Danny Simmons & Floyd Hughes – ’85

I’m not so interested in covering the business activities of the families of rappers or hip hop business people which is why I’ve generally ignored Rev Run’s little cash cows, though they’re off to an impressive start.  However Russell Simmons’ big brother Danny Simmons, along with artist Floyd Hughes, has released a graphic novel ’85, based on his novel Three Days As The Crow Flies, that takes place in a scene that has long held my interest from a distance, first of space, then of time.

Downtown 81 starring Jean-Michel Basquiat

Though ’85 doesn’t sound like it has any hip hop focus per se, that was a key time for crossover activity between the hip hop scene and the East Village art scene.  The biggest artists associated with graffiti, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, did not have a significant association with hip hop but traditional graf artists did briefly crash the gallery system and a few went on to build significant bodies of work within that system.

Which reminds me that I need to move Downtown 81 further up my Netflix queue.

More on Danny Simmons:
Check the Corridor Gallery site or hit the book signing Saturday, February 23rd at 6 pm [334 Grand Avenue, Brooklyn].

I couldn’t find a decent Floyd Hughes site.

More on Jean-Michel Basquiat:
Peep the Brooklyn Museum’s Street To Studio.