Link

But in contrast to the intimate communication usually connoted by the exchange of hand-labeled mixtapes, Mr. Owerko’s book portrays the boombox as a “sonic campfire” for urban youth, a catalyst in the creation of instant, loud gatherings on subway platforms and on crowded city sidewalks.

The device became a global phenomenon, but its nicknames — ghetto blaster, Brixton briefcase — rooted its mythology in urban black culture.

In addition to Mr. Owerko’s own pictures, the book includes historical images of young people, famous and anonymous, using their music machines to assert themselves in public, like L L Cool J proudly displaying his suitcase-size blaster in a Manhattan park in 1985. Don Letts, the British-born film director and musician who played in the band Big Audio Dynamite, says the boombox set the kids of the early punk and hip-hop years free.