Lyle Owerko
The Boombox Project: The Machines, the Music, and the Urban Underground

On the heels of the graffiti renaissance comes a vibrant look at an old-school icon that figured prominently in the hip-hop, rock & roll, and punk movements of the 1970s and 80s. The Boombox Project features contemporary fine art portraits of an array of vintage boomboxes, as well as scores of documentary photographs of the people who brought the boombox movement to life.

The book is more than just a collection of images: it is also an oral history of the early days of hip-hop, featuring memories from Fab Five Freddie, Bob Gruen, Rosie Perez, Kool Moe Dee, LL Cool J, Lisa Lisa, DJ Spooky, Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys, and others on the role this once ubiquitous machine played.

Photographs by Lyle Owerko. Foreword by Spike Lee. Published by Abrams Image, 2010. Hardcover, 160 pages, 9 x 11 inches.