Photograph of Marley Marl at home in New Jersey with his master tapes: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

He is wearing a blue jacket, has a goatee, and is wearing a watch on his proper left wrist. He is gesturing towards a stack of boxes full of master tapes. Many of the boxes say "L.L. Cool J" on them.

There is a white border around the image. It is thinner on the two sides and thicker on the top and bottom. The back of the photograph has light grey text repeated upside down in diagonal lines. There are tears at the top and on the sides from where tape used to be and several ink smudges in different areas. There is an inscription by Bill Adler on the bottom, handwritten in blue ink.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1991
• Photograph by: Michael Benabib, American, born 1962
• Subject of: Marley Marl, American, born 1962
• Type: portraits
• Type: inkjet prints
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W (Sheet): 17 × 11 in. (43.2 × 27.9 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (Image): 8 7/8 × 10 3/4 in. (22.5 × 27.3 cm)
• Place captured: New Jersey, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Gesture
• Topic: Hip-hop (Music)
• Topic: Musicians
• Topic: Photography
• Object number: 2015.132.98
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• 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 underlying object's rights statement is: © Michael Benabib Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.