Boombox, used by Fab 5 Freddy: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This boombox was made by Sharp Electronics, circa 1985. It is a portable music system, model HK-9000, with its dual tape decks, detachable speakers, built-in equalizer, AM/FM radio, and 2-fader microphone mixing was one of the largest boomboxes of the era.

This boombox was used by hip hop pioneer, visual artist, filmmaker, and cable television host, Fab 5 Freddy, (born Fred Braithwaite). He was the first host of the groundbreaking hip hop music video show, "Yo! MTV Raps," in the late 1980s . Freddy has been forever immortalized on the American New Wave group Blondie’s hit single “Rapture,” when lead singer Debbie Harry rapped, “Fab 5 Freddy told me everybody’s fly.”

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: ca 1985
• maker: Sharp
• Object Name: boombox
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Physical Description: plastic (overall material)
• Physical Description: non-ferrous metal, eletrical wire (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 11 1/2 in x 34 in x 9 in; 29.21 cm x 86.36 cm x 22.86 cm
• Measurements: overall: 11 3/4 in x 33 3/4 in x 10 1/4 in; 29.845 cm x 85.725 cm x 26.035 cm
• Subject: Hip-Hop
• ID Number: 2006.0059.01
• accession number: 2006.0059
• catalog number: 2006.0059.01
• Credit Line: Gift of Fred (Fab 5 Freddy) Brathwaite
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.