Hip Hop producer 9th Wonder has been dedicating his time to building a Hip Hop archive for Harvard’s library.
In 2016, 9th Wonder chose the first four albums to enter the archives as part of a project called “These Are The Breaks,” which he describes as “a collection of albums that are standard of the culture.”
This week, the Jay Z/J. Cole/Kendrick Lamar collaborator stopped by Harvard to see all four albums in their archived form: The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill by Lauryn Hill, Nas’ Illmatic, A Tribe Called Quest’s The Low End Theory and Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 album To Pimp A Butterfly.
He shared an image of the albums to Instagram, which picked up a ton of attention.
(Definitely more than a similar one shared last March.)
9th Wonder, working under the direction of historians Henry Louis Gates and Marcy Morgan, is choosing 200 albums to “live forever in the Harvard Library.” The albums will be housed forever in one of the world’s most illustrious libraries “complete with liner notes and the vinyl that was used in the production of the album.”
Another album has already been chosen, 1988’s Lyte As A Rock by MC Lyte. The aim of the project is to preserve 200 Hip Hop albums for posterity. Updates can be found at the Hip Hop Archives website.
9th Wonder was named a fellow of the Ivy League university in 2012, and will play a huge role in deciding which Hip Hop albums are honored in the “These Are The Breaks” project.
Kid Bean
Gave the /5
Xtz23
Gave the /5
Gay-Z
Gave the /5
Fuck Queensbridge
Gave the /5
Gay-Z
Gave the /5
F.U.
Gave the /5
Kid Bean
Gave the /5
@riv34
Gave the /5
khordkutta
Gave the /5
L
Gave the /5
E'zup to all my Barrio 18 homies, big WS XV3
Gave the /5
Kid Bean
Gave the /5
Big Trumpin'
Gave the /5
Trump 2016/2020
Gave the /5
gddgggf
Gave the /5
fgggddg
Gave the /5
Fuck Queensbridge
Gave the /5
Hov's Groupie Again
Gave the /5
Fuck Queensbridge
Gave the /5
L-Boogie
Gave the /5