ABOUT BLACK STAR
Black Star Music & Video
352 LENOX AVENUE · HARLEM, NEW YORK
Before streaming, the real thing lived on a shelf. On Lenox Avenue in Harlem, that shelf was at Black Star: Black films, soul and hip-hop records, and the street DVDs nobody else carried, all in one room. People in the culture called it the Mecca. This site keeps its record.
THE STORE
Four chapters of a Harlem institution
01
Lenox Avenue
Black Star stood at 352 Lenox Avenue, the same street Harlem also signs as Malcolm X Boulevard. Business records date it to 1999. It was Black-owned, it took its name from the tradition of Marcus Garvey’s Black Star Line, and its pitch to customers was short: bringing you the Black Experience.
02
On the shelves
Classic Black cinema sat next to the week’s new releases. Pam Grier rarities and blaxploitation, movies starring the newest East Coast rappers, books, and a deep run of soul, funk and hip-hop CDs. You could rent it or you could buy it.
03
The DVD era
In the early 2000s, street DVD magazines like Smack, The Come Up, Cocaine City and The Raw Report put rap on camera with no network in between. Those discs moved hand to hand, and in Harlem a lot of them moved across Black Star’s counter. Independent makers brought titles to Lenox just to get them on its shelves. The store was a stage too: home to the Lion’s Den battle circuit, and the room where A$AP Rocky previewed Long.Live.A$AP in 2012.
04
Today
The store has closed, and its web address lapsed with it. Hood DVD Era picked up blackstarvideo.com so the record stays in one place. This is an independent archive. It is not the original business and does not speak for its owners.
SOURCES
Better Business Bureau listing for Black Star Music and Videos, 352 Lenox Ave, New York, NY 10027 (business start 1999). minube traveler guide to Black Star Music & Video. Yelp listing for Black Star Line Music & Video, marked closed. The Village Voice (January 2013) on the A$AP Rocky listening party. The Source (May 2013) on the Lion’s Den and Hell Up In Harlem. Hood DVD Era. The Black Star Video Archive is an independent historical archive and is not affiliated with the original store or its owners. Clips are shown for historical reference; all rights belong to their owners.