或許是HipHop歷史上最隆重的一張全家福

前言：

你熟悉下面這個片斷嗎？

你還記得XXL雜誌那幅超過百位饒舌大咖合影的經典封面嗎？

1998年9月29日，攝影師Gordon Parks同將近100位的饒舌歌手，在17E 126th St. in Harlem拍攝了一張珍貴的合影」A Great Day In Hip-Hop」，以此向40周年的——於1958年8月拍攝的照片」Great Day in Harlem」致敬。這張照片最終被作為XXL雜誌1998年12月刊的封面，儘管有紀錄片的記載（這部紀錄片已在我的微博上「那些有故事的HipHop微電影」板塊推薦給大家，歡迎移步觀賞，鏈接見下），但關於這張照片背後，還是有著一些不為人知的故事。

紀錄片第一集：http://weibo.com/p/23044457e5fd186fcf02d838b32a427e1ce248

紀錄片第二集：http://weibo.com/p/230444aa2de5ef0380390177aeb18b923b0b81

紀錄片第三集：http://weibo.com/p/230444bb5ef923ebec67ba2a630d4214dbf4d1

本文的作者為Michael A. Gonzales，曾經在」Wax Poetics」, 「One More Robot」, 「Vibe」, 「The Source」, 「XXL」, 「Spin」, 「The Village Voice」, 「Complex」上都有過作品的HipHop編輯，並多次採訪過HipHop歌手。1998年9月29日，作為那一場合影的親身參與者，他和他的女朋友Lesley，從第一視角談了關於那一天難忘場景的記憶。

原文名為」XXL』s A Great Day in Hip Hop: 16 Years Later」，寫於2014年。

正文：

註：文章中的「我」多為作者Michael A. Gonzales。

Back in 1991, when I was in my late 20s, I was good friends with a talented photographer named Alice Arnold. A short white chick from California, she knew more about jazz than most black people our age, including me.

回到1991年，當我20多歲的時候，我有一個相當有天賦的攝影師朋友，她叫Alice Arnold，一個加州的白人小姑娘，可她比我們這個時代的大多數黑人更加的了解爵士音樂，當然包括我在內。

「A Great Day in Harlem」及拍攝人物站位

One evening, while chilling in her Lower East Side apartment, she asked me if I had ever seen Art Kane』s photograph 「A Great Day in Harlem.」 Although I』d been raised on those uptown streets, I was ashamed to admit that I had no idea what she was talking about. However, when Alice showed me the reproduction of Kane』s picture, I realized it was the same image I』d seen for years in Harlem barbershops, bookstores, and record shops.

一天晚上，當我在Alice的Lower East Side的公寓里休息，Alice問我有沒有看過Art Kane的攝影「A Great Day in Harlem」。雖然我一直面對著那些街道，但我不得不羞愧地承認，我並不知道她說的是什麼。然而，當Alice給我看了「A Great Day in Harlem」的複製品後，我才意識到，這些是哈林區的理髮店、書店和唱片店。

「It was originally shot for a jazz issue that Esquire did in the late 』50s,」 Alice explained, passing me the print. Staring closely at the picture, I recognized a few of the legends posed in front of the Harlem brownstone. There was Dizzy Gillespie sticking out his tongue, Count Basie sitting on the curb with a bunch of kids and my favorite wild man pianist Thelonious Monk looking iceberg cool in his white jacket.

「這原本是一套爵士系列， 由Esquire雜誌在50年代末拍攝，」Alice解釋說著並把列印件遞給我。我一邊緊緊盯著照片，同時認出了這張照片中的一些傳奇人物。有Dizzy Gillespie伸出了舌頭，Count Basie和一群孩子坐在欄杆上，以及我最喜歡的狂野鋼琴家Thelonious Monk在他白色夾克中冷酷的面容。

Still, while I was aware of the picture, I knew nothing of its deep history until three years later when former radio producer Jean Bach directed the Academy Award nominated documentary A Great Day in Harlem. While everyone involved, with the notable exception of perpetually grumpy Charles Mingus, seemed to be having a blast, there was no way they could know that the photo would become a lasting artifact that continues to inspire musicians, jazzbos, and photographers.

然而，當我意識到的照片背後的深層歷史的時候，已經是三年以後了，（1995年）前電台製作人Jean Bach執導的紀錄片」A Great Day in Harlem」在the Academy Award獲得提名。所有人都參與進來，當然脾氣暴躁的Charles Mingus永遠例外。他們似乎沒有辦法知道，這張照片將會成為一個永恆的東西，持續的激勵著音樂人、愛好者和和攝影們。

Forty years after the photograph was shot, my girlfriend Lesley, who had recently opened her own publicity firm, came home excited one evening and told me about a meeting she had that afternoon at Harris Publications, the parent company of the rap magazine XXL. Under publisher Dennis Page and editor Sheena Lester, the year-old magazine had been holding its own alongside The Source and Vibe, its two main competitors. 「XXL wants to do a remake of A Great Day in Harlem photograph except with rappers,」 Lesley said, 「and they want me to work with them to do it.」

這張照片拍攝的40年後，我的女朋友Lesley，最近開辦了自己的廣告公司，她說她興奮了一個晚上，並告訴我，她下午開了一個會，XXL雜誌的母公司Harris Publications，XXL雜誌的出版商Dennis Page和編輯Sheena Lester在會議上對她說，為了和兩大競爭對手」The Source」和」Vibe」雜誌展開競爭，「XXL雜誌希望以"A Great Day in Harlem"為藍本並將饒舌歌手們融入這張照片中，」Lesley說，「同時他們希望我能和他們一起做。」

「You can』t be serious,」 I snickered. Having written about hip hop culture for years, I knew how hard it was to get one artist or group to a photo shoot on time, let alone getting a bunch of rappers to show up on some Harlem block in the middle of the day. Realizing that she wasn』t joking, I reeled in the snark and remained silent. Flopping down on the couch, I thought about how my friend and respected cultural critic Harry Allen had defined 「hip hop as the new jazz」 in The Village Voice a decade earlier. Although at time I didn』t really understand what Harry was talking about, I was drawn to the historical poetics of the line itself.

「你不可能是認真的，」我竊笑。我寫了多年的HipHop文化（可是為什麼他寫了這麼多年的HipHop還能找到女朋友），我知道讓一個藝人或團體準時來拍攝照片是多麼的難，更別說讓一群說唱歌手同一天出現在哈林區街頭了。但當我意識到她並不是在開玩笑，我沉默了。我想到我的朋友（Alice Arnold），和令人尊敬的文化評論家Harry Allen對於「HipHop會成為新時代爵士」的定義。十年前。雖然當時我真的不明白Harry Allen在說什麼，但我被這以新的的歷史詩學所吸引。

However, when Lesley mentioned XXL』s plan to photograph the hip hop generation in the same spot, it all began to make sense, at least in my mind. Like jazz, hip hop had come from the bottom of the popular culture heap. Although jazz was once, as essayist Michael Molasky put it, 「the music of choice for aspiring artists and intellectuals with an anti-authoritarian bent,」 by 1998, hip hop had replaced be-bop as the soundtrack of artistic rebellion.

然而，當Lesley提到 XXL計劃的讓這些HipHop人物在同一地點出現在照片中，這一切開始變得很有意義，至少在我的心裡是這樣的。像爵士樂一樣，HipHop已經從流行文化的底部逐漸走上先鋒。雖然爵士樂曾經，就像散文家Michael Molasky說的，是「有抱負的藝術家和知識分子與反極權主義傾向選擇的音樂，」但到了1998年，HipHop已經逐漸取代成為波普藝術反叛的配樂。

「So,」 I asked Lesley, 「who are they going to get to shoot it?」 She stared at me blankly, shrugging her shoulders. 「Maybe they should try to get Gordon Parks.」 As soon as I』d said the name, Lesley smiled and her eyes got bright. At that moment, Parks – the pioneering black photographer who also directed films 「Shaft」, 「Leadbelly」 – had been in the public eye constantly. The previous year, there had been a career retrospective at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., as well as a documentary on HBO about his work.「

所以，」我問Lesley，「是誰去拍攝他們呢？」她茫然地盯著我看，聳聳肩。「也許他們應該嘗試去找到Gordon Parks」，當我說出這個名字，Lesley笑了，她的眼睛變得明亮。在那一刻，Gordon Parks——這個黑人先鋒攝影師，指導了電影」Shaft」和」Leadbelly」——已經不斷出現在公眾的視線中。前一年，Gordon Parks曾在華盛頓的Corcoran Gallery of Art進行生涯回顧展覽，同時HBO為其工作拍攝了一集紀錄片（紀錄片名為」Half Past Autumn: The Life and Work of Gordon Parks」）。

——Photographer Gordon Parks (1912 - 2006)

However, as Sheena Lester would later admit, getting Parks to agree to the project took some convincing. After turning down XXL twice, Lester appealed to Parks』 artistic ego. 「I told him, not only do we want you to take this picture, we believe that no one else should take the picture.」 Finally, Parks agreed.

然而，正如Sheena Lester後來承認到，得到Gordon Parks的同意，其中採取了一些極具說服力手段。 在拒絕了XXL雜誌兩次後，Sheena Lester給予了Gordon Parks強烈的藝術自尊，「我告訴Gordon Parks，我們不僅要你拍這張照片，我們相信沒有人能夠拍得了這張照片。」最後，Gordon Parks同意了。

For the next few months, Sheena and Lesley, along with their respective staffs that included deputy editor Miles Marshall Lewis and publicist Biff Warren, worked diligently towards the shoot date of September 29. Contacting artists, making numerous trips to Harlem, and obtaining permits became a daily endeavor.

在接下來的幾個月，Sheena Lester和Lesley，以及各自的工作人員，包括副總編輯Miles Marshall Lewis和經紀人Biff Warren，向著在9月29日這一拍攝日期努力工作。日常的努力包括了聯繫饒舌歌手，多次探訪哈林區，以及獲得拍攝許可證。

For some reason I had already decided that I didn』t want to attend. In my mind, the whole was going to be chaos and I wanted nothing to do with it. But the morning of the photo shoot was one of the most beautiful of the year. Sunshine streamed through the first floor windows inside our Chelsea apartment as the chattering weatherman on The Today Show claimed that the temperature high would be 71 degrees. Shortly after Lesley left for the day, I somehow came to my senses and realized that I was being foolish. As a journalist and hip hop historian, I knew if I weren』t there for the picture, I would regret it for the rest of my life.

因為某種原因，我已經決定，我並不想參與其中。在我的腦海里，這整個會是一副極其混亂的場面，我想與它脫開關係。但照片拍攝的那個早晨是一年中最美麗的一天，陽光從我們的Chelsea公寓一樓的窗戶直灑，The Today Show的天氣預報顯示當天溫度最高是71華氏度（20攝氏度出頭）。當Lesley離開之後，不知怎麼，我意識到我的想法是愚蠢的。作為一名記者和HipHop歷史學家，我知道如果我不在拍攝照片的地方，下半輩子我一定會後悔。

As a Harlem boy born a few blocks away from the brownstone where Art Kane shot the ensemble of jazz musicians in 1958, I knew firsthand how much the community had changed in the 40 years since the original picture had been taken. The neighborhood had been through riots, blackouts, heroin, and the crack years.

作為一個哈林區出生的男孩，出生在當時拍攝」A Great Day in Harlem」的幾個街區遠的地方，我知道在拍攝照片的40年以來，社區發生了多少改變。這裡已經經過了很多次的暴動，管制，海洛因。

但就像Rakim說的，」It was a blessing; I』ll never forget that day.」

Getting out of the taxi in front of 17 East 126th Street, I wasn』t surprised to see that one of the brownstones was sealed up, with the windows and doorway bricked closed. Seeing Lesley talking with the head of the Fruit of Islam security, I stood to the side, wondering why the street was so empty. 「I thought you weren』t coming,」 Lesley said, kissing me on the cheek. 「I was afraid I might miss something,」 I laughed. 「It』s 11 AM. Where is everybody?」 Pointing to a massive church on the next block, Lesley explained, 「That』s where everybody is staying until it』s time to take the picture.」

在到17 East 126th Street下計程車前，我並不驚訝地看到一幢赤褐色砂石建築褐被封了起來，在窗戶和門口用磚砌封閉。看到Lesley與伊斯蘭教安全成員的頭兒在交談著，我站在一邊，不知道為什麼整條街是如此空虛。「我以為你不來了，」Lesley說，並在我的臉頰上吻了一下。「我擔心我會錯過一些東西，」我笑著說。「現在是上午11點。大家都在哪裡？」Lesley解釋說，「在隔壁街區的大教堂里，」每個人都呆在那裡，等到時間再來拍照片。

Walking down the street to Metropolitan Community Methodist Church, I was suddenly overwhelmed by the excitement of the moment. Already I could see Kool Herc, members of the Wu-Tang Clan, Russell Simmons, Grandmaster Flash, Kool Keith, Pete Rock, and The Roots. Walking into the church』s basement, I saw more familiar faces, including Fab 5 Freddy, A Tribe Called Quest, Fat Joe, Debbie Harry, MC Serch, and countless others. 「Everybody stopped what they were doing to be here today,」 Wyclef Jean observed. 「That is the power of hip hop.」

走在去Metropolitan Community Methodist Church的街上，我無時無刻不感到十分激動。我已經看到了Kool Herc, members of the Wu-Tang Clan, Russell Simmons, Grandmaster Flash, Kool Keith, Pete Rock, 以及The Roots。走進教堂的地下室，我看到了更多的熟悉的面孔，包括Fab 5 Freddy, A Tribe Called Quest, Fat Joe, Debbie Harry, MC Serch和其他人。「每個人都停止了他們正在做的事情在今天來到這裡，」Wyclef Jean說，「這就是HipHop的力量。」

Over the next couple of hours folks begin to gather, often greeting one another like long lost relations at a family reunion. Blondie producer/guitarist Chris Stein asked writer Amy Linden to introduce him to Mobb Deep. Media assassin Harry Allen was smiling widely, calling out to Daddy-O. Big Gipp from Goodie Mob was chatting with Busta Rhymes. 「I don』t think society thought we would make it this far,」 said Queen Pen, one of the few female rappers to show up. 「I think they thought we were going to come in like a fad and leave.」

在接下來的幾個小時內，人群開始聚集，像是一場家庭聚會，長期失去聯繫的朋友們相互打著招呼。金髮製作人/吉他手Chris Stein詢問作家Amy Linden將自己介紹給 Mobb Deep。媒體刺客Harry Allen笑得很開心，大聲叫喚著Daddy-O。從Goodie Mob成員Big Gipp正在和Busta Rhymes聊天。「我不認為公眾會認為我們能走的如此之遠，」當日出現的幾位女性饒舌歌手之一的Queen Pen說。「我人們會認為我們像一個風潮一樣，最終的結局是離開。」

With all the commotion, chatter, and conversation in the basement of the church, I drifted outside where the street was covered with publicists, writers, Fruits of Islam members, friendly cops, and loads of artists. Like the old school rap fan that I was, I got excited when I saw DJ Hollywood, Rakim, and Slick Rick.

教堂的地下室里有著躁動，喋喋不休和無休止的談話，我去街道上轉悠，那裡也滿是評論家、作家、伊斯蘭教成員、友好的警察和許多藝術家。我就像一個老派說唱的狂熱粉絲，當我看到DJ Hollywood, Rakim和Slick Rick，我就抑制不住我的興奮。

At some point, Gordon Parks showed up and the rappers and other folks started moving towards the next block. As Russell Simmons and Nelson George helped direct the crowd of over a hundred artists to move towards the three doorways, I went and sat on the stoop behind where Parks was preparing. Rhyme legend Rakim told me years later, 「Earlier, I had sat down and kicked it with him. Then, I just stood around and listened to him talk and watched as people showed him love. I just wanted to stand by him, bro. It was a blessing; I』ll never forget that day.」

在某一時間，Gordon Parks出現了，並與說唱歌手和其他人開始走去隔壁街區。Russell Simmons和Nelson George幫助引導超過100位的饒舌歌手們走過三道門，我坐在門廊里看到Gordon Parks在做著準備。押韻傳奇Rakim多年後告訴我，「早些時候，我已經坐了下來，同他一起。然後，我只是站在那裡聽他說話，看著人們給予他充分的支持。我只是想站在他身邊，兄弟。這是上帝的賜予，我永遠不會忘記這一天。」

While most people knew who Gordon Parks was, I wondered if they understood that the soft-spoken and cultural warrior who had snapped shots of Malcolm X and Grace Kelly, was a regal fighter from Fort Scott, Kansas who had also come, much like themselves, from nothing, and shaped himself into an icon. Though separated by more than a few generations, Parks understood these 「kids,」 knew their pain, shared their desire to be heard and seen by the masses. Parks recognized that these new jack revolutionaries had selected rhymes and rhetoric, turntables and technology as their 「weapons of choice」 in the same way he had chosen the camera.

雖然大多數人都知道Gordon Parks是誰，我想知道他們是否明白，軟性的口頭武器和曾經拍攝過Malcolm X和Grace Kelly的文化勇士，就像一個從堪薩斯斯科特堡（Gordon Parks出生於此）出來的皇家戰士，就像他們自己，從沒有過什麼，卻形成了自己的圖騰。雖然相隔幾代人，Gordon Parks明白了這些「孩子們」（1998年拍攝照片時，Gordon Parks已經86歲高齡，因此完全可以稱呼這些饒舌歌手們「孩子」），知道他們的痛苦，分享他們的願望，由群眾聽到和看到的。Gordon Parks承認這些New-Jack革命者選擇押韻和修辭，轉盤和技術作為自己的「首選武器」，就像以同樣的方式，他選擇的是相機。

Suddenly, people started clapping loudly. Turning around, I saw rapper (Reverend) Run, formerly of Run–D.M.C., walking up the street, just in time. As the rowdiness soon turned to calm, a strange hush came over the block. As Harry Allen said earlier that great day, 「What this says is what I』ve always believed, is that black culture is a continuum of black people: of our will, of our will to live and to be heard. That is what today represents. Everybody is going to get together for one picture and what it says is, 『I was here, these are my brothers and sisters and this is what we did. We changed the world.』」

突然，人群之中掌聲雷動。轉過身來，我看到說唱歌手，曾經Run–D.M.C.的成員Reverend Run (Joseph Simmons)，(Reverend) Run正好來到了那條街上。當吵鬧很快轉為平靜，一種奇怪的氣氛在街區蔓延。正如Harry Allen早些時候說的那樣，「這是我一直相信的，黑色文化是一個黑人思想的延續：我們的意志是存在和被發現，這就是今天所代表的，每個人都會聚在一起為了這一張照片，它所訴說說的是，『我在這裡，這些都是我的兄弟姐妹，這是我們所做的，我們改變了世界』。」

Looking at the scene across the street, the three stoops covered with hip hoppers from the East, the West, the South, and everywhere in between, I experienced a sense of pride I still can』t describe. Home on the streets of Harlem, I truly felt as though I was part of that collective dream known as hip hop, and that afternoon was truly a great day. Seconds later, Gordon Parks took the shot.

看著我對面街道的場景，三組從東岸、西岸和南部，以及從中間其他地方趕來的饒舌歌手們，我經歷了一種無以名狀的自豪感。在哈林區街頭的家，我真的覺得我好像是那個共同的HipHop夢想的一部分。那天下午，真是美好的一天。幾秒鐘後，Gordon Parks按下了快門。

留下了這樣的一張經典全家福。

【高清圖請戳這裡下載：http://pan.baidu.com/s/1kUL4fXH】

這是當天各位饒舌歌手們的拍攝站位。

【附錄：所有參與拍攝的饒舌歌手名單】

01. Mack 10

02. Rakim

03. Fat Joe

04. E-40

05. Slick Rick

06. Wyclef Jean

07. Jermaine Dupri

08. Goodie Mob

09. Black Moon

10. Freddie Foxxx

11. Shaq

12. Fab 5 Freddy

13. Kasino

14. Channel Live

15. Pras

16. Peter Gonz

17. Flipmode Squad

18. Naughty By Nature

19. Shyheim

20. Kid Capri

21. Utfo

22. Xzibit

23. Da Brat

24. Willie D

25. The Lox

26. Nice & Smooth

27. Ed OG

28. Common

29. A Tribe Called Quest

30. Poor Righteous Teachers

31. Onyx

32. Cannibus

33. De La Soul

34. DJ Scratch

35. Russell Simmons

36. Eightball & Mug

37. The Beatnuts

38. Tha Alkaholiks

39. Lord Jamar

40. DJ Muggs

41. Queen Pen

42. Peewee

43. Hieroglyphics

44. Grandmaster Caz

45. Schoolly D

46. Awesome Two

47. Andre Harrell

48. Jazzy Jeff

49. The Roots

50. Kurupt

51. Crucial Conflict

52. A+

53. Ultramagnetic MC』s

54. MC Eight

55. Wu-Tang

56. Jungle Brothers

57. D Nice

58. Special K

59. T La Rocks

60. Chuck Chillout

61. Kid Creole

62. Milk

63. MC Shan

64. Marley Marl

65. John Forté

66. Heather B

67. Black Star

68. Saafir

69. Cocoa Brovaz

70. Cam』ron

71. Blahzay Blahzay

72. MC Serch

73. Big L

74. Scarface

75. Luke

76. Grandmaster Flash

77. Blondie

78. Kool Herc

79. Paula Perry

80. Jayo Felony

81. No Face

82. Twista & The Speedknot Mobstas

83. Nikki D

84. DJ Nabs

85. Jane Blaze

86. Kris Kross

87. Daddy-O

88. Tela

89. Pete rock

90. Parental Advisory

91. Loon

92. DJ Hollywood

93. MC Breeze

94. Kool Moe Dee

95. DJ Clue

96. Richie Rich
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