BETWEEN HIP & HOP

From its humble beginnings, Normski recorded the rise of hip-hop culture as it became a global phenomenon

- Kim Bunermann

Normski

Norman Anderson, otherwise known as Normski, is a British photographer, DJ and TV presenter. Growing up in London, he began documenting the early days of hiphop culture in the UK and USA. His work has been exhibited in Tate Britain and is part of the permanent collections at the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture. normskiphotography.com @mistanormski

This year marked the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, the music and social movement born in The Bronx district of New York and comprising the ‘Four Pillars’ of DJing (or turntabling), rapping (MCing), graffiti (writing) and breakdancing (B-boying). From its early days, hip-hop became a social movement for disaffected urban youth across the USA, before hitting the UK and Europe in the mid-1980s.

Norman Anderson, aka Normski, was one of the pioneers of the UK hip-hop scene. As a youngster growing up in a Jamaican family in north-west London, he was fascinated by hip-hop. After trying breakdancing, he spent his time documenting the movement with a Kodak 126 Instamatic camera his mother had bought to cheer him up when he was ill.

From travelling around the US and the UK taking pictures of a genre on the brink of world domination, Normski then presented BBC ‘youth TV’ shows Dance Energy and Def2, and turned his hand to DJing, but it is his talent for interacting with people, his eye for detail and empathetic approach that make Normski’s photographs a unique record of the hip-hop genre. Now he has compiled a book, showcasing over 200 images from the scene, with artists such as Run DMC, Public Enemy, NWA and others.

You have captured some of the most famous hip-hop artists with your lens. How did you first get into this genre?