Drama & Flava

Acclaimed photographer Jamel Shabazz of best-selling hip-hop photo book Back in the Days is the go-to set and fashion styling photographer for films (Planet B-Boy), episodic series (Harlem, Luke Cage), and fashion spreads for magazines and sites from the U.S., Europe, and Asia. For the first time ever, a direct line is drawn between Shabazz’s groundbreaking early work (the styling and fashion of the late 1970s through the early 1990s) through his recent editorial work for Vogue, The New York Times, DAZED, The New Yorker, W Magazine, Cultured Magazine, Brooklyn Magazine, The Art Newspaper, and many more.

Jamel Shabazz, photographer, artist, and mentor, burst upon the photography and Hip Hop scene some 25 years ago with the groundbreaking book, Back in the Days (still in print, btw).Over the course of the next few decades, Shabazz’ influence grew over more photo books (A Time Before Crack, Seconds of My Life, Last Sunday in June, even a coloring book based on Back in the Days), along with major editorial commissions from the words top magazines and pop culture sites.

Wanting to emulate the effortless style, hip poses, and slaying looks Shabazz achieved in Back in the Days (a bible of Hip Hop style and fashion), fashion spread editors and stylists hired Shabazz for the shoots, only unauthentically style the session, in the process achieving what they wanted for their spreads, but leaving Shabazz feeling…something was lacking. He dialed back the directives, and went to town on his own dime with his subjects (many famous or soon-to-be- famous), collaborating with them in trademark Shabazz fashion with accessories, backdrops, locations, clothing pieces, poses. The result is a breathtaking line between the raw and electric street shoots of the 1980s Back in the Days with the sophistication, polish, and elegance of his film and fashion shoots of the 2010s. The result is what you see now: “The Drama is the attitude and the Flava is the style,” says Shabazz.

Traveling back in time and forward across continents, ‘80s photo shoots backdropped by graffiti, boomboxes, Kangols, Adidas, and chains give way to present day cutting edge fashion in Paris, New York, and Tokyo. Joyful everyday people smiling and posing juxtaposed with sophisticated, artsy portraits of celebs including Dapper Dan, Spike Lee, Slick Rick, Naomi Campbell, Coco Mitchell, Nicola Vassell, Eugena Washington, Camila Alves, Alicia Keys, Swizz Beatz, Noémie Lenoir, Dan'ee Doty, Liu Wen, Alex Santy, Yasiin Bey, Venus Williams, Yasmin Warsame, Kylie Jenner, ILfenesh Hadera, Elvis Nolasco, Slick Rick, and Selita Ebanks. A cross-generational masterpiece featuring a foreword by Kenneth J. Montgomery and essays by historian Carlton Usher, professor Elena Romero, and photographer and writer Diana McClure, Drama & Flava is a love letter to everyday Black fashion and style. It’s pure Jamel Shabazz, man and spirit.