In recent years there seems to have been a torrent of hardbacks documenting the history, art and photography of hip-hop’s formative years. We say torrent but in comparison to other musical genres there are relatively few printed tributes to the art form. It’s not easy to discern from all on offer, especially for a generation desperate for a nostalgic ‘fix’ or momentary escape from our beloved music which arguably seems to have taken a wrong turn of late, especially if you’ve seen it develop since the 80’s.

None can claim to be as authentic as ‘Born In The Bronx’. On show is an unrivalled collection of original Buddy Esquire flyer artwork from the earliest hip-hop jams, curated by Johan Kugelberg, also an authority on Punk music as well as rock memorabilia. Joe Conzo is arguably hop-hop’s first photographer, certainly the first to comprehensively snap the wider culture and artform of hip-hop with leading lights such as Bambaataa and The Coldcrush Brothers as his main subjects. Of course, Jamel Shabazz captured the raw every day street style of the time, whereas Henry Chalfant and Martha Cooper focused predominantly on graffiti art.

Joe’s photography takes centre stage in the book and, quite rightly, his vast archive has never been so popular. Amazingly, he admitted to Fat Lace at the London launch of the book that he has also worked as a FDNY paramedic for many years. New York runs through his veins, he’s hip-hop royalty, equal to the stars he photographed because, if it wasn’t for his foresight, we wouldn’t have this indelible visual record.

There are some nice touches, such as a hip-hop timeline courtesy of Jeff Chang, author of ‘Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop’ and a compelling forward by Afrika Bambaataa. The embossed cover in the style of an original Buddy Esquire flyer is the icing on the cake. Unmissable and encyclopaedic in its insight into hip-hop’s origins.

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