...Past, Present and Future of Hip Hop...: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Poster for Black History Month issued by Def Jam Recordings and Black Entertainment Television (BET) featuring Def Jam rappers. At the top is black text reading [...Past, Present and Future of Hip Hop]. In the center, sepia-toned portraits of the artists form a grid. Pictured are: (first line) Redman, LL Cool J, DMX, EPMD; (second line) Ja Rule, Foxy Brown, Slick Rick, Method Man, and Richie Rich. Along the bottom is [Celebrate Black History Month] in large black text. In the lower left corner is the logo for Def Jam and in the lower right corner is the logo for aBET. The poster is bordered in a narrow black line.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 2000
• Created by: Black Entertainment Television, American, founded 1980
• Created by: Def Jam Recordings, American, founded 1984
• Subject of: Redman, American, born 1970
• Subject of: LL Cool J, American, born 1968
• Subject of: DMX, American, born 1970
• Subject of: Foxy Brown, American, born 1978
• Subject of: Slick Rick, British American, born 1965
• Subject of: Method Man, American, born 1971
• Type: posters
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W: 24 × 36 in. (61 × 91.4 cm)
• Place used: United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Hip-hop (Music)
• Topic: Rappers (Musicians)
• Topic: Television
• Topic: United States History
• Object number: 2015.239.16
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Dwandalyn R. Reece and Maya King
• 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.