Here I Am: The Roots of Hip-Hop

Carlos Rodriguez, AKA Mare139, is an artist who first rose to fame in the golden age of subway graffiti (1975–1985). He produced a metal "K" sculpture in 1985, which led to a series of large-scale sculptures that were true to graffiti lettering format, but folded into space. His sculptures have been exhibited internationally, and his work is seen annually in the award he designed and created for the BET/Black Entertainment Awards show. Along with Fab 5 Freddy and others, he was featured in the “Art in the Streets” exhibition at MOCA Los Angeles in 2011.

Born Fred Brathwaite, Fab 5 Freddy, was one of the first graffiti artists to exhibit his paintings internationally.  Along with friends and contemporaries Futura 2000, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and others, he was instrumental in getting the art world to recognize that New York graffiti was spawning an international art movement. He has directed numerous videos and commercials for artists like Queen Latifah, Nas, Snoop, and for companies such as Pepsi. In the late 1980s MTV invited him to host YO! MTV Raps, which immediately became the highest-rated show on the channel. He was featured in the “Art In The Streets” exhibition at MOCA Los Angeles in 2011. Fab has lectured at schools and universities around the world, and has written for publications including Vibe, XXL, and the New York Times magazine. He is the author of Fresh Fly Flavor: Words and Phrases of the Hip Hop Generation.

Bronx-born Lisa Leone’s images are infused with sound and motion, pointing to what would become her multi-faceted way of seeing through both still photography and cinema. A student of the acclaimed High School of Art and Design in New York, Leone was later mentored by filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, and brings her rich experiences to the next generation through her position as VP of Artistic Programs for the YoungArts Foundation in Miami. Hip-hop music, dance, art and fashion are presented in Here I Am (Minor Matters), the first monograph of Lisa Leone’s photographs. From Nas in the first studio recordings for what would become Illmatic to Snoop on the set of his first video, from ingénue Debi Mazar hanging on the stoops of the West Village to Grandmaster Flash at a RockSteady reunion, Leone’s photographs open portals to the sounds, places and, most important, the people who forged and continue to influence the energy that is hip-hop.

Rosie Perez made her acting debut in 1989 as a key character in Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing; she was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for best supporting actress in 1993 for Fearless, and has appeared in countless films, TV shows and stage productions since. She has choreographed, receiving three Emmy nominations, and directed music videos and stage shows for such performers as Bobby Brown, Diana Ross, LL Cool J and others. Her memoir, Handbook for an Unpredictable Life: How I survived Sister Renata, My Crazy Mother and Still Came Out Smiling with Great Hair! (Random House) is a story of survival. At the age of three, Rosie’s life was turned upside down when her mentally ill mother placed her in a Catholic children’s home in New York’s Westchester County. She brings her journey to life on each page of this memoir—from the streets of Brooklyn to her turbulent years in the Catholic home, and finally to film and TV sets and the LA and New York City hip-hop scenes of the 1980s and ‘90s. By turns heartbreaking and funny, it is ultimately the inspirational story of a woman who has found a hard-won place of strength and peace.