Hip-hop began as the antithesis of high fashion: tracksuits and sneakers were all that kids could afford. Then hip-hop  took those low-cost clothes and made them trendy. Now hip-hop fashion entrepreneurs are making classic clothing. One might well ask, “What’s hip-hop about that?”

In the final episode of GIANT Magazine’s exclusive, six-part online look inside the creation of “DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop (Collins Design),” co-author Bill Adler and Ice-T discuss the evolution of hip-hop fashion.

Watch the video here:

PART ONE: Making Hip-Hop’s Classic Album Covers

More:

Click here for GIANT’s exclusive gallery of the book party for “DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop”

Click here to purchase “DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop”

Click here for book website: “DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop”

Hip-hop almost singlehandedly transformed the lowly sneaker into high fashion and a great canvas for design.

In part five of GIANT Magazine’s exclusive, six-part online look inside the creation of “DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop (Collins Design),” co-author Bill Adler takes you on a tour of some of the most outlandish kicks in the book, and Rev Run reminisces about how Jam Master Jay kept his sneakers on his feet back in the day.

Watch the video here:

PART ONE: Making Hip-Hop’s Classic Album Covers

PART TWO: Ice-T and Run Examine Hip-Hop’s Classic Album Covers

Guys are connected to cars,” says rapper/actor Ice-T, “because it’s usually the first toy we get.”

And hip-hop is connected to cars because of the power, freedom and individuality they symbolize.

Hip-hop’s ascent to the mainstream has had a huge effect on the relationship between America and the auto, from MTV’s “Pimp My Ride” to the Ford Flex. And the hip-hop auto aesthetic is something distinctive, say the authors of “DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop (Collins Design).”

Watch the video here, part four of GIANT Magazine’s exclusive, six-part online look inside the creation of “DEFinition,” a book championing the impact of hip-hop-inspired design on music, fashion, advertising, and more, featuring narration from author Bill Adler and cameos from artists like Ice-T and Run (of Run-D.M.C.).

PART ONE: Making Hip-Hop’s Classic Album Covers

More:

Click here for GIANT’s exclusive gallery of the book party for “DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop”

Click here to purchase “DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop”

Click here for book website: “DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop”

Cey Adams created some of hip-hop’s most memorable album covers as the art director for Def Jam Recordings in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Now Adams and former Def Jam publicist Bill Adler have created a book, DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop (Collins Design) that champions the impact of hip-hop-inspired design on music, fashion, advertising, and more.

GIANT Magazine gives you an exclusive, six-part online look inside the creation of this book, with narration from author Bill Adler and cameos from artists like Ice-T and Run (of Run-D.M.C.).

Here’s Part Two of the series!

PART ONE: Making Hip-Hop’s Classic Album Covers

More:

Click here for GIANT’s exclusive gallery of the book party for “DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop”

Click here to purchase “DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop”

Click here for book website: “DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop”

Cey Adams created some of hip-hop’s most memorable album covers as the art director for Def Jam Recordings in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Now Adams and former Def Jam publicist Bill Adler have created a book, DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop (Collins Design) that champions the impact of hip-hop-inspired design on music, fashion, advertising, and more.

GIANT Magazine gives you an exclusive, six-part online look inside the creation of this book, with narration from author Bill Adler and cameos from artists like Ice-T and Run (of Run-D.M.C.).

PART ONE: Making Hip-Hop’s Classic Album Covers

More:

Click here for GIANT’s exclusive gallery of the book party for “DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop”

Click here to purchase “DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop”

Click here for book website: “DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop”

Prepare for the deluge of coffee table books that have the words “Barack Obama” on their front cover in 2009. Just as ridiculous as some of the memorabilia that have our new President’s visage stamped to it, I cannot wait to see what publishers will think up to cash in on our first African-American President. Quick to the plate are three publishers with a solid product.

HarperCollins presents Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs, edited by Dr. Deborah Willis with an essay from Kevin Mirada of the Washington Post. Willis is a professor of Photography and Imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. She pulled together images from various sources: from professional photojournalists to students on cell phone cams at the various rallies. The result is a well-orchestrated, somewhat familiar, visual ride through the man’s campaign.

Powerhouse Books presents Yes We Can, shot by award-winning photograher Scout Tufankjian. Noted to be the only photographer to have followed Obama from the very beginning of the campaign to its victorious end, the book is a very personal view of the man and his inspirational effect on the people around him.

Triumph Books offers a little bit more with The Rise of Barack Obama, shot by Pete Souza, covering Obama from his first day in the US Senate through the Pennsylvania primary. Souza, the official photographer for former President Reagan, has accompanied Obama to seven different countries including Russia, Kenya and South Africa. Alongside the images, many unpublished, Souza includes personal notes from that moment to lend an added depth.