Filmmaker Taps Spike Lee for ‘The BoomBox Project’ Book

New York based director and photographer Lyle Owerko is taking a look at the evolution of the boombox -- the actual stereo, not our site -- in relation to hip-hop culture by way of the new book 'The BoomBox Project.' Alongside filmmaker Spike Lee, who wrote the forward, the book includes portraits of a range of vintage boomboxes as well as documentary photographs of people noted for breathing life into the musical movement.

Although a picture can tell a thousand words, Owerko uses more than just photos to tell this story. Hip-hop pioneers Fab Five Freddie, LL Cool J, Kool Moe Dee and Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys are among the musicians offering personal accounts of the now antiquated machine's importance to the musical culture.

Owerko has done everything from direct music videos to shoot for the likes of MTV and the Sundance Channel. He famously shot the cover for the September 11 issue of Time Magazine, which was acknowledged as one of the most important magazine covers in the last 40 years by the American Society of Magazine Editors. 'The BoomBox Project' hits stores October 1.