The sometimes controversial, historically accurate and wildly entertaining Hip Hop Family Tree–a comic strip by Ed Piskor–has been a mainstay at Boing Boing for several years. The weekly strip chronicles the birth of hip hop music, and follows it’s pioneers through their origin stories from the 70s and 80s.
The eagerly anticipated second volume of the New York Times bestselling Hip Hop Family Tree is in stores, now — as well as a gift box set which includes an exclusive 30-page mini comic about Spike Lee, Eazy-E, and comic book legend Rob Liefeld.
I had a chance to speak with Ed about how his now-famous strip began.
Blake Northcott: First of all, can you tell me a little bit about how you started in comics – where did you go to school, and what was your first published work?
Ed Piskor: I’ve drawn comics forever. Professionally I’ve been in the game for 10 years.
The guy who gave me my start with my first published work was a dude named Harvey Pekar, who is sort of famous for a comic he did called American Splendor. In 2006 they made a movie about him, where Paul Giamatti actually played Harvey. So he never got more popular than he was right there, and it was really cool that he gave me that chance.
I was just sending my favorite cartoonist some of the strips that I was making, because I kept getting rejected from publishers and stuff. Rather than just getting feedback, which is what I expected, he offered me work. That sort of got the ball rolling for my career.
BN: Hip Hop Family Tree has a very unique art style that looks golden-age inspired, and also has the texture of the old comics from the early ’80s. Was this always your vision, or did you have other ideas stylistically on how you wanted this series to look?
EP: It was always the vision for this particular project. I want everything I do to look a little bit different. And for the Hip Hop Family Tree, I wanted it to have a vibe that was ripped directly from that time period I’m talking about, so I needed it to look like it was from the ’70s or ’80s.
I wanted it to look a little weather-beaten and faded, so the look and feel of the book is pretty close to how I saw it in my head when I first conceived the idea.
Are…are you God?
BN: Huffington Post and The Source have praised you for the research and accuracy in Hip Hop Family Tree – and I just read that The New York Times Book Review said you had an “aficionado’s eye for details and connections.”
Do you get all your information through the internet and articles, or are some of the anecdotes given to you by people in the music business?
EP: For the first book a lot of the references that I used were from found sources, so I used interviews, documentaries, books, and lectures series.
But after the first book came out and the series got a bit more established online, then at that point, I had access to a lot of people I could ask questions too. So now its created a rich texture to the narrative where I can fill in gaps by asking different people.
BN: Have famous people you’ve illustrated and written about in Hip Hop Family Tree approached you? And have you ever had a complaint about the accuracy or just generally how someone was portrayed?
EP: Yes actually, a bunch of people who I had portrayed have come out of the woodwork and expressed almost unanimous praise. There really hasn’t been anybody who has come at with me glaring or negative. I try to be as faithful as possible to the story, and so nobody has called me out in a negative way.
BN: There seems to be an infusion of hip hop talent in comics – 50 Cent, Eminem, The Wu Tang Clan…the list goes on and on. When do you think the connection between comics and hip hop started, and do you think this trend is going to continue?
EP: Yes. It’s funny, I have a whole lecture and presentation that I give about this very subject; when we talk about hip hop I’m talking about the different elements like graffiti, break dance, rap, DJing…there is clear evidence of the mid ’70s that graffiti artists were inspired by the comic artists with the cartoony images they were painting on trains. Particularly this cartoonist named Vaughn Body who if you look at all the books of subway or train art, you’ll see a lot of his work painted on trains. So that’s a good place for it to have started.
BN: I’ve heard your enthusiasm for hip hop only came into question and became an issue for certain people after the O.J. Simpson trial. Can you tell me about issues you might have had with race when it comes to hip hop culture, or being the writer and artist on Hip Hop Family Tree?
EP: Yes, the thing about the O.J. stuff that was going on at the time, it was more than just about hip hop. There was a divisive energy in the air, that made kids more aware of race. Whereas the previous summer, it was nothing.
Now, being a white person making the Hip Hop Family Tree comic, I do see that I kind of get tested…or that people may be suspicious or whatever.
When I step in front of people on a stage to do a presentation like I explained earlier, I am pretty sure I win everyone over. Nobody leaves with a sour taste in their mouths as far as I can tell. But the funny thing is, it’s almost never black people that have any kind of trouble, it’s always liberal white people who are like “who do you think you are to make a comic about rap culture?” and “you’re appropriating this culture!” and yadda yadda yadda…
BN: That must be difficult to deal with.
EP: Honestly it’s not! Because if they push things and its obvious they don’t want to listen to what I have to say, then I just become a brat. And I say “Ok listen: I’m going to sacrifice you as a reader, so I have Chuck D as a reader. Grandmaster Flash as a reader. They like my comic. I’m going to stick with them and sacrifice your readership.”
We really hope he was wearing the Pirates cap in reality.
BN: And finally, tell me what your favorite comic book is right now, and what’s the best comic book movie you’ve seen this year.
EP: Umm…I confess that I haven’t been keeping up with comics or anything like that. I always seem to dig into old boxes and find ratty older comics that seem to inspire me. Right now I’ve been looking at Warlock, by this guy Jim Starlin. It’s a very 1970s, trippy, psychedelic comic, that looks like it’s made by enthusiastic fans rather than comics professionals. So I like the rawness of them.
For the first time in years I did get to go out to the theater this summer and catch some flicks. And my favorite would have to be the Sin City movie, just for the visuals. I like the stark black and white, coupled with the 3D. And the separation of all the layers in that stark black and white.
But as far as the stories go to all of these flicks…they are just kind of like popcorn things that you go to see with your friends to have fun. It’s important to not take that stuff too seriously.
BN: Thank you so much! Where can we find you online, and where can everyone read Hip Hop Family Tree?
EP: I usually put new comic strips up every Tuesday on Boing Boing. And if you google my name, Ed Piskor, you’ll find my social media stuff.
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Find Ed on Twitter and at his homepage, and pick up Hip Hop Family Tree volume one and 2–as well as the gift box set–at book stores everywhere.
Whoa…we had this exact dream last night.
Blake Northcott is an author, Twitter-er, and occasional Slayer of Vampires (only the ones that sparkle).You can follow her on Twitter or pick up her best-selling sci-Fi/superhero book Arena Mode over at Amazon.com.
Robots? Comics? Punk babes? …is this heaven?