“Back it the day they used to call it droppin’ science…”

Jamel Shabazz holds an impromptu cypher outside of Powerhouse Arena bookstore in Dumbo, Brooklyn. In this clip he talks about the experiences that shaped his seminal book— ‘Back in the Days’. As much as it is a freeze frame of period photography, it’s a haunting look at a time before crack infested neighborhoods—a testament to the war on drugs and so many of the lives it took from the inner city.