Normski: Man with the Golden Shutter (New Book Alert)

“The difference between Normski’s photograph of me and any other is that it captures my soul.”—Goldie

Normski was a vital witness to the period known as the Golden Age of Rap, when big US artists like Run DMC, LL Cool J and Public Enemy started to play in the UK. At the same time, a British music scene born of Black music and myriad multicultural influences was developing, giving birth to Jungle, Garage and Techno.

The author, who describes himself as having been a “young Black British homeboy photographer”, was in the right place at the right time to document the emergent music community and social movements of hip hop and rap in the UK. Normski: Man with the Golden Shutter presents Normski’s personal journey through that world from the mid-1980s to early 1990s. As Marcus Barnes stares in the book’s foreword, “Normski didn’t just document the culture as an outsider looking in; this was not an anthropological study by someone disconnected from the movement.”

This was a highly creative individual who was part of the culture, recording everything he saw from the inside. As a result, Norm also has an array of fascinating stories and some hilarious insights. As someone who was on the frontline at the genesis of a period that inspired a whole new generation; creatively, politically and socially, he speaks first-hand about his adventures, the characters hemet, the zeitgeist of the time and the pure, undiluted energy that paved the way for so much of what’s happening today.”The book includes Normski’s often previously unseen photographs of Public Enemy, N.W.A., Cypress Hill, De La Soul, Goldie, Ice-T, Run DMC, Wu-Tang Clan and many others, alongside the photographer’s stories and anecdotes from the center of what would become a hugely influential cultural movement.

About Normski: Norman Anderson, better known as Normski, is a leading authority on urban and contemporary culture, and has had a prolific career in the fields of music, television, photography, fashion and journalism. Combining his talents for vision and music, Normski’s photographic credits have flown the world; his photography on the theme of the “Black British experience” has been exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He has worked and consulted for all the major record companies, as well as producing and directing music promos for many UK and U.S. companies. Anderson’s career includes a plethora of host and presenter appearances, spanning across television, radio, and international live events.

Get your copy of this unique piece of Hip-Hop history right HERE.

Published by ACC Art Books.