Ricky Powell (born Ricky Abraham Cordero, November 20, 1961 – February 1, 2021) was an American street and music photographer whose candid images defined late-1980s and 1990s downtown New York. Self-taught and famously unbothered, he photographed his Greenwich Village neighborhood from a wandering, ground-level vantage that earned him the nickname “the Lazy Hustler.”
Powell’s closest creative association was with the Beastie Boys, whom he toured with from the Licensed to Ill era forward and who name-checked him on Paul’s Boutique (“Homeboy throw in the towel / Your girl got dicked by Ricky Powell”). His work also captured Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Run-DMC, LL Cool J, Madonna, and a wide cast of NYC personalities.
Solo shows included Frozade Moments, 1985–2003 at Eyejammie Fine Arts Gallery (NYC, 2003) and Public Access: Ricky Powell Photographs 1985–2005 (colette Paris; powerHouse NYC; Milk Bar SF; Lab 101 LA). His work has been featured in the Contact High: A Visual History of Hip-Hop traveling exhibition at the Annenberg Space for Photography and the International Center of Photography. Posthumous shows have been mounted by VILLAZAN (Madrid, 2024) and Whaam! (NYC, 2025).
