Celebrating 50 Years of Hip-Hop With Janette Beckman’s Archival Photography

By Stadium Goods | August 11, 2023

Look into the archives of one of hip-hop’s earliest documentary photographers on the genre’s 50th birthday.

Zack Schlemmer

Above photo: Run DMC in New York City, 1988

This August Stadium Goods has partnered with FARFETCH to celebrate 50 Years of Hip-Hop with special editorial and video features, product curations, and much more that illustrate the direct and unmatched influence of the music genre’s cultural impact on sneakers and streetwear throughout the years.

As part of this celebration, we teamed with legendary photographer Janette Beckman, one of the pioneering documenters of hip-hop culture from its early days in the 1980s to the present. KRS-One, Run DMC, LL Cool J—you name an emcee or group from the “golden years” of hip-hop and Janette probably snapped at least a few photographs of them.

To bring things full circle to today’s hip-hop landscape, Janette shot the photos of up-and-coming rappers Bktherula and midwxst for the Stadium Goods x FARFETCH collaborative campaign, 50 Years of Hip-Hop: A Style Story.

Stadium Goods also worked with FARFETCH to create a list of 12 Seminal Sneakers From Hip-Hop History, a curation of all the most significant sneakers in hip-hop from 1973 to today.

We hope you check out and enjoy those stories, but we’re not finished yet. Today is August 11, the date in 1973 when DJ Kool Herc mixed and looped records on two turntables at a back to school party in the Bronx, NYC, effectively creating a new genre of music—a genre that over the last 50 years became one of the biggest cultural movements ever in American history and beyond.

So let’s take it back to the early days with a special set of Janette Beckman’s photographs that she was kind enough to share with Stadium Goods for this special celebration. You’ll see in these priceless documents of hip-hop culture that trends change, but one thing is always true when it comes to looking good: fresh style, and especially great footwear, always matter.

For more on Janette Beckman’s career and more of her hip-hop photography, you can check out her official website here.

B-boy dancing in a pair of adidas Superstars

Run DMC and crew - Hollis, Queens, 1984

Salt-N-Pepa, Lower East Side, NYC, 1986

MC Lyte, Master T, Big Drew, and K Rock - Brooklyn, 1988

Classic NYC street style, word to the ultra high-top fades!

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