Public Enemy: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A color digital print photograph of Public Enemy. The photograph features, from left to right, S1W, Professor Griff, Terminator X, and Chuck D. S1W are dressed in black fatigues and black berets, and stand in front of a wall with graffiti that reads: [Don't Beleeve (sic) The Hype]. Professor Griff, wearing black fatigues and a red beret, and Terminator X, wearing a Boston Celtics sweat suit, stand in front of S1W. Chuck D stands in the foreground of the photograph wearing an Oakland Raiders jacket. The back of the photograph has a Jack Mitchell stamp with the number [5875].

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: September 1988; printed 1990s
• Photograph by: Jack Mitchell, American, 1925 - 2013
• Subject of: Public Enemy, American, founded 1982
• Type: inkjet prints
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W (Image): 12 7/16 × 15 3/16 in. (31.6 × 38.6 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (Sheet): 12 15/16 × 19 1/16 in. (32.9 × 48.4 cm)
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Entertainers
• Topic: Hip-hop (Music)
• Topic: Musicians
• Topic: Photography
• Topic: Rappers (Musicians)
• Object number: 2016.77.10
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Jack Mitchell Archives
• 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: © Jack Mitchell, All Rights Reserved Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.