Pound the Pavement #28: 80 Logos and Icons From Hip Hop's Militant & Afrocentric Golden Age
Pound the Pavement #28: 80 Logos and Icons From Hip Hop's Militant & Afrocentric Golden Age
Josh MacPhee
Black Liberation / Art & Culture / Partner Publisher
In this issue of my ongoing Pound the Pavement series I've collected 80 logos and icons from hip hop's "golden age" of the 1980s and 90s, with a focus on the development of visual themes of social engagement. The zine traces the often contradictory and overlapping imagery of Black Power, Afrocentrism, peace and love, street hustling, and organized crime. The imagery is accompanied by an extensive introduction as well as notes and research about the acts/labels/designers.
“This zine is an homage to the emergence of political themes in early hip hop logos and design. Most are collected from old vinyl records, cleaned up as best I can. While some are slick and clearly produced by experienced designers, others are much more raw and have the feeling that they were drawn by the musician’s best friend or brother. We’ve got fists and guns, graffiti and cityscapes, pyramids and afro picks.” —Josh MacPhee
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Josh MacPhee is a designer, artist, and archivist. He is a founding member of both the Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative and Interference Archive, a public collection of cultural materials produced by social movements based in Brooklyn, NY. MacPhee is the author and editor of numerous publications, including Strike While the Needle is Hot: A Discography of Workers’ Militancy, An Encyclopedia of Political Record Labels, and Graphic Liberation: Image Making and Political Movements. He has organized the Celebrate People's History poster series since 1998 and has contributed to the art and culture of the campaigns of dozens of community organizations and unions.
Product Details
Published: September 2022
Format: Saddle-stitched
Size: 5.25 x 7.5 in
Page count: 48




Forthcoming, ships December 2026
Josh MacPhee
Preface by Grégory Pierrot
Art & Culture / Capitalism / Labor / Social Movements
In this short, graphic volume, Josh MacPhee explores the role of music and sound in the student and worker revolt on May 1968 in France through the lens of the vinyl records that emerged out of—and were produced to comment on—the struggle. From the chanson enrages that sung on the barricades, the birth of an independent and politicized music infrastructure in France, the explosive emergence of free jazz and rock scenes, and the enduring legacy and embedding of the sounds and aesthetics of '68 into experimental and pop music to this day, this book shows the impact of liberatory politics and action on our audio landscape.