Flier for “The Sprite New York City Fresh Festival II”: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A flier for “The Sprite New York City Fresh Festival II” presented Herman M. and Friends. The flier is in portrait orientation and printed on white paper. It is covered top to bottom in black text, graphics, and black-and-white photographs. The top third of the flier features the event title and presenters in black and large black outlined text that reads [HERMAN M. & FRIENDS PRESENT / THE SPRITE NEW YORK CITY / FRESH FESTIVAL II]. Behind, and overlaying the [F] in [FRESH], are cut out photographs of actors/break dancers Adolfo “Shabba-Doo” Quinones and Michael “Boogaloo Shrimp” Chambers. In the top left corner is a diagonal banner with the year, [1985], centered.

Below are two, thin, stacked rectangular frames with rounded corners. Inside the top frame is a list of the featured performers. In the top left corner is the logo for [Kiss[underlined] / 98.7 fm [female lipstick kiss print graphic] / Welcomes!] and [4 HOURS OF NON-STOP JAMMING ON 2 BIG STAGES!] at the center. Below are the featured acts [* RUN-D.M.C. * / FAT BOYS * WHODINI / GRANDMASTER FLASH]. Below, printed in a short column on the left, are [From the movie BREAKIN’ / SHABBA-DOO] and [From the movie LAST DRAGON / The Dynamic / Breakers]. Below, printed in a short column on the right, are [Also from the movie BREAKIN’ / TURBO / (BOOGALOO SHRIMP)] and [Double Dutch / Jump Rope Girls]. Billed at the bottom of the frame are the names of two break dancers: [also / Chad Elliot and Jermaine Dupri]. Overlaid over the top right corner of the frame is a burst graphic with small black text inside that reads [EYE-X-CITING / LASER LIGHT / SHOW!!].

The bottom frame features the event date, venue, admission prices, and ticket sales: [SATURDAY, AUGUST 24, 8:00PM / Nassau Coliseum/New York City, NY / Tickets: $15.00 Advance/$16.00 Day of Show / TICKET OUTLETS: All Ticketworld Outlets and the / Nassau Coliseum Box Office]. On the right, is the logo for Sprite, the event’s corporate sponsor. The logo is a black box with white text that reads [Enjoy / Sprite / great Lymon Taste[underlined]] and a graphic of a lemon and lime. Printed on the back of the flier is five paragraphs of text about Ricky Walker, Russell Simmons, Rush Productions, and the history of the New York City Fresh Festivals I and II that took place in 1984 and 1985.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: August 24, 1985
• Designed by: Unidentified
• Distributed by: Herman M. and Friends, American
• Distributed by: Kiss 98.7, American, founded 1972
• Subject of: Shabba Doo, American, 1955 - 2020
• Subject of: Michael Chambers, American, born 1967
• Subject of: Run-D.M.C., American, 1981 - 2002
• Subject of: The Fat Boys, American, founded 1982
• Subject of: Whodini, American, founded 1981
• Type: fliers (printed matter)
• Medium: ink on paper (fiber product)
• Dimensions: H x W: 10 13/16 × 8 7/16 in. (27.5 × 21.5 cm)
• Place used: 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: 2020.38.2.11
• 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: Public domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.