Based on the Respect magazine essay "The Game Changer" by Sheena Lester Narrated by Sheena Lester.
In 1998, XXL Editor-in-Chief Sheena Lester and the magazine's staff set out to create a hip-hop remake of Art Kane’s legendary 1958 Esquire magazine photoshoot known as “A Great Day In Harlem."
Kane's image featured 57 of the greatest jazz musicians of the time gathered around the stoop at 17 West 126th Street in Harlem. That image remains one of the greatest moments in jazz music history, and the talented team at XXL was looking to pull off the same for hip-hop at the very same place consecrated by jazz 40 years prior.
This five-part series features firsthand accounts from many of those involved in this wildly ambitious/borderline impossible idea, including former XXL staff members and a range of artists, journalists, photographers, and cultural luminaries. With the venerable Gordon Parks recruited behind the lens and 177 rappers in front of it, what they ultimately achieved—the photograph known as “A Great Day In Hip-Hop”—is among the most monumental artifacts in hip-hop history. This year marks the 25th anniversary of that once-in-a-lifetime occasion, and for those who assembled, it remains "The Greatest Day."
The immersive series is produced by Mercury Studios and Fresh Produce Media.
Executive Producers: Barak Moffitt, Daniel Seliger, Jonathan Rheingold, Colin Moore and Jason Ross
We begin the episode with a revelation that flips the entire script– Gordon Parks is suggested as photographer! The groundbreaking photojournalist, and symbol of African-American creative genius, is perfect, but will he do it? Convincing a masterful legend like Mr. Parks to shoot a hip-hop photo turns out to be quite the challenge, but Sheena and the team won’t take no for an answer. This wasn’t the only hurdle facing the team, it turns a competitor is interfering with the shoot, attempting to sabotage.
