Norman ‘Normski’ Anderson was born in Northwest London in 1966 and became a documenter of British youth culture in the 1980s and 1990s. Normski was part of the UK hip hop scene during this period and his photographs record the styles adopted by hip hop artists like the London-based She Rockers.

Donna ‘She-Roc’ McConnell, Dupe Fagbesa and Alison ‘Betty Boo’ Clarkson made up the rap trio She Rockers, which gained attention in the late 1980s alongside other British female hip hop groups like Cookie Crew. She Rockers worked with the American hip hop group Public Enemy, after performing an impromptu rap with them at a McDonalds in Shepherd’s Bush. British hip hop fashion was influenced by the style of clothing worn by Public Enemy and other popular American hip hop artists, such as Run DMC and the female group Salt-n-Pepa. The baseball jackets, snapback caps, Adidas high-top trainers and large earrings worn by the She Rockers show the way in which these trends were adopted in Britain.

The V&A acquired seven photographs by Normski as part of the Staying Power project. Staying Power is a five year partnership between the V&A and Black Cultural Archives. The project aims to explore black British experience from the 1950s to the 1990s through photographs acquired by the V&A and oral histories conducted by Black Cultural Archives.