hop culture.
Robert "Bob" Khaleel, better known by his stage name Bronx Style Bob, is an American rapper from the Bronx, New York City.
Rammellzee was a visual artist, gothic futurist graffiti writer, painter, performance artist, art theoretician, sculptor and a hip-hop musician from New York City, who has been cited as "instrumental in introducing elements of the avant-garde into hip-hop culture".
Martha Cooper is an American photojournalist. She worked as a staff photographer for the New York Post during the 1970s. She is best known for documenting the New York City graffiti scene of the 1970s and 1980s.
Donald Joseph White, "DONDI" was an American graffiti artist.
Charlie Ahearn is an American film maker living in New York City. Although predominantly involved in film and video art production, he is also known for his work as an author, freelance writer, member of Colab, and radio host. He is married to the painter Jane Dickson and is the twin brother to the sculptor John Ahearn.
Lance Taylor, also known as Afrika Bambaataa, is an American DJ, rapper, and record producer from South Bronx, New York City. He is notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenced the development of hip hop culture. Afrika Bambaataa is one of the originators of breakbeat DJing.
"Beat Bop" is a song by American hip-hop artists Rammellzee and K-Rob. It was produced and arranged by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Initially, it was made as a test pressing by Tartown Inc. in 1983. That same year, the song was released as a single by Profile Records, and featured in the hip-hop documentary film Style Wars (1983).
Graffiti in New York City has had a substantial local, national, and international influence.
Jason L. Martin, formerly known by the stage name Problem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer from Compton, California. He is best known for his guest appearance alongside YG and Iamsu! on E-40's 2012 single, "Function", which entered the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart and received gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), along with his guest appearance on Childish Gambino's single, "Sweatpants" the following year. His 2013 single, "Like Whaaat", entered both the aforementioned chart and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, serving as lead single for his debut extended play (EP), Understand Me (2013).
Cey Adams is an American visual artist, graphic designer and author. He was the founding creative director of Def Jam Recordings and is known for his work with Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, LL Cool J, Jay-Z, and Mary J. Blige. He has been described as "legendary" for his work in hip-hop graphic design.
Joel Bevacqua is an American rave DJ, music producer, promoter, and writer known as DJ Deadly Buda. He is also known as the graffiti artist “Buda.” Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he is credited by authors Roger Gastman and Caleb Neelon in their "The History of American Graffiti" as being "Pittsburgh’s first graffiti superstar" and inventor of the “monster rock style” of graffiti lettering. He is also recognized for instigating Pittsburgh's rave scene in 1991. In 2005 part of his techno dance music collection was a notable acquisition of the US Library of Congress: Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division.
