We’re back in Brooklyn, DUMBO to be exact and this time we are kicking it with Vikki Tobak. Vikki is a journalist, producer and the author of Contact High: A Visual History of Hip-Hop. In this episode we talk about growing up in Detroit, her photography moment, working with Gang Starr, working at Paper Magazine, interviewing Diddy when he was on the come up and her journey to Contact High.
About Vikki
VIKKI TOBAK is a journalist whose writing has appeared in The Fader, Complex, Mass Appeal, Paper, i-D, the Detroit News, Vibe, and many others. She is a former producer and columnist for CBS MarketWatch, CNN, Bloomberg News, TechTV, and other leading media organizations. Vikki is also the founding curator of FotoDC’s film program and served as the art commissioner/curator for the Palo Alto Public Art Commission in Silicon Valley. She has lectured about music photography at American University, VOLTA New York, Photoville, the Library of Congress, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.
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(excerpted from Vikki Tobak’s introduction)
Photographs, like music, are imprinted onto our collective consciousness. Both define our individual and cultural identities and help shape how we view the world and ourselves. In the case of hip-hop, a medium that encompasses so many transformative moments from politics to race to style, both the visuals and the music become a part of us. It’s not just that one powerful song that has a way of getting under your skin, it’s also the visuals that equally captivate, and stick with us for years to come. It’s the union of hip-hop visuals and music that we honor in this book.
Contact High spotlights the photographers who have played critical roles in bringing these visuals onto a global stage. By tracing a timeline of almost forty plus years of hip-hop culture through contact sheets, one gets a rare glimpse into the creative process. Organized chronologically, Contact High stands as a visual archive of hip-hop-an intimate look at the making of the imagery that shaped the sound.
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Show Notes
- Medium
- “It is a photography book but it is a storytelling book.” Vikki Tobak Quote
- Kazakhstan
- Stevie Wonder
- Stevie Wonder – For Once In My Life
- Aretha Franklin (RIP…we miss you)
- Aretha Franklin – I say a little prayer – YouTube
- Hitsville U.S.A.
- Motown
- House Music
- Detroit House Artists
- Sister Sledge
- Sister Sledge – We Are Family – YouTube
- Marvin Gaye
- Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On – YouTube
- Public Enemy
- Chuck D Interview With Vikki Tobak
- Pentax K1000
- Nell’s (Club)
- Paper Magazine
- Chi-Ali (Rapper)
- Clark Kent
- Stretch Armstrong
- Just be curious…
- Kim Hastreiter (Paper Magazine Co-Founder)
- David Hershkovits (Paper Magazine Co-Founder)
- Underground culture
- HipHop culture
- Uptown
- Sean Puffy Combs
- Biggie Smalls
- The Notorious B.I.G. – “Hypnotize” – YouTube
- Mary J. Blige
- Mary J. Blige – Family Affair – YouTube
- Jodeci
- Jodeci – Come & Talk To Me- YouTube
- “Life is not a game.”
- Neale Easterby
- Patrick Moxey
- Payback time: Patrick Moxey and Neale Easterby on Payday Records’ global relaunch Article by Andre Paine
- Payday Records
- Patrick Moxey Relaunches Classic Hip-Hop Label Payday Records: Exclusive Article by Dan Rys
- Gang Starr
- Gang Starr – Moment Of Truth
- Guru (RIP)
- Gang Starr – Manifest – YouTube
- Jeru The Damaja
- Gang Starr – I’m The Man (Feat. Jeru The Damaja) YouTube
- Group Home
- Group Home – Livin‘ Proof – YouTube
- Public Relations- You protect your artist and have their backs
- Director of Publicity and PR
- Jamil Diaz
- Xavier De Nauw Photographer
- Danny Hastings Photographer
- Five-Percenter
- Part of the ether
- Knowledge, wonderful, mathematics & alphabet
- There will be no google
- Ernie Paniccioli Photographer
- Public Enemy
- The importance of 7
- Hard to Earn
- You get that decisive moment
- Telling it like it is and being direct
- The right hand person and their importance
- Playing mental chess
- CNN, CBS, and Bloomberg
- Creating, collaborating, and believing in something
- Having good instincts
- Vikki Toback on Mass Appeal
- Navigating around the media training
- Keep scrolling for more show notes…
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Show Notes Continued…
- One Love One Photo: Photographer Esther Anderson Early Bob Marley Photos
- How you treat the archives?
- What are the iconic images?
- Who are the photographers?
- Janette Beckman on photographing styles upon styles of early A Tribe Called Quest
- Gordon Parks
- Jamel Shabazz shares his Journey to Documentary Photography– New York Said Episode
- The book is going to be produced as an exhibition in April 2019
- Annenberg Space for Photography – CONTACT HIGH: A Visual History of Hip-Hop is an inside look at the work of hip-hop photographers, as told through their most intimate diaries: their unedited contact sheets.
- Hotboxing
- To tell a story and present it well
- Photoville
- Celebrity culture
- So this book is about the photographers
- Questlove
- Swizz beats
- Blue Note Covers
- Undon
- Things Fall Apart
- Jenni Zellner
- Nas
- Nas and Tupac Photo
- Lisa Leone
- Illmatic
- Robert Whitman talks photographing Prince Pre-Fame and the Common Humanity
- Keepers Of The Underground: The Hiphop Archive At Harvard
- Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Highlights Hip-Hop Archives
- Cornell Hip Hop Collection
- Google Cultural Institute
- A Great Day in Hip Hop
- Nov. 7th 2018 Event A Great Day In Hip Hop: A Visual History 20 Years Later by SchomburgCenter for Research in Black Culture
- Have a conversation with the people you are photographing…a tip from Jamel Shabazz
- Integrity of the culture
- FotoDC
- Barron Claiborne Cinematographer
- THE DAY BIGGIE SMALLS WAS CROWNED “KING OF NEW YORK”
- Belly
- Malik Sayeed
- Andrew Das Senu
- Juice Film
- Adger Cowens
- Bradford Young
- Ava Marie DuVernay
- Haile Gerima
- Howard University
- Queens in the house
- Live Squad
- Stretch (rapper)
- Live Squad – Heartless | Official Video
- Stay with what you love and give it power
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We would love to hear your thoughts on the episode. Leave a comment on the Apple Podcast app and don’t forget to rate the show.
This episode is sponsored by Gorilla Coffee.
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