About Jamel Shabazz: Born in Brooklyn (1960), Shabazz is a photographer, youth activist and long-time member of the New York City Department of Corrections. Active as a photographer since age 15, he came to prominence with the publication of his first book, Back in the Days (2001), a document of New York’s early hip hop scene (1977-82). He has since published two further books, The Last Sunday in June (2003) and A Time Before Crack (2005), excerpted here. Ken Johnson, writing in the New York Times, has described Shabazz, who lists Robert Capa, James van der Zee, Chester Higgins and Eli Reed as amongst his early influences, as “the best kind of photojournalist: one driven simply by curiosity about other human beings”. Jamel Shabazz lives in Long Island, New York.