Flier for “Benefit Show for Police Athletic League Hip Hop Showdown” by Van Silk: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A flier for “Benefit Show for Police Athletic League Hip Hop Showdown” designed by Van Silk. The flier is in portrait orientation and printed on off-white paper. It is covered top to bottom in black text and graphics. The top half of the flier has centered, horizontal text in varying fonts and sizes that reads [Patricia Hearon / presents / BENEFIT SHOW For PAL / HIP HOP SHOWDOWN / Starring…..]. Listed below are the acts printed in horizontal and diagonal orientations. Text printed on the left reads [G.M.CAZ&JDL / of / COLDCRUSH 4]. Text printed at the center reads [Humanbeatboxx / ‘CASIO’], and text printed on the right reads [Son of / Bambatta / Dj Afrika / ISLAM]. Centered text below reads [Sun 20th / “LIVE ON STAGE” / GRANDMASTER MELE MEL / ··OF THE FURIOUS 5 / Whitelines, Message, Beatstreet & / “STEP OFF’ / CALLING OUT THE Human Beatboxx / TO BATTLE / CASH PRIZES / ‘FRESH 85’]. The event location and contact information, printed at the bottom center, reads [P.A.L. COMMUNITY CENTER / 123rd Steel Bet. 7th & 8th Aves. / Info: 749-1157]. Printed in each of the corners is additional event information. The text printed in the top corners reads [2 Floors, / 2 Days] on the left, and [Sat / JAN / 19th] on the right. Text printed in the bottom corners reads [Doors /open / 8pm] on the left, and [adm / $4withflyer] above [DON’T / MISS / IT!!] on the right. The flier text is accented with ten graphics of small, solid black, five-pointed stars. The back of the flier has no text or inscriptions.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: January 19, 1985
• Designed by: VanSilk, American, born 1958
• Distributed by: Patricia Hearon
• Subject of: Grandmaster Caz, American, born 1960
• Subject of: JDL, American
• Subject of: The Cold Crush Brothers, American, founded 1978
• Subject of: Casio, American
• Subject of: Afrika Islam, American, born 1967
• Subject of: Afrika Bambaataa, American, born 1957
• Type: fliers (printed matter)
• Medium: ink on paper (fiber product)
• Dimensions: H x W: 10 13/16 × 8 3/8 in. (27.5 × 21.2 cm)
• Place used: Bronx, New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Design
• Topic: DJs (Musicians)
• Topic: Graphic design
• Topic: Hip-hop (Music)
• Topic: Nightlife
• Topic: Rappers (Musicians)
• Topic: Urban life
• Object number: 2020.38.1.5
• 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 displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: Public domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.