'The picture man': photographer Polo Silk showcases three decades of New Orleans rap in new book and gallery show
 

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If he didn?t write it down, Polo Silk can usually tell when he took a photograph.

?The way I?m able to tell the years most of the time,? he says, ?if I hadn?t gotten it marked, is by the tennis shoes.?

Sthaddeus Terrell ? aka Polo Silk, ?The Picture Man? ? has spent three decades photographing New Orleans on the streets, in the club, and on the stage. What started as a late-night business to capture club goers in their latest outfits has made him the de facto photographer-of-record for New Orleans? then-emerging rap and bounce scene, a vital record of Black New Orleans chronicled in the early days of a vastly influential cultural movement.

A showcase of his photos from those scenes are on display at Antenna (3718 St Claude Ave.) and inside a new book, Pop That Thang!!!, a history of New Orleans rap, fashion and culture captured in rare, intimate portraits of the people who made it.?