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♪♪ [ Marching Band Drumming ]

♪♪ [ Drumming Continues ]

♪♪ [ Whistle Blows ]

All right!

Come on, come on, come on! Come on. Where everybody at?

Showtime, ladies, showtime. Showtime, showtime.

Come on. Come on. Come on. There we go.

Here we go. Here we go. Here we go.

♪♪ [ Continues ] Hold it!

[ Chattering ]

Over here. Come on.

♪♪ [ Continues ] [ Whistle Blows ]

[ Girl Shouting ] Get behind!

♪♪ [ Record Scratching ]

Jamel-- Jamel had a vision.

He was ahead of a lot of people, man.

And nobody ever knew what his vision was.

He was capturing life. That's what he was doing.

He was capturing life in its purest form, man.

♪♪ [ Drumming ]

♪♪ [ Record Scratches ]

Back in the fall of 1980...

I had just returned home from doin' my three-year tour of duty...

over in the military in Germany.

This is one of the very first pictures I took...

upon my arrival back home to Flatbush.

It is one of the rare pictures of myself coming home from the military.

So I was very much prime at that point.

It was deep. It was something about that train,

walking car to car, looking for somebody.

Sometimes I'd get off a train...

and get on another train that was more crowded...

or had greater light in hopes of finding that subject matter.

I never had a location in mind to go to. I would just go.

Oftentimes-- It might be Manhattan.

'Cause Manhattan was the nucleus of a lot of activity.

There's a particular shot I have of my four partners on 42nd Street.

I saw these cats. They were photographers.

And they had hats on.

I said, "Okay. This is a deep shot." They are on 42nd Street.

"Let me put them behind this backdrop of a hat store."

When I look through my lens, that's the picture I'm looking for.

♪♪ [ Light R & B ]

And I'll never forget the first day of school...

I was up at Tilden documenting people.

They was fly, and that point...

I realized that people wanted to be photographed.

They felt that they looked good. Style was booming back in the '80s.

The students at Tilden allowed me--

Those were my first models up at Tilden High School.

And once school would be completed up at Tilden,

I had so much energy in me, I would continue on...

and travel throughout Brooklyn, looking for more shots.

Oftentimes, if it was raining outside or it was cold, I took to the subways.

That's why I have so many images of the subway.

Not because I just like the subways, but because the lighting is good,

and then you out of the cold and rain, the elements.

The subways is like my galleries.

I love the subway. There's never a dull moment on the subway.

This guy.

[ Tone Sounds ]

This is the train I grew up on, right here. The F train is a bad train.

This is the train we took to go out to Coney Island back in the '70s.

This is our train-- Last stop Coney Island.

Then we take it opposite way uptown to Manhattan,

it would take us to 42nd Street.

♪♪ [ Synthesizer Rhythm ]

♪♪ [ Record Scratches ]

My name is Fab 5 Freddy.

Um, I'm here to talk about my good friend, Jamel Shabazz,

a great photographer whose work I own.

Um, and I'm proud to have been involved in his career, his first book.

We're from different parts of Brooklyn.

I'm from the Bedford-Stuyvesant section.

He's from that Crown Heights, Flatbush area.

But we basically had experienced a lot of the same things.

We witnessed, listened to the same music, danced the same dances.

We were wearing what the cool styles were.

The right hats, the right pants.

All those things that, before rap made them large,

all those little details,

the Cazal glasses, the Kangol caps, the sneakers and stuff--

Way before those things were, uh, mythologized in rap,

in the numerous videos,

Jamel had captured it.

These were the heroes.

These were the style icons.

These were the cool cats on the corner, on the street,

that every major rapper, uh, was trying to emulate--

was trying to give voice to,

was trying to paint the pictures of the lifestyles that these guys lived.

When you first saw Run-DMC real strong,

chilling on the corner in a B-boy stance.

What that was about, how you stood,

how you posed, how you kept your grill--

A lot of those things come from the kind of people...

that Jamel just brilliantly, uh, captured for eternity.

♪♪ [ Record Scratches ]

[ Jamel ] This picture was taken in 1975...

at Meyer Levin Junior High School in East Flatbush.

These were three popular girls from that day and time, very beautiful girls.

I was in love with some Keisha. Keisha was fine. She's the one in the middle.

In this particular photograph...

I was about 15 years old with my peers.

And as a pastime, we would go to Coffey Park...

and indulge in drinking quarts of Olde English.

Fortunately for me, a-a-a Muslim brother...

came by and approached us, me in particular,

and told us the importance of putting the right ingredients in our body.

And he told me to replace a bad habit with a good habit,

and turned me on to Tropicana orange juice.

From that point on I stopped drinking Olde English...

and started drinking orange juice.

I went on a mission to encourage people to get off the malt liquor.

This is in front of my building. This is 167 Bush Street.

These is three real cool individuals.

This is a picture taken back in 1975 of me and Val.

This is taken in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

This represents the time period...

when I first started rollin' with my camera every day.

This is Wolf and Tyrone.

What's deep about Wolf and Tyrone is that we were the same age.

And real cool cats but both-- both of them lost their brothers.

Tyrone on the right with the Quarterfield on--

That coat is a Quarterfield--

His brother, Brian, was murdered.

Ray, on the left--

His brother, Mustafa, he died at a young age.

I think he might have even died in 1978.

He died. He had got shot in the neighborhood.

This is my first major group shot.

This picture was taken directly behind Tilden High School.

This is a picture taken of my father back in 1955.

He was a crewman aboard the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier.

I had this painting done right after he had passed away.

The actual image itself was taken approximately...

1955, when he was in the Navy.

My father was a trained combat photographer...

who was assigned to the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier.

During his, I believe, eight years in the military,

it enabled him to travel throughout the Mediterranean...

taking pictures.

This picture here was probably taken around 1964.

This is a shot my father took of me getting my hair cut...

out there in Red Hook, Brooklyn, back in the days.

Prior to his passing, he gave this picture to me as a gift.

When I started, um, showing an interest in photography,

my father made it a point, mainly, when I came home from the military--

He saw my desire to learn. I had a Canon camera.

He basically gave me the fundamental principles of photography,

the mechanics, which were extremely important back then.

My father never really understood my compassion...

a-and empathy for that type of social conditions.

I remember bringing those images home to him,

and he just would be somewhat disgusted in my wasting the film.

He never saw the purpose in it.

♪♪ [ Drumming ] [ Chattering ]

[ Whistle Blows ] Harlem!

[ Jamel ] All right. Showtime!

Right here!

All right. Here we go! Hold that pose.

♪♪ [ Marching Band Continues ]

[ Whistle Blowing ]

I had read Malcolm X's autobiography,

and it was something about his character that really inspired me.

Malcolm in particular. The nation of Islam as a whole--

But they went after the downtrodden people.

They went after the prostitutes and the pimps and the drug dealers.

And they were able to inspire them to transform their lives.

I first became a correctional officer in 1983.

And it was a very interesting challenge for me.

It was my first time ever being in a correctional institution.

My first duty assignment was working with adolescents--

ages, at that time, 16 to 21,

at the notorious C74, as they called it back then,

where I spent quite a few years for the most part.

That's where I got my basic training development,

working with what were considered the worst of the worst inmates.

It was said if you could work in C74, you could work anywhere.

The system itself was not designed to rehabilitate them.

It was interesting. We even called it gladiator school.

Where you had these people in the system-- really no education.

There wasn't a lot of social programs to help them readjust to society.

It was just violence.

Oftentimes, the incidents will explode in the mess hall.

We were told back then-- What happened in the mess hall is--

You'd have all these housing areas,

about four housing areas any given day...

going into the mess hall to eat.

You'd have two housing areas in. You'd have one half-out.

You'd have two housing areas in the hallway.

That was an opportunity to set things off.

In the mess hall...

you might be in a situation where anything can go down.

You could have beef with somebody on the street.

Could be a person that might've murdered you.

This could be your co-defendant that flipped on you.

Now you see him in the mess hall.

That hatred is so deeply rooted in you.

When you see that person, you are going to shank him.

Back then, it was about warfare.

You improvise. You made weapons.

Straight razors were common. Uh, razors--

Weapons made out of toothbrushes sharpened on the edges.

You brought that. Sometimes you can detect these things.

If you saw an enemy, you're going to bring it regardless of the consequences.

There was times in which these riots would ensue inside the mess hall,

and the doors would be closed, and it would be all-out chaos.

Wussup? I'm Sharp. [ Laughs ]

The first time that I ever saw Jamel Shabazz's work...

was in a art exhibition...

which was curated by Claude Grunitzky,

who is the head honcho over there at Trace magazine.

I saw these photos, uh,

that were portraits of people standing in subway cars.

And in the photo were signatures inside the trains,

some of which I knew when they had taken place...

because I was with the person when the tags were made.

This particular picture is really interesting too,

just because it looks like they are in the last car.

They are about to smoke a joint. They got a radio.

Know what I mean? People don't smoke weed in the subway anymore,

much less listen to music.

And if you didn't want to get robbed, you didn't go back there.

You stayed in the fifth car, next to the conductor's booth.

My name is Claude Grunitzky.

I'm the editor and founder of Trace magazine,

which has been around since the late '90s.

In the late '90s-- Actually, in 1999,

um, one day Jamel Shabazz walked into our office.

But he came with a portfolio...

that had these hundreds of photographs from his archives.

For someone like me who grew up as a hip-hop kid...

in Paris in the '80s,

longing for that New York experience,

that discovery was absolutely amazing,

because I could see that Jamel was the witness.

He was the guy who had a camera.

In that fall of 1999, in this specific issue,

we then cleared a few pages for Jamel...

and published his portfolio which is called...

"Not Just Another Date."

And I started seeing these people...

in situations wearing these old-school pants, old-school sneakers,

and seeing these old boom boxes and--

The music was everywhere. I was wondering who these people were.

Just seeing a couple in love like that--

There was something that felt very natural and hopeful,

and I was really moved when I saw it.

So, we decided to exhibit his work in a gallery in Paris,

the Galerie Beaurepaire.

I was thinking of it from a French person's perspective.

I wanted his point of view as an American, as a New Yorker.

This photograph is one of my most precious possessions.

It is a photograph that was taken by Jamel...

in my family apartment in Paris.

My father ended up passing away...

a couple months after this photograph was taken.

I remember that Jamel could tell that my father was ill,

and he wanted to capture that moment with a photograph.

I'm so grateful to him for having done that.

This is actually the last photograph...

that was ever taken of my father and I,

probably the last picture that was ever taken of my father, period.

[ Woman On PA ] If you see a suspicious package...

or activity on the platform or train, do not keep it to yourself.

Tell a police officer or MTA employee.

Remain alert and have a safe--

How you doin'? I am David Villorente,

better known as Dave "Chino" or by my tag, Chino BYI.

I worked for The Source magazine between 1994 and 2005.

I was an editor of the Graf Flix section of the magazine...

which eventually becameBomb Shelter.

So, uh, sometime around the tail end of '97,

while we were working on The Source magazine's 100th anniversary issue,

our then photo director Janene Outlaw came into the office...

and tapped me on the shoulder and said,

"I've got something you should check out. You might appreciate this."

She was sitting on Jamel Shabazz's portfolios.

Um, prior to this he hadn't had any of his work published anywhere.

So this stuff was absolutely mind-blowing.

We were sitting there in awe,

checking out guys with bell Kangols...

and leather Double Gooses and Three-quarter Gooses...

and fat dookie ropes and three finger rings and gold fronts.

What really stood out to me was...

that a majority of these pictures were taken in Brooklyn...

or in my Fort Greene neighborhood.

When I started getting my feet wet in graffiti,

sometime around the time I was 11,

there was an art store on Fulton Street.

I met Willie in front of the art store.

He asked me what I wrote, and I made up a tag.

I told him I wrote "OE." I just made it up on the spot,

not realizing there was an old-school "OE" from Brooklyn.

He was the first guy to be like,

"Listen, there's someone that writes that name.

That's not a very original tag."

These guys are from a Brooklyn graffiti crew known as the "XMEN."

That's Tattoo XMEN standing here with the white shorts on.

This is OB XMEN.

Some of their more prominent members of their crew...

were SO XMEN, DJ NO, TES.

NO and TES are the first two guys credited for the graffiti sticker trend.

They were local graffiti artists that I grew up looking up to.

OB was one of the first established graffiti writers I had ever met.

I was probably about 11 at the time.

Me and OB remained friends...

up until he passed away about two years ago.

Back in the Days and Time Before Crack,

I recognize so many of the locations, so many of the people.

These two photos here were taken near the Fulton Mall.

You can tell this is the Dime Savings Bank next to Juniors,

and left of the bank is where the Albee Square Mall used to stand.

Many people are familiar with the Albee Square Mall...

from the BizMarkie track...

"My House is the Albee Square Mall".

The two gentlemen are standing in front of a HEC 398 tag.

HEC 398 was from a crew called CW-- Crazy Writers.

This guy in particular, we knew as Pipo growing up.

He was kind of, like, dabbled with gangs.

You can see on his sleeve here, they've written 1369,

which was a gang symbol with a swastika in the middle.

He's got FTW which stood for "fuck the world" on his arm.

Pipo, he was older than us at the time.

He was really big for telling us these tall tales every time we saw him.

One day, I could probably tell my kids,

"You want to see where I grew up, the faces I grew up around?"

I can just pick up one of these two books.

Back in the spring of 2000, there was a knock at the door.

There was just myself, Sara Rosen in the office,

and the third of powerHouse Books, Daniel, wasn't there.

So I said, "Sir, what's your name?"

He said, "My name is Jamel Shabazz."

It hit me like a ton of bricks.

Because I had seen a small catalog from a show he did in Paris...

that Trace magazine organized.

And, I had wanted to see more of that work for about a year,

and there he was, just standing in my office.

I had never seen a book like Back in the Days before.

And we still thought it was an artist's book.

It wasn't until the book was released--

We only printed 4,000 copies.

Before the book arrived, we had sold out.

So we placed our reprint order for 5,000 copies...

as the boat arrived with the 4,000.

And... eight printings later,Back in the Days...

is the cornerstone of the hip-hop culture book.

♪♪ [ Record Scratches ]

All right, showtime.

We here at Samuel J. Tilden High School...

in East Flatbush, Brooklyn,

the school I attended back in 1975.

It's a joy to be here after so many years.

I'm looking forward to having an opportunity...

to photograph the students very much like I did 30 years ago.

[ Shutter Clicks ] [ Laughing, Chattering ]

Let me get the whole posse, here. Come on.

Let me get some hard-- Chicken head!

Okay. This my boo!

This is Brooklyn, baby. Come on. This Brooklyn.

Right now. Take one more.

Don't let me find out you're all visitin' from Jersey. [ Laughs ]

All right. You stop, son. I got to get you.

A'ight. You're makin' me feel like a celebrity though.

No doubt. Feel like a celebrity.

Got smooth skin, got one earring in the ear.

- That's the tomb status. There you go. - So light.

If I could get y'all... right.

This gate is good. This is old-school gate.

Tilden-- That's my man right here.

You got that hard-core look.

Come on. We got the blacks in the middle.

Two blacks, let me get you here in the front.

Let me get you crouched down, girl. See, let me get you crouched down.

My man, you come right there.

That's the picture right there. That's old school!

That's the shot! Just like this.

That's it. That's the love.

And... beautiful picture. [ Shutter Clicks ]

The key element to taking pictures, you got to find who the general is.

Once you find that alpha male or that dominant male in the group,

you make him feel good.

You show him love.

Once you could captivate him, all the troops will follow.

I'm Kevin Stukes.

I grew up in this area over here with Jamel Shabazz.

We all went to junior high school together and high school and, um--

Listen, this was Nazareth Park right here.

Tilden High School-- This was our stomping grounds right here.

This is where we did everything.

We played ball in here in the mornin' times, on Saturday mornings.

Used to have the big block parties.

Inside, the guys used to bring out the DJ, a guy named Magic.

Jimmy would be playing music over here.

Don't forget. We used to have a hell of a lot of good dice games.

I'm talking about 40 to 50 people in a dice game.

Right here in this park.

Jamel would come take pictures, but he wouldn't gamble.

This is in front of Tilden High School,

which, some kinda way, we all wound up at.

They are in front of Tilden, right? In front of Tilden.

That's Mark. That's, uh, Craig. That's José.

All these little kids is right here. All of them are still around.

This is a picture of the hat store...

which was on Saratoga and Pitkin Avenue,

where we all used to get our Beavers from.

At that time, Beavers and Panamas were the hats you mostly wore.

This is me right here-- 1979.

We was what you would call early gangsters.

We thought we were early gangsters.

This is a homey here, Chico.

Chico from Brooklyn.

- [ Jamel ] Chico got 40 years. - Forty years?

Got 40 years. He's been down now about 17.

Damn!

Ronald Williams. Ronald Wayde.

I forgot his name.

Actually, he used to go with my wife back in the days. [ Laughs ]

The girl I'm married to now, he used to go with her...

until I ran him out of town.

Then the nigga had the nerve to ask me why did I take his girl?

You did! Nigga, was my girl first!

How you going to tell me that?

Ced! [ Imitates Karate Yell ]

What you call this brother? Karate expert. Karate and no socks.

I'm tellin' you. That was Cedric, man.

[ Shouts, Chuckles ]

Yeah, I remember that used to be my barber back in the day.

Tell him about your waves.

You don't got your waves no more? No waves.

[ Man ] That's one thing about Jamel-- In the first book--

Is that the first one? In the first book...

there's pictures of everybody who was deceased in the back.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

[ Stukes ] You have Trev here who used to live on Ralph Avenue...

between Synder and Tilden.

You have Just-God here who grew up on-- lived on 51st Street.

A great guy who also was a photographer. He was murdered.

You have another guy, Isaac, who was mysteriously found dead.

I mean, Jamel just captured all these pictures...

of all these individuals prior to their death.

Oh, look at the outfits. I remember that.

[ Man, Indistinct ] [ Laughs ]

[ Woman ] This was my best friend's brother.

He got killed in, um, '86.

[ Girl ] By what? That was his girlfriend.

Um, gunshot, you should say.

- Is she still alive? - Mm-hmm. Remember? We saw her.

You would not know her though. You wasn't even there.

See how he educates people through his books?

That's one thing you knew about him back then.

- He was an educator then. - Oh, definitely. Definitely.

He was my educator to the Nation of Islam.

That's true. When I looked at the images...

and sat down to write the introduction,

one of the things that hit me...

that he captured, um, is...

"cool."

I thought to myself, well, you know,

"cool" is a word we throw around rather loosely,

very much a part of our American English lexicon.

But I wanted to go deep into the origins of cool.

And, um, I had to do some research, believe it or not.

[ Chuckles ] Me? Nah.

I had to really delve in, peel the covers back on what "cool" is.

And, um, a great academic thinker,

um, and scholar, Robert Farris Thompson,

in a book calledFlash of the Spirit,

who has done extensive research into African cultures in the Diaspora,

and is able to interpret and break things down,

traced "cool", the word, back to the 15th, 16th century...

in Nigeria,

in a word, I think, Oshun,

that actually translates into "cool" as a concept.

Um, he basically has documented...

where this word began, if you will, as a concept...

that we were conscious of.

It's something that moves through the African experience,

obviously through the adversity...

of all the things people of African descent...

have had to go through--

Being cool-- [ Chuckles ] is a big part of that, man.

Because keeping that cool pose,

that cool face, that demeanor, that attitude, that style,

has been like an armor...

for many people of color here in America and in other places.

But specifically, what I know about here--

I think our music has been an extension...

and an interpretation of that.

So when you really kind of get a sense of what that is...

and how it's one of those inner things that's in us--

Jamel Shabazz's pictures, I think, an inherent aspect of what he does,

has done, is captured cool...

within the individuals and the settings...

and in how he composes his shot.

The point, the millisecond, that he decides to...

press that shutter down--

Hey baby, that's it. Cool. [ Cameraman Chuckles ]

♪ Cool 'cause I don't get upset ♪

♪ I kick a hole in the speaker, pull the plug and I jet ♪

♪ Back to the lab, my man, Rakim Without a mike to grab ♪♪

Rakim, cool!

[ Man ] He's comin'. I was trying to get you to come.

I was excited. I was like, "Jamel is coming! Jamel is coming!"

We're going to do big things.

When you first called my name, I said, "Damn, this sounds like static."

The way you called my name, it's like, "Damn.

I got to throw down with this kid." What did I say?

You said, "Jamel Shabazz!" Then you got into a fighting stance.

I said, "Damn. I ain't came here to fight."

It's too early-- Too many women in here.

[ Buzzing ]

My man right here, I've been knowin' him for a long time.

Break it down, brother. I want to hear the history.

You say some really deep things to me. They won't believe me, man.

What about the beef that happened out there?

That's what really gets me.

The way I was rolling was interesting...

'cause I knew everybody.

When you start breaking down to me, Pringle, and all the beef,

the conflict that was going on--

We don't want that in here. Not to talk about it but--

I never knew there were so many enemies back then.

Listen, tell them how much murders they had out here.

[ Man ] Oh, yeah. Whoo.

[ Man ] Every time you turned around. Goddamn, it was bad out here.

That's when-- That's the first time-- When I came home--

When I came home, that was the first time I seen crack.

I didn't know nothing about no crack.

I was walking down the street, and I thought that people had a parade.

And people threw these confetti tops up,

because the whole street was full of red, yellow, green.

Those were the capsules to the bags.

You know, the tops they used to put the crack in.

They had-- Right, John?

They had that shit all over the street.

You could be walking down the street, tops everywhere.

What the hell is going on?

I didn't know nothing about that. Mmm.

If you come home, you know nothin' about that.

But that was-- That was the crack, you know?

[ Buzzing ]

If Carroll was alive today,

I could have the same conversation with him.

I didn't even know Carroll was dead.

I kept lookin' at that picture, like, "I know this guy from somewhere."

...we are talking about are really interesting individuals, because I speak about--

These are the younger brothers to my partners.

All of my partners had younger brothers...

about two, three years younger than us.

The people we are discussing are basically them.

Tony's generation is actually that generation.

He was one of the survivors, but Brian Davis, Mustafa, Naquan--

These is three guys that I knew their brothers very well,

and they all died violently.

You spent time back-- You were there in the '70s?

[ Man ] Uh, sure. That sounds accurate.

Hold on. Let me show you this picture of my partner.

Yeah, brother Cedric, Larry-- - I've seen him before. Yeah.

Malik. He was born and raised-- You remember this brother, right?

Cedric's brother? Wild-ass karate Cedric?

That's my man!

Cedric had on a whole karate suit. [ Laughs ]

That's Ced. Listen, kid. Like Bruce Lee.

Whatever the karate dudes do, he'd do the same shit. Water.

He'd take buckets of water--

[ Laughing ]

And put it on his back... and walk with--

Take buckets-- The water, with towels, put it on his head...

and put the other two-- [ Imitates Blows ]

You think I'm joking? Without it falling.

I seen all the photographs in The Source magazine.

[ Jamel ] Yeah. I was like, "Oh, shit!

That looks like a Jamel Shabazz. I know these people right here."

That magazine actually opened up the door for me to do my book.

'Cause people loved those images.

No one was able to get shots like that back in the days.

Who you knew walking around with a camera back then?

That was able to get the thugs and generals and all that?

It was like a visual diary of my life.

When you look at those pictures, you're looking at seconds of my life--

People I was just building with back then.

What I would do, I would leave y'all...

in East Flatbush, go to Flatbush,

leave Flatbush, go downtown Brooklyn, go to Manhattan--

just building with brothers, Bed-Stuy, Crown Heights.

All it was is just a diary of my life...

and the different people I had conversations with.

This is a general right here.

Tony, I known this brother for 30 years,

when he was a little kid on the street.

Beautiful brother, a lot of history. True general right here.

Jamel-- Jamel had a vision. He was ahead of a lot of people.

Nobody never knew what his vision was.

He was capturing life. That's what he was doing.

He was capturing life in its purest form, man. While everybody was living.

Nobody knew what he was doing.

Nobody went to a photo shoot...

or knew he was coming out to take pictures, right?

He just was there. He just takin' pictures, man.

Everybody wouldn't let you take their picture like that,

because a lot of people was doing a lot of criminal activities.

That's right. [ Laughing ]

If you got a picture, you was good, know what I'm saying?

That's how that went down.

[ Jamel ] Being a young black man...

working in a prison environment was deep because I was young.

At that time, I had just turned 23.

A lot of the young men I was dealing with,

they were in my same age group.

I had more in common with them than I did with a lot of officers.

So I had to draw this line on how I was gonna move.

It was difficult to see these young men from the neighborhood.

Many of them I grew up with. I knew their parents.

It was deep to see some of the same young men I photographed on the street...

now in the system.

Some of the young guys I grew up with were in the system.

To a great degree, that enabled me to have an easy transition in there,

because I knew some really strong individuals.

My military background enabled me to carry myself in a certain way.

When I needed direction, I would reflect on the drill instructor...

and how he conducted hisself and how he spoke.

I extracted things from those characteristics...

and incorporated within myself-- I became very effective.

Initially, I would not reveal to people that I was a correctional officer...

because I felt they would be taken aback by my position...

and look at me as the police.

That would prevent me from really building with them.

As time passed, the word spread in the community...

that "He is a C.O."

In a sense it was good, because for some reason...

I had a good reputation.

A lot of guys I would encounter in jail were coming home.

The fact that I treated them with respect,

they would pass the word on to other individuals...

and allow me to photograph 'em, to my amazement.

When I would leave work...

I would return right back to the streets again...

and continue to document, uh, young life.

And now I did it with a purpose.

♪♪ [ Marching Band Drumming ]

I've been retired now for over five years...

after doin' a complete 20 years in the department of corrections.

Going out to the African American Day parade...

enables me to see a lot of my coworkers...

who I served with during my time as a correctional officer.

This is my old steady partner right here.

How you doin'? Nice to meet you. This is my partner, Al.

He's an actor now. Mm-hmm.

[ Laughs ] And doin' that too.

We worked together in jail.

He was my point man.

And she don't say nothin' to me. I'm sorry. Hello.

I just was so shocked when I saw him.

I haven't seen him in so long.

- How you feelin'? - I'm great. How are you?

I'm really good. How's your daughter doing?

- High school? - No, college-- third year.

- Look at the tags. - Yeah.

[ Laughing ]

I was telling somebody-- [ Man ] Way before my time.

No. I was tellin' somebody... when we were growing up...

the gangs were the Tomahawks, the Jolly Stompers--

You remember that? Ah, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Let me get a picture of y'all. 'Cause I am so proud of y'all.

All right, hats. Let's keep it professional.

Hold this.

All right. Here we go. [ Shutter Clicks ]

Beautiful. Thank you, ladies.

Ladies, take care. Thank you.

[ Woman On PA, Indistinct ]

This is a book that, um, my father had a signed copy of...

when we lived in Brooklyn, in Red Hook.

This book,Black in White America...

was very instrumental in shaping my vision as a young child.

I remember seeing these images.

I remember them so vividly.

Each image is telling a story. Every image.

Even to see this image, knowin' my mother was a nurse--

What appears to be a nursing home or a beauty shop,

but it says white females.

Leonard was able to really capture the feelings of people.

When you look at this work, you feel the passion of the image.

The railroad tracks often served as a divide in the black community.

It was the railroad tracks that separated black from white...

in-in many cities and towns in the South.

Phenomenal. Phenomenal shot.

Uh, one of my favorites in the book. This is, like I said--

This might be my number one favorite image.

I remember as-- being a young child in Brooklyn.

This was our means of having fun back in the days, the Johnny Pump.

Thousands upon thousands of young people from the community...

got their pictures made on 42nd Street.

This particular brother right here-- I can't remember his name.

But you could tell by his stance...

he is a member of the Five Percent Nation.

He was a very respected photographer out there.

So I salute the street photographers, these Polaroid brothers,

because they got it in.

Louis Mendes is an icon.

He's one of the original Polaroid photographers, you know.

Ooh.

Nice and bright.

Mmm? [ Girl ] I like that one.

[ Woman ] Famous pictures he took with that camera.

- Wow. That looks really nice. - That's really nice.

My name is Louis Mendes.

And I've been out here since 1972 taking pictures.

I used to work on 42nd Street, Times Square,

with the backdrops and the banners,

like, uh, like Jamel Shabazz does with his pictures...

that he has now in his book,Back in the Days.

When I was working in Times Square,

this is from the backdrops we used to use.

That's my youngest daughter and myself.

This was taken about 1990.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Uh, yeah, Bobbito Garcia-- Kool Bob Love at Mount Morris Park.

Been coming here since, uh, 1981,

when I was playing the Holcombe Rucker Memorial Tournament.

And, uh, no other park like it in the world, especially in Harlem.

This is Jamel Shabazz's book,Back in the Days.

Nothing says more "New York" than this.

Now, I never ate at the Sizzling Chicken, but, uh--

You know, what can I say?

Starting with the sneakers, which is my specialty--

Uh, you got the Puma Clydes here, the Suedes,

which was a sneaker that was introduced in 1972...

by the German company, Puma.

Really changed the whole outlook of sneakers in New York.

The cats started to clean their sneakers and all that.

You can see here, his presentation, a very clean look--

The green with the green Kangol.

Even his beads match up.

He got the BVD tank. He got the Lee jeans.

He just looking extra correct.

Um, the name belt.

He don't even have name on it, but he got the money sign.

Maybe his nickname was Cash or maybe his nickname was Money.

Probably the most revealing thing for me, personally,

as being a Boricua, Nuyorican, is the flag right here.

This is very bold and beautiful.

The dude on the left, his Puma Clydes look a little choked up.

They don't look that fresh.

The kid on the right, his Pumas look so correct.

They look so correct, like, they're so well done.

Like, the way he's wearing 'em, the way he's rockin' 'em,

the way he got his pant ruffle--

[ Exhales, Laughs ] This is the photo!

I mean, If there was any photo that sold me on this book,

uh, it would definitely be this one.

You see some ill sneakers in this page.

Jabbars, 1978, I believe, they came out.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, from Dyckman Projects uptown,

New York City legend, all-time leadin' scorer of the NBA.

You see it here at $38.99,

with his face on the tongue-- that's just an ill shoe.

The Shell Toe 41-- the pro model...

the high top of the Shell Toe--

You got the PRO-Ked 69ers that were ridiculous.

At one point-- They're $17 here.

At one point they were eight, nine dollars, $10, $12.

They kept going up in price, but, uh--

This just stamps, like, "New York" to me.

[ Shutter Clicks ] You'll appreciate this 20 years from now.

But I appreciate it. Y'all take care of yourselves.

- All right, man. Thank you. - We gotta go.

[ Jamel ] Basically, for us in the '70s,

the style then was long coats,

and it's interesting as I look at Coffy and some of these pimp movies,

that was a popular style in our community in Brooklyn.

So as the '80s start to come,

it started to change.

But in all my images, you see that there's a strength.

There is a certain seriousness. The pose is very important.

Where I come from, you stood with strength.

You stood erect. You stood perpendicular in your square,

which really meant a whole lot.

You had different fraternal organizations.

They had particular stances. People don't really know that.

They look at it as a pose, not realizing it is a stance that means something.

You had the Five Percent Nation that stood in this square.

You look at the way they folded their arms.

It's like it's four points that are being reflected.

There are others that pose-- They put their index finger...

pointing to their brain to represent intelligence.

You find that even in the prison system. The images are the same.

And some people might call it a jailhouse pose,

but the principle is pretty much the same.

In jail, you cannot appear weak.

You would be victimized if you didn't walk correct.

People can actually look at you...

and sense weakness behind your walk.

So the way that you walk, the way that you spoke,

if you were able to make eye contact with a person--

all these things were very relevant growing up.

Right... now.[ Woman Over PA, Indistinct ]

[ Shutter Clicking ]

[ Indistinct ]

How you doin'? I'm Shabazz. I'm a good friend of Jamel's.

We go way back to the 7th grade in Meyer Levin Junior High School.

Uh, I would say '75, maybe, or a little earlier than that.

And we've been friends since and never stopped being friends.

But the books, man, they're really dear to my heart.

I ride around with them. I see people, and I open up my trunk with them.

"Here, look at the book."

That's when you and your girl used to dress alike-- wear the same thing.

People died for those glasses. Everybody talked about the Cazals--

That's the Beaver. We used to put baby oil on it to make it smooth.

This is at Tilden at a football game.

And this is the Panamanian crew right here.

He is a detective right now.

We're not really looking at the clothing.

We're looking at the people that are wearing the clothing,

because we know them, and we know what they represent.

This is the guy that Busta Rhymes and all them talk about, in Brownsville.

This guy, he was a Golden Gloves boxer.

This guy had a coalition.

When anybody came up from jail, he had them work construction jobs.

He was real serious in the community, man.

Very serious guy. He got everybody jobs.

If you came home from jail, you had a correctional--

you had a, um, construction job.

[ Man ] AZ.

- I just called Nev. - Oh, yeah, where Nev at?

- He's coming. - Good. That's AZ right there.

That's AZ, the rapper, right here.

And when I showed him this, I was at the HOT97 with Star & Buc Wild.

He saw it. He was going crazy.

Then he got quiet and he said...

"This guy right here is all drugged out."

He said that was his boy. He's dead.

But he said, "Shabazz, look.

I still was chillin'. I had my rings on. I had my Pumas on."

[ Men Laugh ] That's all he would talk about!

Yeah, that's Big Wise. He was like a brother to me.

When he died, I wasn't here.

All I did was cry, because I wanted to be at the funeral.

He and I were very, very close. Very close.

He'd come sleep in my basement.

Used to try to keep him in line.

Who's this? Oh, damn!

Who's this, Smooth? Come here. You found Smooth!

This guy right here-- Let me tell you something.

When this guy-- See how small he is?

This guy would come in the park and say,

"At 5:00, nobody better not be in this park!"

At 4:00, everybody was gone.

John Davis was killed in a robbery in his house.

John Davis bought a home, and some guys broke in there...

and robbed him, and he died during that robbery.

John Davis-- That's my little brother right there.

John, John-- We grew up right next--

Our houses were next to each other. We told everybody we were cousins.

When I moved on the block, he's the first one I met.

I came up here from the South.

As I was sayin', this is the home I grew up in.

My parents sold it about two years ago,

but we spent 25 years in this home.

This is where I grew up from an adolescent to a teenager...

to an adult in this home right here.

My next door neighbors were here when I moved here.

There were maybe three black families on this whole entire block,

including this building, so it was a culture change for me.

I came here from the South...

and this is where I end up growing up as an adult.

All my friends would come and see me.

They would knock on the basement window...

so my mom didn't hear them and know I was going outside.

'Cause I was supposed to be on punishment.

Yeah, Jamel-- We all grew up in residential neighborhoods,

and, you know, that's what kinda caught people off guard.

People would try to take advantage of us...

'cause they thought we grew up with a father and mother in the house,

and that, as they would say back then, "You're soft."

But they didn't know we weren't taking any mess either,

so they had to find out the hard way.

Guys would come from the projects, as they would say, and get killed here.

Because they thought we were punks, things would happen to them.

That's when East Flatbush took on a whole different thing.

That's when very infamous guys came from this neighborhood.

Because people tried them.

I think it was because we had parents who had money,

and we knew how to go get weapons.

[ Man ] Mm-hmm. [ Laughs ]

We knew how to use money and go get weapons.

These guys were stealing from each other.

We would buy them ourselves from people, like--

This was an Italian neighborhood.

Mob guys would sell us weapons with no problem.

Until it became a problem that we were using them out here.

- Yo, let me see that picture. - Okay.

[ Man ] I definitely know who that is.

Let me see that other book, the picture.

Oh, what's her name? Ah-- [ Men Laughing ]

[ Chattering ]

Yes, my name is Kay Born.

I knew Jamel for many years in the streets.

Especially the pictures in the book, I can relate with them...

'cause I came from there.

I understand where he's goin' with them.

And that's time in the making...

because a lot of them things that's in that book is repeating itself.

You know what the best thing was?

You could get away with no shoelaces, no lace in your sneakers...

in those days. And no socks.

[ Men Laughing ] And no socks.

[ Chattering ] Wow.

Lee suits. Good Cazals, man.

But look at the Lee suits, the pants and jacket.

- And they're coming back out. - Yeah, they are.

[ Kay ] How many dudes had a radio on their shoulder?

On the weekends, we used to go to the Deuce,

as you can see in this picture here.

We used to come out of the A train.

When you came out of the A train, you came up into the game room.

After you came into the game room,

you'd play some games, you'd watch the girls.

And there was always a group of girls that come through.

Man, you got to follow them to the movie theater.

- You all had fun that night. - No more beach days. We don't do this too much.

Yeah. I wish I was here.

I still got all my old-school pictures, a lot of 'em.

[ Kay ] So how do you feel about what was goin' on back then?

I miss it. Hanging out with my girls, goin' to--

My homegirls going to 42nd Street to the movies,

taking pictures, dressing like this.

I miss that. Nobody think-- Everybody thinks that's corny now.

I remember when he first started taking pictures.

He was a knockoff of everybody else. On the Deuce. On the Deuce!

He was a "son"-- He was a knockoff.

He was a "son" to everybody that was makin' money.

And they put him down.

- Easy, nice, brother. - [ Chattering ]

She looks familiar here. [ Chattering ]

- She looks familiar. Who's that? - She's from Ohio. Came up behind me.

- She looks mad familiar. - Justine or somethin', right?

There were still prostitutes in Lincoln Terrace Park.

But the pimps was the dreads. When I was coming up...

the Jamaicans had took over the pimping over there.

- Not really us, you know. - This guy right here.

She got out of town. He was doing good, man.

I saw him two years ago. Who you sayin' got dreads now?

Which one is that? Right here. Shorts.

We call him Shorts. Yeah, he got dreads now.

He was out here, but he just passed away earlier this year, yo.

Froggy Kev, man. Wow.

Brian was one of Jamel's-- Jamel used to teach Brian.

He used to teach Brian about being righteous and everything.

So he was, like, one of his first students.

That's why Brian is at the beginning of this book.

Maybe mid-'80s.

I gotta think it was the mid-'80s--

Brian and another guy, uh, got caught up in a little situation,

and, um, they got involved with a shoot-out...

at somebody's house.

And Brian got shot, and the cops came and arrested him,

put him in the car, and he died at the precinct.

He bled to death.

He got shot in his groin area. Yeah.

And they didn't believe him when he said he was shot.

So he ended up dying at the precinct.

And that was a big thing in the neighborhood.

Now, her, I didn't know that well.

But that was Brian's heart, I know that.

Kay, you know more about her? You say you know who that is?

Tanya? Uh-huh.

I grew up with Tanya. Very good.

Very good people. She has a beautiful daughter by Brian.

- I didn't know they had a kid. - They got a daughter together.

And that picture right there, she sure needs to see that picture.

I know if her daughter sees that picture, she might just be like, "Wow."

Because when you show these pictures right here...

that gives everybody a beginning,

and they be able to look back from where they came from.

[ Shutter Clicks ]

Jamel Shabazz.

He's the reason I went to powerHouse to get this book.

What's up? This is KRS-One.

And I'm talking about Jamel Shabazz's books and work.

This is the importance of Jamel Shabazz's work,

in my opinion as a hip-hop scholar.

I turn to history, not in its written text...

but in its graphic text in photographs.

This right here tells all the stories.

See, we forgot about the bike, the dirt bike.

This is before rims and cars and all of that.

The status symbol of a-- [ Stutters ]

true hip-hopper was one who had a--

what we used to call 'em-- dirt bikes.

And if you had a dirt bike, you was the cool--

It wasn't about a car. Nobody even thought they could have a car.

That wasn't even what it was about.

It was about a dirt bike plus--

These three people are chillin' for their times.

They got a boom box, dirt bike,

adidas, straight leg jeans.

These are probably Jordache, Lee,

Sasson, Levis.

These jeans in particular.

Now come up to the jacket.

Notice the stripes on the jacket.

Now go to my Criminal Minded album cover,

and you'll remember these stripes on the jacket, you can see--

Just like Run DMC popularized...

already-going-on fashions in the hood,

so did we, me and Scott La Rock.

And you can see this guy rocking a jacket similar...

to what would become the BDP jackets...

of Criminal Minded and the videos after that.

And this is hip-hop.

And Jamel Shabazz captures the culture, not just in written text.

Let's open the book up.

I'm trying to catch the sunlight on it.

Take a look at these pictures here.

You have three people here, three young men here.

How do we know that they're Five Percenters?

First of all, they're holding a picture...

of a guy named Clarence 13X.

Now, Clarence 13X was considered to be...

the founder of the Five Percenters,

a group of individuals that-- before you got into Islam...

there was this other kind of knowledge,

this kind of street knowledge,

offshoot of Islam kind of knowledge.

It was more about self-esteem,

more about raising you up from your condition...

that you happened to be in.

Clarence 13X had a falling out with Malcolm X.

And Clarence 13X was kicked out of the Nation of Islam.

But Clarence 13X went on to start a whole movement...

called the Five Percenters.

And these Five Percenters would--

They were called the Five Percenters because...

10% of people out there--

Whoa. Let me not give that knowledge away on camera like this.

Google it. Find out what's going on.

But what I will say though is that the pictures we are looking at...

is telling all of these stories right now.

These pictures are telling these stories.

But you have to be able-- You have to know what you're looking at.

To somebody else, this is just a regular dude right here,

doin' it right here, regular dude.

Three guys standing with pictures.

We are at the historic Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn,

and we are at an atmosphere or a location...

where the Nation of Gods and Earths back in the days...

held their Universal Parliaments.

So I'm gonna basically give you an idea of the history...

of the Nation of Gods and Earths from my perspective as a photographer.

You know, these are three generals, as I see it.

They were very prominent brothers in the Five Percent Nation.

Akbar, he was--

He came from the era of the Tomahawks in Brownsville,

and he was a community activist.

After leaving gang life, he became a member of the Nation of Gods and Earths.

And he directed his energy in trying to empower...

young men and women in the Brownsville area.

He was very instrumental in getting young men jobs in construction.

Unfortunately, Akbar died a few years ago.

One of my strongest images I've had of women in the Five Percent Nation--

'cause I really loved to document those sisters...

'cause they were very beautiful, intelligent, refined women.

They took great pride in themselves and in nurturing children.

So I took a picture here back in 1985...

of a group of Five Percent sisters, as they call themselves-- Earths.

And, um, it's just a group of an older sister,

and she has a group of younger women with her.

And she's like their mother. She's guiding them and giving direction.

I came upon these young men back in 1982...

I believe it was, on Flatbush Avenue.

These three young "gods."

And there was just something powerful about these young men.

And they had a picture of the founder...

of the Five Percent Nation, Clarence 13X.

I knew at that point, "This is a historic shot that needs to be captured."

And I knew these brothers from the community, seeing them often.

They allowed me to photograph them, and I shot them in a way...

that really captured the time.

'Cause at that particular point in the early '80s,

the Five Percent Nation was very strong.

[ Man ] Come on. Do it, brother.

What's up, man? How you doing? - Good, brother.

What's up? Lookin' good.

- Likewise. - Long time.

- Hold on. Let me get a go. - Come here, man.

[ Greetings Continue ]

This is my first book right here.

I remember the pictures here. I feel good about it.

It's an opportunity to get it out there.

'Cause I can't have this work by myself. I've got to get it out there.

I want to get a camera in your hand again 'cause I want you to shoot again.

You gave me my first camera. Wow, I did?

I don't remember that. Yeah, you gave me my first camera.

I gave you a camera. Yeah, you gave me a 35mm camera.

Definitely these pictures were the instrument that inspired me...

to start my own photography career.

But definitely Jamel, man, you the master. You caught it.

We used to be on the corner drinking and smoking--

Me, Mustafa, Ali, Brother Carl, Tony.

All of us would be on the corner, and Jamel used to always come by...

and just build with brothers and give us a good word...

and point us in a direction.

And due to that, at least nine brothers from the block...

ended up going into the Nation of Islam.

And a lot of those brothers are ministers...

and, um, security officers...

and high-ranking X-Men Security and things of that nature today.

Me, I went in myself, and I stayed in for about two and a half years.

Then I went into Connecticut,

and I was incarcerated from about 2000 to 2003,

then from 2003 to about 34-- precisely 34 days ago.

And you know it was-- Thirty-four days, wow.

And I would definitely say that it was due to your words of wisdom...

that held me tight and strong through a lot of things that I been through...

that I wouldn't even begin to discuss on the camera right now,

on the grounds that it might still incriminate me.

I understand. But through that...

I've been able to come back, man, with the word,

and apply that, and I'm here today...

meeting with my brother after-- How long has it been?

It's been about 10 years.

[ Jamel ] Back in those days, the mosque or temple, as they called it--

Temple No. 7 was on Utica and Eastern Parkway.

And I remember getting out of the train station...

and just seeing hundreds of dignified men...

in suits and bow ties, and I had to photograph...

because this is the closest thing I've had to the images of Malcolm X.

And even in reading his autobiography,

how the organization was described,

and just seeing it unfold in front of my eyes in 1980, it just blew me away.

What was very interesting also in my documentation of the Nation of Islam,

I would see young men who were under my wing in prison...

or going back to jail, who would join the ranks of the Nation of Islam,

and with the respect I gave them in the system,

they allowed me to document them, and then, like the streets,

the word would spread that I was a documentarian,

and people opened their doors to me and allowed me to photograph them.

And I would-- just like brothers in the street--

I would give the brothers copies of their photographs.

I never charged anybody,

and I would go on a journey to document that organization.

It's very interesting when you leave a prison atmosphere...

or a jail culture, and then you see the Nation of Islam.

For a lot of young black people, we saw hope.

We saw transformation, 'cause back then...

the Nation of Islam was one of the few organizations...

that was able to transform the lives of young men.

Many of them who were incarcerated came home changed,

and they would take on the philosophy,

the belief of a Muslim or Islam.

So I wanted to be a part of that.

And being I came from a community there...

where the Nation had its number one temple, Mosque No. 7,

a temple that Malcolm X...

was very instrumental in developing back in the days.

It wasn't the original location,

because the original location was on 116th Street.

But when Minister Farrakhan brought back the Nation of Islam,

he brought it to Brooklyn.

So Temple No. 7 was right in the heart of Brooklyn.

It was Utica and Eastern Parkway,

which was close to my home, so in my daily travels...

I would see members of that organization.

And a lot of them I met through the street.

Young men I went to high school with that converted to Islam.

And I would see them,

and in my conversations of being a photographer, I would engage them.

Just like I would photograph brothers in the street, the regular brothers,

I started to photograph the members of the Nation of Islam.

It was pretty easy because they were promoting their program.

A lot of my earlier photographs were pretty much members of the FOI--

the Fruit of Islam-- holding up newspapers.

Seeing them in downtown Brooklyn on the trains, I started to capture them.

And the Nation really inspired me to be a better photographer,

because going from straight-up portraiture on the streets,

the Nation allowed me to do documentary photography for the first time.

To really focus on shooting the Nation in a very different way.

I've been privileged to document the Nation of Islam,

the Five Percent Nation, the Masons, the Eastern Stars, the Shriners.

And it's very important that I do this here because it's all historic.

I'm not a Mason.

I don't belong to any particular organization. I am myself.

And I think that that has allowed me, again, to travel in different circles,

because I'm not biased as I approach different groups.

I'm able to engage them with an open and objective mind.

So I found that in going to the African American Day Parade,

it would put me in a position to confront people...

who really took great pride in themselves and wanted to be photographed.

What really moves me is to be able to give them their photographs.

I'm kinda curious-- A lot of young brothers...

are not joining the Masons in this day and time, is that true?

A lot don't know what it's all about. Okay?

This is why a lot of 'em are not.

A lot of 'em, like he say-- You work in the prison system.

And a lot of us-- Young brothers,

when we ask them about joining the Masonic,

and we tell 'em what the priorities happen to be,

and what they need, when you walk away,

they say, "Well, I can't join because I've been arrested or something."

You know. And that's what makes it so bad.

You got all the young guys is in the-- incarcerated.

I'm walking down the block today, and a police officer told a guy--

He said, "Why they blocking the block off?"

He said, "Oh, we are having an African Day Parade."

He said, "When are they having it?" Mmm.

And I'm saying, "Wait a minute, brother. Where you been?"

You know. That's what it is, man.

See, these are things that people don't know about,

because right now, this parade here has not been advertised at all.

I haven't heard anything about it. - It was in the Daily News.

The thing about it-- I was talking to a couple people the other day.

"What are you doing on Sunday?"

I said, "I'm going to march in the African American Day Parade."

"Oh, when is that?" "It's on Sunday."

"Where is it located at?" "Seventh Avenue and--

It starts from 112th Street all the way down to 141st Street."

I said, "You need to come out there, take a look."

[ Whistle Blows ]

♪♪ [ Drumming ]

[ Man Shouts ] [ Band Shouts In Response ]

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[ Whistle Blowing Rhythmically ]

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We did a show in the Adidas store in Berlin.

I'm looking at the date. It was 2002.

And, uh, I deejayed the party.

And it was a nice night, because a lot of the people from,

you know, I don't know--

The German hipsters came out, and it just-- it connected.

And they really appreciated his work.

Clearly, for the sneaker company it was a like a windfall,

because they were desperately trying to make this connection...

between, um, you know,

whatever was retro and whatever they were trying to do at the present.

We had curated a show, um,

in a museum in Rouen, which is Northern France.

It's kind of close to Lille.

And this was probably about seven or eight years ago.

And he had spent some time with the young people there...

and photographed a lot of the young kids in that particular area.

And Rouen was kind of, like-- It's a little ghetto.

So I think he was able to relate to that...

because it was representative of something he was familiar with.

You know, France is the second biggest consumer...

of rap music in the world, after America.

[ Rapping ] ♪ Zulu Nation, Korea, Jazzy Ivy ♪

♪ And it goes somethin' like this ♪

♪ Throughout the days of my life I get many inspiration ♪

♪ And many motivation through deep concentration ♪

♪ Tracing back to roots Yes, you know my D-N-A ♪

♪ It didn't only happen in this E-R-A ♪

♪ Let's see, Grandmaster Flash through Grandmaster Caz ♪

♪ The history is alive through Jamel Shabazz ♪

♪♪ [ Rapping In Korean ]

♪ Jamel Shabazz, you're my man ♪

♪ Keep on the planet rock Uno ♪♪

My first experience with the Back in the Days was 2005.

I got introduced through my friend, one of my greatest friends in Korea.

He's a deejay and old-school.

We were just, like, crazy about old school.

We were students, and first seeing thisBack in the Days--

Um, it blew my mind.

The whole concept, the whole visuals.

The people's posture, the face expression.

And the whole scenery, like, how Mr. Jamel Shabazz...

put in the Cazal glasses stores,

and the Superstar Adidas shouts...

were all over there with the price tags on.

And the sisters doing their lock pose,

showing the whole signs,

and brothers just doing their lock pose,

really, like, in a great structure.

Nowadays you don't see nobody doing poses...

all together, making these old-school shapes.

This photograph happened from Seoul, Korea,

when Jamel Shabazz made a visit to Seoul.

It was in 2008, just last year,

and it was my event called Seoul City Rockers.

As you can see in this picture,

we all have the collective group of Korean hip-hop.

This shows the whole aspect of it,

'cause we got myself emceeing, we got the beatboxer, the B-boys,

we got the hip-hop dancer, we got the street designer...

and the locker-- Everybody's all together in this picture.

It's amazing to see this 'cause it's not just one segment of hip-hop,

but we're all together, and we're doing the same pose at the same time.

As you see, everybody's emotionless. Nobody is laughing.

That shows, like, they fully understand what the cool pose is about.

The real cool pose was pride,

control and strength-- dignity.

Jamel Shabazz taught us so many stuff that--

People actually in this picture knew what cool pose was about.

Back in the Days is the forever classic of my life,

as a hip-hop book and just as a--

just as a life statement that it shows.

The whole thing is my inspiration. This is it.

[ Jamel ] When I look at them, I actually see their fathers...

I shot maybe 20, 30 years ago.

This is Miami. This is South Beach.

I just thought he was rather interesting with his gold fronts.

I love my young brothers.

It's just something about them. They are warriors.

And I see so much strength in them.

I was invited to the BC One B-boy competition in Seoul, Korea.

This is a respected group out of France called Pokemon.

This is at a national Saviours' Day convention...

in Rosemont, Chicago,

where the Nation of Islam holds their convention every year, February 26th.

I've been documenting the Nation of Islam for a good 30 years now,

inspired greatly by the work of Gordon Parks...

and his early documentation of the Nation back in the 1960s.

I saw this young man in Harlem.

And he knew me. He knew me well. He knew me from jail.

I asked him, "Where do you know me from, brother?"

He said, "You don't remember me? You know, I was--

I was with you on Rikers Island back in the '80s,

and I used to be in your housing area."

When he approached me I said, "Here we go.

He's going to ask me for money."

Seeing him in his red, I recognized that he was a Blood.

He was shocked that I didn't know him.

He said, "You used to give me books to read on George Jackson,

on the struggle, and you encouraged me-- you got me a job."

When I first saw him I assumed, here goes another person soliciting money.

And here this is an angel that reminded me...

of the impact that I had on the lives of other people.

And also not to judge.

He just gave me a whole greater sense of not judging.

♪♪ [ Marching Band Drumming ]

[ Whistle Blowing ]

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Back in the Days, boy!

Willie! Him--

Oh, shazam. [ Laughs ]

It's around the way. - It gets better, brother. Enjoy that.

I want you to take it. There's a lot of pictures in there. - Get out!

♪♪ [ Continues ] Get out!

I don't believe this, man.

Yeah, well, I've been doing my thing.

Jamel, I mean, you are on the money, man.

This is Back in the Days, son.

♪♪ [ Drumming Continues ]

♪♪ [ Continues ]

♪♪ [ Fades ]

See, I'm also a collector and fan of photography.

And I also was like, "Hey, man, I'd like to own some of those images."

So this is just four brothers in Brooklyn,

but that style and that attitude is something I'd know very well.

One of the things also, along with being good friends with Jamel,

and having looked at hundreds and hundreds of images,

because, you know, he invited me to his home several times.

And he just really would like, "Fab, I--" He wanted to show me pictures.

And when this brother begins to pull out work,

it is overwhelming.

I mean, there are thousands and thousands of pictures...

that each deal with certain genres,

like cool guys on the street.

Once again, it's just one of numerous categories of subjects...

that he's covered over the years.

Hookers on the streets. Pimps and players.

He's got a social activist type of work,

where he'll compose images that speak to the issues of the time.

[ Jamel ] Here we go, troops.

I still need a little bit-- crouch down.

If I could get a few crouched down. That's the shot!

There you go, a little old-school.

Here we go. Here we go.

All right.

[ Soldier ] We already been there. Wow, just-- Fallujah?

We're gettin' ready to go back. This is my book here.

- The old-school. I shot in the '80s. - That's you? I read that book.

A couple of these people in here, my mom knew.

- Park Hill? - Yeah.

- 280 Park Hill? - Yeah, around there.

- You know Phil Harris? - You know Porgy?

I don't know Porgy, but I was in the service with Phil Harris in 1977.

[ Chattering ] Dominicans are black too?

[ Jamel ] We all family. - Dominicans back in the days.

The Dominicans! - They got a Puerto Rican over here.

I'm gonna go give this guy his picture. He deserves it. World War I veteran.

- Do I have to pay for this? - No, no, that's for you. You deserve it.

- God bless you. - God bless you also.

[ Man ] Thank you. Great.

♪♪ [ Marching Band, Jazz Beat ]

Take one more. I'll give you my business card. You gotta call me.

'Cause I got a bad shot of you I took in your dress blues...

about maybe eight years ago.

[ Jamel ] Understand. Dude, I fight in a war.

It's the most honorable thing you ever could do in America.

[ Jamel ] Hmm. I got a paper coming out.

My paper comes out next week.

The name of it is "The Raping of America's Veterans."

[ Jamel ] Mmm. I'm gettin' ready to attack.

This parade, regardless what people think about it,

it's a very important part of history.

And the veterans, the black veterans, to me,

they helped to shape the foundation for a lot of our communities.

When a lot of men didn't find employment,

they went into the service, and they were able to come home...

and-and use those benefits,

and try to build an economic system for themselves.

Some of them went to war, got wounded,

mentally, psychologically, and they're still suffering today.

But for me as a photographer, I still find that it's necessary...

to document the lives of these men that went to war.

Whether I agree with the war or not,

the fact that they were put in situations where they were in war,

I just feel it's necessary to document.

The next year, you come to the parade and you show their picture...

to some of the soldiers, and you find that that soldier died.

So I find that to be really interesting as well.

And it makes me understand my purpose even more,

to have caught that very last picture of that person at that parade,

and to know that he's no longer here, so it's like it keeps that person alive.

Yeah, I remember. I remember that. - All right, guys.

- How you doing? - I gotta make a copy for all you guys.

That's history right there. - Oh, man!

Oh, yeah, that would be great. When did he take this, man?

[ Man ] Uh, two years ago. - About three years ago.

Two or three years ago. - Because--

- Yeah, 'cause what's-her-name has been gone three years, two years.

It had to be three years ago. - It had to be about three years ago.

Turn halfway, baby.

[ Jamel ] Ladies and gentlemen, let's go. Chests out, stomachs in.

How you doing?

My name is Specialist Duckson for the 445th Quartermaster Battalion.

Where are you guys located at?

Fort Dix, New Jersey. Fort Dix! Very good.

Hi.

I can't believe I met her. [ Stutters ] I can't believe it.

They are gonna love you at Fort Dix here.

This is incredible. You don't know. I'm looking at you--

I was looking like, "He looks familiar. I could have sworn-- I know him."

So have you been to Iraq yet?

No. Actually, I was lucky. - Okay.

Two days before we were supposed to had went out, we didn't go.

- All right. - But now I'm hearing we might be going out there.

♪♪ [ Marching Band ]

♪♪ [ Drumming ] [ Shouts ]

The pictures take on...

a much greater sense of importance...

because he's documenting...

aspects of urban life...

that, ultimately, cease to exist,

because as times change, we lose a lot of people to the struggle.

And it's like forgotten postcards of your youth.

[ Jamel ] Tragically, in a lot of my images, a lot of people have died.

So I want to just give homage to those who've passed away.

I want to show how women looked back then,

before the crack epidemic hit.

Tragically, a lot of the women fell victim to crack.

They were hit the hardest.

The prison population increased drastically...

throughout America behind crack.

As a correctional officer working on Rikers Island back in the early '80s,

I saw the whole transformation take place.

I want to just show that innocence at that time,

when love was the order of the day, when peace really meant something.

It just wasn't a slogan,

but it was something that was meant from the heart.

With Jamel Shabazz's photos, you get to see the root.

You get to see, like, this is where it comes from.

And these are just average everyday guys on the street.

And he photographed them with so much dignity.

And, you know, kind of blessed them with a kind of a royalty--

almost gave some of the images a mythic quality.

These images had a-- It was like a tsunami effect.

Now with 20 plus years of hindsight, when I look back,

especially with the understanding of how huge and impactful...

hip-hop culture has been around--

and still continues to be around the planet,

he's just one of those first kind of stepping-stones,

building blocks that we now have to look at and study,

and, like, get a sense of that life and that style.

It's just something that will luckily now live on for a long time.

[ Chattering ]

[ No Audible Dialogue ]

[ No Audible Dialogue ]

[ No Audible Dialogue ]

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[ No Audible Dialogue ] Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's my man.

[ No Audible Dialogue ]

[ Woman Over PA, Indistinct ]

That's Kor-Rock! [ Exclaims ]

You got Kor-Rock up in here! Oh, no! You got all the cats, man.

- Let me show you this here. Damn, let me get a copy of that.

Wow. Okay. [ Woman ] That's a nice man who bought it too.

Back in the Days. Look at that, brother.

I am, I am. Peace. We gotta build, brother.

If there's one thing I do, I'm gonna call you tonight, for real.

- All right, peace. - Peace out, man.

- Peace out. - Peace, brother.

Take it easy. Indeed.

♪♪ [ Drumming ]

Closed-Captioned by Captions, Inc., Burbank, CA

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[ Whistle Blows ] ♪♪ [ Drumming Continues ]

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