Urban Styles: Graffiti in New York Hardcore, the first book from author Freddy Alva, is a subterranean adventure back to a time when subcultures and underground movements blended seamlessly and went largely unnoticed by the mainstream world.

Urban Styles deftly straddles the seemingly in congruent worlds of graffiti culture and the hardcore punk scene of the 1980s to tell the story of a unique moment in time when crossover between the two outlaw cultures was a common, if not heralded, occurrence.

Urban Styles chronicles a gritty New York City and its boroughs while telling the stories of forgotten revolutionaries who were as familiar with stealth runs through train yards as they were slamming on the CBGB dance floor. Through an array of iconic images and first-hand accounts; interviews and essays, Alva compiles a history of youth culture that reinforces the connection between these two subcultures and shows the symbiotic influences shared by both hip-hop and hardcore. This tale is told through the eyes and memories of band members that were adept at wielding spray cans and the writers that represented New York Hardcore on the streets.

Urban Styles features the voices of those who shaped both a sound and a movement and the visual iconography of a vibrant outburst of color amidst a greying, urban decay. A number of illuminating stories and examinations of culture are told by NYHC veterans like Chaka Malik, Mackie Jayson, Lord Ezec, Sacha Jenkins, and a host of others who populated the NYHC scene of the 1980s and 90s. Crews and members are represented as well, along with the first writers who played in bands.

There is a plethora of exclusive images, most never seen before, and some done specifically for the book. It is a history culled from record and demo tape covers, flyers, t-shirts, and paintings that celebrates the union of these two uniquely New York street cultures and shines a spotlight on two artistic movements that have gone on to have world-wide influence on today s mainstream culture.

Author: Freddy Alva
Publisher: DiWulf Publishing
Pages: 352pp
Size: 7 x 10 x 1.5
Notes: softcover, color
Release Date: November 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-0991344741