LL COOL J Presents The Streets Win : 50 Years of Hip-Hop Greatness

Co-authored by Hip-Hop legend LL COOL J, acclaimed journalist Vikki Tobak and Rock The Bells’ editorial director Alec Banks, this momentous volume celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the influential culture, sound, and preeminent voices of American Hip-Hop music.

LL COOL J Presents The Streets Win commemorates the birth, rise, and progression of Hip-Hop’s culture and its indisputable impact on American music over the past fifty years. Vikki Tobak, Alec Banks and LL COOL J reveal the journey of this music genre through rarely seen photographs of Hip-Hop from its inception, from block party performances to street shots, parties, sessions at recording studios, and more. The imagery is accompanied by first-person recollections from Hip-Hop’s MCs, B-Boys, graffiti artists, and DJs who share how they fell in love with Hip-Hop, broke into the business, their artistic and personal style inspiration, and their views on Hip-Hop’s culture and music. Stories are told by icons DJ Kool Herc, Salt-N-Pepa, MC Lyte, KRS-One, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Grandmaster Flash, Run-D.M.C., Beastie Boys, De La Soul, Slick Rick, Public Enemy, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Nas, A Tribe Called Quest, Big Daddy Kane, Fat Joe, DJ Khaled and more.

Each page features a treasure trove of images by celebrated Hip-Hop photographers including Joe Conzo Jr., Ernie “Brother Ernie” Paniccioli, Jonathan Mannion, Janette Beckman, Estevan Oriol, Jamel Shabazz, Mike Miller, Clay Patrick McBride, and others who documented the growth; ephemera such as album covers, notebook drawings, and lyrics; party announcements; street scenes; clothing; and graffiti art. This definitive volume of the most important origin stories from the last fifty years of Hip-Hop is the perfect gift for music and photography fans.

MEDIA REVIEWS

"A beautifully illustrated homage to 50 years of hip-hop in the words of the icons who were there at the beginning. Includes rarely seen images and recollections from Salt-N-Pepa, Public Enemy, Run-D.M.C., Mary J. Blige and more. Peep Ludacris as a cutie child on page 288." — ASSOCIATED PRESS

"Celebrate half a century of a revolutionary musical movement with “The Streets Win: 50 Years of Hip-Hop Greatness,” an LL COOL J joint that brings together stunning photography, illuminating artifacts and intimate testimonials from many of the people who took rap music from a Bronx block party to the world stage." — THE NEW YORK TIMES

"And finally, equally as epic is LL Cool J Presents: The Streets Win, 50 Years of Hip-Hop Greatness, a photographic encyclopedia of the art form and the legends who birthed it, like DJ Kool Herc, to today’s titans, like Jay-Z." —Neil Patrick Harris, WONDERCADE

"For the culture! On the 50th anniversary of the birth of Hip-Hop, rap statesman and entertainer LL COOL J adds to the celebration with this book that traces the journey of the genre that shaped music, fashion and culture. It’s filled with icon stories from all the greats, as well as photos from back-in-the-day block parties, street scenes, album covers, graffiti art and music videos." —MANSION GLOBAL

"Presented under the auspices of rap’s first G.O.A.T., LL COOL J, and his Rock The Bells enterprise, [The Streets Win] is part coffee-table book—replete with both rare and truly iconic imagery of hip-hop’s elder luminaries—and part Who’s Who reference book with contextualizing entries for each person pictured. Through a focus on the individual players and participants who gave shape to what we know today as hip-hop, it lovingly tracks hip-hop’s beginnings and development through the early 2000s. Oversize and weighty, it reflects the culture’s bombast with its scale." — AIRMAIL

"...this glossy Rizzoli book chronicles [hip-hop] history in photos, interviews and essays." — WSJ. MAGAZINE

"In their new book, LL COOL J Presents The Streets Win: 50 Years of Hip-Hop Greatness, author, journalist, and music photography curator Vikki Tobak and the editorial director of LL Cool J's Rock The Bells Alec Banks celebrate hip-hop's 50th birthday by highlighting the culture, sound, and voices that created the genre." — COMPLEX

"Through the eyes of two-time Grammy award-winning artist LL Cool J, and co-authored by Vikki Tobak and Alec Banks, this commemorates half a century of hip hop with more than 150 images from the genre’s most celebrated photographers." — FINANCIAL TIMES, HOW TO SPEND IT

"Grammy Award–winning Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee LL COOL J, journalist/music-photography curator Vikki Tobak (Ice Cold: A Hip-Hop Jewelry History), and journalist/Rock the Bells editorial director Alec Banks use vibrant imagery and firsthand accounts to tell the story of how some of hip-hop’s prominent voices first came to know the genre in this eye-catching photobook. Most of the pictures are a mixture of energetic action shots during performances; portraits of the subjects also loom large in one- or two-page spreads. Readers will learn that Pepa of Salt-N-Pepa was inspired by Run DMC and that Ludacris fell in love with hip-hop after performing an LL COOL J song during a talent show in fourth grade. In other stories, performers and DJs discuss their childhoods, what keeps them going, and their perspectives on the culture. Refreshingly, there are also recollections either from or about graffiti artists, album-cover designers, clothing designers, and studio owners. VERDICT - A treat for hip-hop fans of all ages." — LIBRARY JOURNAL

"In his new book The Streets Win: 50 Years of Hip-Hop Greatness, rapper and actor [LL COOL J] celebrates the history of the genre, which, he says ‘facilitated all my dreams.’” — PEOPLE MAGAZINE "This eye-catching survey…spotlights important players in hip-hop history, from the 1970s, when skeptics believed the genre “had the same shelf life of a carton of milk,” to the moneymaking phenomenon enmeshed in today’s popular culture. [The book's] all-star lineup and the treasure trove of photos...bring to vivid life the energy and history of hip-hop." — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY