Boombox used by Public Enemy: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A tecsonic boombox with a light brown metal cover used by Public Enemy. The boombox has a handle at the top, collapsible antenna, six speakers, a radio, a double cassette player, and a number of controls. There are green and black Public Enemy stickers adhered around the left, top, and right sides. There is one sticker on each side and three on the top. All of the stickers have varying degrees of loss. Two cassette compartments marked "METAL / 4 BAND STEREO RECEIVER / DOUBLE CASSETTE PLAYER" and "5-BAND GRAPHIC EQUALIZER MX-900." The large round speaker at the bottom right has a white sticker with black and red print that says "I (heart symbol) / SOWETO / www.iluvsa.co.za / Where: CHAF - POZI / When: 3rd Saturday / of every month." There is a black label with silver text on back of speaker. It reads "TECSONIC / STEREO DOUBLE CASSETTE RECORDER / WITH 4-BAND RADIO / MODEL NO: MX-900 / AC 110/220V 50/60Hz30W / DC 15V"D"SIZE BATTERY x10PCS / MADE IN KOREA."

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1986
• Manufactured by: Tecsonic, South Korean
• Owned by: Chuck D, American, born 1960
• Subject of: Public Enemy, American, founded 1982
• Subject of: Def Jam Recordings, American, founded 1984
• Subject of: Terminator X, American, born 1966
• Subject of: Flavor Flav, American, born 1959
• Subject of: Professor Griff, American, born 1960
• Subject of: Chaf-Pozi Soweto, South African
• Type: radio receivers
• Medium: metal, plastic, paper
• Dimensions: 14 x 27 x 7 1/8 in. (35.6 x 68.6 x 18.1 cm)
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Hip-hop (Music)
• Topic: Technology
• Object number: 2013.149.1.1
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Public Enemy
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.