Yo! MTV Raps is an undisputed pillar in Hip-Hop culture, dating all the way back to when hosts Dr. Dre, Ed Lover and Fab 5 Freddy were on the March 1992 cover of The Source (Issue #30), and even years before that. Now, the latter rap pioneer of the trio is getting the ultimate honor by Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture as his priceless collection of rap memorabilia will soon be on public view at the historical Uptown library.
Detailed in an extensive report by The New York Times, Fab 5 Freddy has one of the most illustrious archives dedicated to Hip-Hop, consisting of VHS tapes, audio recordings, paper files, photos and of course a handful of collectibles from the Yo! MTV Raps days. Those in specific include vintage tees and VHS copies of broadcasts that the Hip-Hop historian born Fred Brathwaite would send to his family.
Here’s how The New York Times describes the collection:
“As a sought-after graffiti artist, music video director, film producer and the original host and creative force behind “Yo! MTV Raps,” Fab 5 Freddy’s lens produced a panorama of future cultural landmarks of New York and beyond, revealing an era when hierarchies of race, class and taste in art were beginning to scramble. His personal photographs and videos, and the narratives they tell, comprise much of a career-spanning archive that was recently acquired by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, part of the New York Public Library.
The 120-box archive, which will eventually be made available to the public, also includes notebooks, screenplays, vinyl records, fliers and apparel — a modern mélange that distinguishes the collection, and the collector, from many of the center’s earlier acquisition targets, including the papers of James Baldwin and Sonny Rollins.”
Head over to The New York Times to get a better look and more insight on Fab 5 Freddy’s archive, including a rare photo of Puff Daddy & The Notorious B.I.G. and a draft of the original New Jack City screenplay.
