Hip-Hop Won't Stop: The Beat, the Rhymes, the Life

Turntables, vinyl records, boom boxes and microphones are being sought by the National Museum of American History for an exhibition on hip-hop culture.
The project will assemble objects that trace hip-hop's origins in the Bronx in the 1970s to its current global reach reports BBC.

Rap stars and producers who contributed items to the exhibit, including Ice-T and Russell Simmons, said they were surprised to see the Smithsonian turn its attention to the three-decades-old art form.

"It validates it," said Los Angeles-based rapper Ice-T. "It's a good feeling."

The project is expected to cost $2m and take up to five years to complete.

"Hip-hop is part of American culture, just like jazz," said a spokeswoman for the museum, part of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC.

At a ceremony in New York on Tuesday, Russell Simmons called the Smithsonian's recognition "a great statement".

"It's not a signal to the end of hip-hop," said the co-founder of the Def Jam label. "We know it will be a lasting fixture.

"All over the world hip-hop is an expression of young people's struggles, their frustrations and opinions."

The Smithsonian initiative - entitled Hip-Hop Won't Stop: The Beat, the Rhymes, the Life - follows a similar exhibition - Hip-Hop Nation: Roots, Rhymes and Rage - held at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in 2000.