If you're feeling down and hip-hop is your medicine of choice, "The Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap" may be just what the doctor ordered.
Released today, the collaboration between the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, the multimedia collection is described by its makers as a first-of-its-kind "collection chronicling the growth of the music and culture from the parks of the Bronx to solidifying a reach that spans the globe."
Featuring 129 tracks spread over nine CDs and over 40 years of hip-hop history, the collection was a natural extension of what the National Museum of African American History and Culture aims to do and a necessary one according to NMAAHC director Kevin Young.
... our museum is about the past but also about the present and the future. And hip-hop has been around with us for 40-plus years, and so it's just a natural outgrowth of looking at the African American experience through a contemporary lens," said Young of the impetus for the project in an interview with the Washington Post, adding that, "for Smithsonian Folkways, a lot of the desire around this project is really seeing hip-hop as community music, looking at its birth and its origin stories, really coalescing around the idea of community and finding a voice to express joys, sorrows, anger about the current circumstances.
In addition to the tracks, whittled down from an initial pool of around 900 songs suggested by a committee of scholars, artists, journalists and industry folks in 2014, the collection features essays from leading hip-hop figures, critics, and writers as well as a 300-page book designed by Cey Adams, a legendary visual artist and founding member of Def Jam Records.
While the liner-notes, visuals and essays offer an intimate perspective of how hip-hop has changed, evolved and even challenged the norms of society as a medium over its relatively brief existence, it is the music that is the star of the project in Young's eyes.
For me, as someone who's first record I ever bought with my own money was Run-DMC's "King of Rock," I was just blown away by the tracks, the real breadth of the collection. I think that's really important," he told the Post. "And having, you know, paper anthologies of poetry and other things, it's really hard to pick, you know, and to pick out of 50 years really of this music. I think it's just so dynamic and powerful. And the essays alone are worth the price of admission, and so to have that music and the essays in conversation with each other, too, is really important.
The Anthology is the third produced by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings that tells the story of a defining era of music “of, by, and for the people." It frequently highlights the objects and stories of hip-hop displayed in the NMAAHC galleries, in an attempt to offer perspective on the African American experience and its impact on American culture.
It is currently available for purchase on the Folkways site for $159.98. A complete track listing for the collection follows:
Tracklist
Disc 1
Fatback - King Tim III
Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight
The Sequence - Funk You Up
Kurtis Blow - The Breaks
Funky Four +1 - That's the Joint
Spoonie Gee feat. The Sequence - Monster Jam
Treacherous Three - The Body Rock
Blondie - Rapture
Grandmaster Flash – The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel
Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force - Planet Rock
Disc 2
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message
The Fearless Four - Rockin It
Cold Crush Brothers - Punk Rock Rap
Herbie Hancock - Rockit
Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force - Looking for the Perfect Beat
Run-DMC - It's Like That
Whodini - Friends
Cold Crush Brothers - Fresh, Fly, Wild & Bold
T. La Rock - It's Yours
The World's Famous Supreme Team - Hey! DJ
Newcleus - Jam On It
UTFO - Roxanne, Roxanne
Disc 3
Roxanne Shanté - Roxanne's Revenge
Fat Boys - Fat Boys
Doug E. Fresh & MC Ricky D - La Di Da Di
LL Cool J - I Can't Live without my Radio
Schoolly D - P.S.K. ‘What Does It Mean?’
Run-DMC feat. Aerosmith - Walk This Way
Beastie Boys - Paul Revere
Ultramagnetic MC's - Ego Tripping
Ice-T - 6 'N The Mornin'
Kool Moe Dee - How Ya Like Me Now
LL Cool J - I Need Love
Eric B feat. Rakim - Eric B is President
Mantronix - King of The Beats
Disc 4
Stetsasonic feat. the Rev. Jesse Jackson & Olatunji - A.F.R.I.C.A.
Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - Parents Just Don't Understand
Audio Two - Top Billin'
MC Lyte - Lyte As A Rock
Big Daddy Kane - Raw
Marley Marl feat. Master Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, & Big Daddy Kane - The Symphony
MC Lyte - I Cram to Understand U (Sam)
Tone Lōc - Wild Thing
Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock - It Takes Two
Jungle Brothers – I’ll House You
N.W.A. - Fuck Tha Police
Public Enemy - Fight the Power
The Stop the Violence Movement - Self Destruction
Too Short - Life Is...Too Short
Slick Rick - Children's Story
3rd Bass - The Gas Face
Disc 5
Queen Latifah feat. Monie Love - Ladies First
Public Enemy - Bring the Noise
De La Soul - Me Myself and I
Biz Markie - Just a Friend
The D.O.C. - It's Funky Enough
2 Live Crew - Me So Horny
Digital Underground - The Humpty Dance
MC Hammer - U Can't Touch This
Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby
Brand Nubian - All for One
Geto Boys - Mind Playing Tricks on Me
A Tribe Called Quest - Scenario
Black Sheep - The Choice is Yours
Salt-N-Pepa - Let's Talk About Sex
Yo-Yo feat. Ice-Cube - Can't Play with My Yo-Yo
Naughty By Nature - O.P.P.
Disc 6
Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Doggy Dogg - Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang
Ice Cube - It Was a Good Day
Sir Mix-A-Lot - Baby Got Back
Arrested Development - Tennessee
Digable Planets - Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)
House of Pain - Jump Around
Positive K - I Got a Man
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)
UGK - Pocket Full of Stones
Wu-Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M.
Cypress Hill - Insane In The Brain
The Pharcyde - Passin' Me By
Eightball & MJG - Comin Out Hard
Common Sense - I Used to Love H.E.R.
Da Brat - Funkdafied
Nas – N.Y. State of Mind
Craig Mack feat. The Notorious B.I.G., Rampage, LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes - Flava In Your Ear
Disc 7
Beastie Boys - Sabotage
The Notorious B.I.G. - Juicy
Gang Starr feat. Nice & Smooth - DWYCK
Warren G feat. Nate Dogg - Regulate
Snoop Doggy Dogg - Murder Was The Case
E-40 feat. Suga T - Sprinkle Me
Goodie Mob - Cell Therapy
Coolio feat. L.V. - Gangsta's Paradise
2Pac - Dear Mama
Mobb Deep - Shook Ones, Part 2
Method Man feat. Mary J. Blige - I'll Be There For You / You're All I Need To Get By
Foxy Brown feat. Jay-Z - I'll Be
Lil Kim feat. Puff Daddy - No Time
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - Tha Crossroads
Wu-Tang Clan feat. Cappadonna - Triumph
Busta Rhymes - Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See
Master P feat. Silkk The Shocker, Mia X, Fiend - Make ‘Em Say Uhh!
Disc 8
Missy Elliot - The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)
Lauryn Hill - Doo Wop (That Thing)
DMX - Ruff Ryders’ Anthem
The Roots - The Next Movement
Mos Def - Mathematics
BG - Bling Bling
dead prez - Hip Hop
Eminem feat. Dido - Stan
OutKast - Ms. Jackson
Nelly - Country Grammar (Hot Shit)
Ludacris feat. Pharrell - Southern Hospitality
Nas - One Mic
50 Cent - In Da Club
Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz feat. Ying Yang Twins - Get Low
Disc 9
Talib Kweli - Black Girl Pain
Kanye West - Jesus Walks
Three 6 Mafia feat. Young Buck, Eightball & MJG - Stay Fly
Rick Ross – Hustlin’
Lupe Fiasco feat. Nikki Jean – Hip-Hop Saved My Life
Young Jezzy feat. Nas - My President
David Banner feat. Chris Brown & Yung Joc - Get Like Me
Lil Wayne feat. Robin Thicke - Tie My Hands
Jay Electronica - Exhibit C
Nicki Minaj - Super Bass
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz - Thrift Shop
J Cole feat. TLC - Crooked Smile
Kanye West - Blood On The Leaves
Drake - Started From the Bottom
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