Ricky Powell:prolific NYC street photographer, book author, host of "the hippest-ever TV show" Rapping with the Rickster . OG Talk

OG Talk NYC Ricky Powell is a photographer who specializes in the environmental portrait. He is well known for his intimate photographs that have been featured in The New York Times, the New York Post, the Daily News, The Village Voice, TIME, Newsweek, VIBE, The Source, Rolling Stone, and many other publications.

 Oh Snap!: The Rap Photography of Ricky Powell featured 88 photos, 53 of which were in full color. Powell's first book, “Oh Snap!” was a ten-year retrospective of some of the best known rap and hip hop artists of all time, including old school rappers Public Enemy, Run DMC and LL Cool J to some of the biggest stars of the day.

The Rickford Files: Classic New York Photographs was Powell's second work, featuring what he considered “the real New York”, beyond the tourist glaze of Times Square and the deteriorating Greenwich Village.

Frozade Moments: Classic Street Photography of Ricky Powell is a book of postcards consisting of candid snapshots of celebrities, local luminaries, and lowlifes that offer a view of New York City. The celebrities include Madonna, Jam Master Jay, KRS-One, Frankie Crocker, Andy Warhol and Flavor Flav.

With Public Access: Ricky Powell Photographs 1985-2005, Powell celebrated two decades of capturing moments in his signature style, documenting much of the early era of hip-hop and presenting the actors, musicians, performers, and artists that inspired him, including Method Man, Doze Green, Bill Adler, Slick Rick, Run DMC, Eric B & Rakim, Keith Haring, Steven Tyler, Barbara Walters, Cindy Crawford, Eazy-E, and Fab Five Freddy. These photographs are distributed amongst graffiti splattered renderings by Lee Quinones, Ron Galella, Ron English, and others. Powell depicts a nostalgia for New York's back-in-the-day with universal downtown cool with sentiments from Zephyr, Charlie Ahearn, Glenn O'Brien, and Zoe Cassavetes. 

The original Rappin’ With the Rickster aired from 1990–1996, as Powell interviewed numerous stars on the show including: Russell Simmons, Doug E Fresh, Harold Hunter, Kool Keith, Rahzel, Laurence Fishburne, and Cypress Hill.[9]

With his Public-access television show, Powell became the face of New York's downtown party scene, connected to both musical and visual artists such as Sonic Youth, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Russell Simmons, Harold Hunter, Dondi White, and Sofia Coppola.[10]

“Rappin’ With the Rickster” often has been called the world's hippest-ever public access TV show, as Powell gave insight into the artistic phenomena of the day, with an excess of candid footage, impromptu interviews, and a vision of Powell's New York. Powell considered the show “a time capsule of someone growing up in Manhattan during that era and being around the music scene”.

A DVD collaboration with long-time friend and respected graffiti artist Brian Nobili on “Rappin’ With the Rickster”, released in 2010, was declared a must-have by Juxtapoz

https://www.rickypowell.com/