In this live podcast short clip, Zalo Castillo discusses the documentary project by Lion Chaser Media about Joe Conzo

Born and raised in the Bronx, Joe Conzo Jr. acquired a passion for photography as a young boy attending the Agnes Russell School on the campus of Columbia University. He continued his formal artistic education at the School of Visual Arts (NYC).

During his early development, “Joey” bore witness to the volatile state of South Bronx community activism, and to the vanguard world of New York’s Puerto Rican cultural music scene. On any given day, he could find himself at the heels of his grandmother, the late Dr. Evelina López Antonetty (a dynamic leader and passionate activist ), engaged in a defiant act of civil disobedience for the educational rights of minorities in the South Bronx. On another day, he’d find himself clinging to the shirt-tail of his father, Joe Conzo Sr. (longtime confidant and biographer for the legendary orchestra leader and musician the late Tito Puente), behind-the-scenes with the giants of Latin music like Machito, Charlie Palmieri, Johnny Pacheco and Ray Barretto. These two vivid realities would have a profound effect on how Joey viewed his environment through the lens of a camera.

Coming of age as a young man and as a budding photographer, in the mid 70s, proved to be baptism by fire, during an unprecedented chapter of New York City urban decay. Joey was a part of a generation that had refused to be erased by corrupt politicians and a disparaging educational system. His talents had found their niche within the collective acts of defiance that boldly re-invented the very world that left them for dead. This socio-cultural movement would eventually be recognized in American History books as Hip Hop.