Comic books and the hip-hop genre have had influences on each other for decades, and it was given the spotlight at New York Comic Con 2014.

The "Hip-Hop and Comics: Cultures Combining" session mixed individuals from the music industry and from the comic book industry to one panel. Moderated by Depth Of Field magazine's Patrick A. Reed, the "Hip-Hop and Comics" panel included Matthew Rosenberg, Carolina Cooney, Khary Randolph, Adam Wallenta, Large Professor, Ronald Wimberly, Sasha Fay, Pete Rock and Eric Orr. According to Reed, hip-hop and comics are important, as it has represented all classes. Reed acknowledged an example of representing the spectrum of humanity was by involving women into the discussion, as evident on Friday night as the panel included two women.

"All of the different forms that [hip-hop and comic books] encompass, all the diversity they represent, they're both cultures built on mixing elements, be it beats and rhymes or pictures and words or all of the things that go into graffiti and breakdancing all of these together wonderful elements," Reed said and added that hip-hop and comics have had cultures with a "long sense of history" and each have passionate fan bases as evident in hip-hop events or comic conventions such as NYCC.

The attendance of Orr was significant for NYCC as he introduced the first hip-hop comic book, "Rappin' Max Robot," in 1986. On why he engaged himself into hip-hop comic books, Orr said, "Comics was always in my life. ... I am hip-hop. I grew up in it, and I love to draw, love cartoons, and that was just something I wanted to do."

Another panelist that received rapturous applause was Large Professor. The music producer recognized the hip-hop genre is as colorful as comic books, and it's an aspect that's "natural" for him.

Wallenta, an MC and co-creator of the Public Enemy comic books with Chuck D, said he grew up with hip-hop, not solely musically but the art movement that included graffiti and dancing. Comic books, according to Wallenta, naturally blended with hip-hop, citing similarities that aren't comparable in other music genres.

"You can almost see history happening between comics and hip-hop ... comics and music that have consciousness involved in it. And then you go in the late 80s and 90s when things started to get little gritty and grimy and ultraviolent such as 'The Punisher' and the NWA," Wallenta said. He also said the comic books and music have been on a common wavelength of history, culture and society.

Being one of the two female panelists, Cooney's connection with hip-hop and comics came from familiarizing with the African culture and the music genre due to her father's literature and comic book collection during her youth. Fay said she didn't grow up into hip-hop and initially felt "unqualified" to speak. But experience with comic books and MISHKA NYC gave her the understanding of how hip-hop and comics can overlap each other.

Fay noted her first correlation between the two subjects was while seeing "Samurai Shampoo," which saw characters living with nothing more than what they had, similar to how hip-hop artists had to do in their early careers. Fay also referenced the collaborations that can occur with hip-hop and comics and that both are needed to expand either one's work or art cover.

Hip-hop's role in comic book might not be as obvious to the untrained eye. Rosenberg has worked with the Wu Tang Clan on a series of comics. The collaboration included the mindset to not "cash-in" on hip-hop but serve as a legitimate comic while maintaining the Wu Tang style. He noted he worked closely with members such as RZA and Ghostface Killah.

For Randolph, however, he did not have the same type of collaboration with the musicians he worked with. Randolph said he worked more with artists' record labels. Randolph explained the moments he would collaborate with an artist were to make art corrections on the comic, such as enhancing a character's assets.

Pete Rock admitted to being a fan of Marvel and was influenced by characters, such as The Hulk, for lyrics.

"Everyone can relate to being angry and upset," Rock said. "I referenced him (The Hulk) a lot when even making beats. I use to have a rhyme in a song called 'Fakin Jax' when I said, 'As I commence lyrical content now bust the grammar, brother tryin' to make me flip out like David Banner.' It just fits. We all grew up reading comic books so the heroes inspired us so we kind of have to be the heroes in music."

Fay said hip-hop and comic books helped provide a narrative and share a worldview that requires similar creativity and solidarity for it to succeed.

By the end of the session, Orr announced that "Rappin' Max Robot" will be reissued "soon."