Hip Hop Collection/Conzo Archive

Investigator: 

Steve Pond, Music and Travis Gosa, Africana

Collaborators: 

Katherine Reagan, Cornell University Library

Collection Type: 

Arts & Sciences

Year: 

2012

Archive of Joe Conzo, Jr.

Four black men sharing two mics in a club

Founded in 2007, Cornell’s hip hop collection is now the largest archive on early hip hop culture in the United States. A key foundational element of the collection is an assemblage of photographic prints by Bronx photographer Joe Conzo, Jr., taken between 1977 and 1984. Conzo is one of the few photographers known to have captured the early years of hip hop on film. Online access to the collection will be of interest to multiple disciplines, including art, art history, dance, music, American Studies, Africana. One of the project goals is to provide learning and teaching materials for a new Cornell course on hip hop.